Alto Salento in October: Oria and Mesagne

The next day we set off for Oria mid-morning. Oria is a small village but the traffic is quite chaotic. We are lucky to find a parking space not far from the ZTL area and go up on foot.

 

Oria has slightly darker colours than other villages we have visited and the historical part is quite small. We arrive up to the castle but it’s closed. There’s a good view of the surrounding countryside from the square outside the main church which is famous for its crypt of mummies but we prefer not to go down. The most attractive and unusual part of the town is the cloister below the Montalbano park just below the castle walls. 

It’s lunchtime but the idea of scrolling through restaurant reviews on Tripadvsior only to discover they’re closed anyway because it’s lunchtime is too daunting and so we stop at a handy Eurospin on the outskirts of Mesagne for some cheese, rolls and bananas.

Arriving at Mesagne is easy because it’s just after lunch, so parking is free until 4pm and there’s nobody around. Mesagne is nice. 

The heart-shaped historical centre is all on the flat and has a more inhabited feel to it than other historical centres we’ve seen in the area. There are several churches decorated in sandstone sculptures outside and I fear baroque inside, but since they’re closed anyway it doesn’t matter too much. The castle doors are open so we wander in to look at the churchyard. When we have explored the narrow streets, we stop in the main square at Caffè dell’orologio for coffee. It’s a quiet time of day, nobody around, a view of the church, elegant against the sky in front, sun and a cool breeze wafting in through the open doors. I like Mesagne.

We stop on the way back for a little shopping, then it’s back to the Trulletto for the last evening.