Corsano, a fantastic village adorned with masks and colors

Located on the eastern side of Capo di Leuca, Corsano, included among the Authentic Villages of Italy, includes a short stretch of coast of the lower Salento. It is part of the union of the municipalities of Terra di Leuca and the Inter-municipal Consortium Capo Santa Maria di Leuca. Since 2006, part of its territory is included in the Parco Costa Otranto – Santa Maria di Leuca e Bosco di Tricase, established by the Puglia Region with the aim of safeguarding the eastern coast of Salento.

According to oral tradition, the toponym derives from the union of the words Cor and Sano. According to recent studies, however, the etymology is to be found in the Latin name of the Roman centurion Cortius, to whom the territory was entrusted around the 5th century BC, following the Roman conquest of the Salento peninsula. The first real settlement most likely dates back to the 10th century and the Byzantine domination. The Basilian monks, coming from the Near East, to escape the persecution of the iconoclastic emperor Leo III the Isaurian, began to populate the hamlet and spread the cult of the two Corsanese Patron Saints, Santa Sofia and San Biagio. With the destruction, by the Saracens, between the 9th and 10th centuries, of some nearby hamlets, the territory developed by incorporating the surrounding area.

Corsano was part of the County of Alessano and the Principality of Taranto, between the 11th and 15th centuries. In 1190 the Norman king Tancredi d’Altavilla gave it as a gift to Fabiano Securo, the first feudal lord who fortified the town with walls. In the 13th century it passed to the knight Guglielmo da Corsano and his family, who ruled it, at least in part, until the end of the 14th century. From the 16th century it belonged for the most part to the Securo family. The last representative of this family was Giovanna, daughter of the baron of Corsano. Her nephew was the last baron of Corsano because in 1636 he sold the Casale to the Capece family, who retained the title until the abolition of feudalism in 1806.

The Capece Baronial Castle, built in the 17th century on the remains of an ancient fortress built by Fabiano Securo at the beginning of the 13th century, preserves frescoes and some interesting bas-reliefs. The chapel dedicated to San Vito was annexed to it. An old legend is linked to the castle: it is said that the Capece feudal lords had a secret underground passage built, the existence of which was supposed to be known only by the baron who, in case of danger, would quickly reach the open countryside. To guarantee the secrecy of this passage, the baron had the designer and builder of the work killed. It seems that this murder is linked to the presence, also legendary, in the castle's basement of a sakàra, a large snake, whose sinister slithering can be heard on certain nights.

In the Parish Church, dedicated to the protector San Biagio, the Cappellone del Crocifisso is noteworthy, which houses the tomb of the baronial Capece family. The Church of the Immaculate, which was the mother church from 1932 to 1939, dates back to the second half of the 18th century and houses a valuable statue of the Immaculate from 1871. The church of Santa Sofia was rebuilt in 1939, in Romanesque style, on the ruins of the church of the same name dating back to the 16th century. Of the ancient structure remain a baptistery in Carrara marble from the early 19th century, some paintings, a wooden pulpit from 1777 and a 17th-century wooden statue of San Biagio, moved from the church of the Immaculate in 2009. Finally, the Basilian crypt bears witness to the traces of the presence of the Basilian monks in Terra d'Otranto. It consists of two communicating rooms, obtained in the calcarenite bank.

Tra gli eventi più rappresentativi il Carnevale di Corsano e del Capo di Leuca che dal 1982 attira migliaia di persone da tutta la Puglia e da molte parti d’Italia. Qui ogni anno si possono ammirare sontuosi carri carnevaleschi di cartapesta, vere e proprie opere d’arte affidate all’estro e all’ironia dei maestri cartapestai locali.