Sciana
Located in the hinterland of the Salento peninsula, Collepasso, listed among the “Authentic Villages of Italy”, is part of the Serre salentine territory.
It is not a place of fantasy, as the name, with easy references to the adventure literature of J. R. R. Tolkien might suggest, but a village that, in its small way, offers both historical and naturalistic visions undoubtedly paradisiacal. It rises, in fact, on the slopes of the Serra di Sant’Eleuterio, in the green valley of the Macche, one of the highest points in the province of Lecce, 120 meters above sea level. In the countryside of Collepasso also originates the Asso canal, a short watercourse that develops to the north of the town and flows into a karst sinkhole north of Nardò. The toponym, of nineteenth-century origin, from collis passus, means precisely “passage hill”, a land of obligatory transit to cross the Salento hills.
The history of the village begins in the 13th century, with a first settlement that was probably destroyed by the Turks. From that moment on, the land passed under the control of various feudal families, the last of which was the Leuzzi family. Until the 19th century, the territory was home to a considerable number of farms, mostly inhabited by families of farmers or seasonal workers. In 1805, when the young baroness Maria Aurora Leuzzi Contarini and Count Bartolomeo degli Alberti di Enno, who had arrived from Naples, moved into the feudal palace, the reconstruction of the village began, with the feudal lords calling farmers from neighboring towns to the land of the fief, making them some advantageous concessions for buildings and plantations. From the 1850s, the construction of important state roads began, which connected the village more easily and quickly with the main neighboring towns, and in 1907, it also obtained the long-awaited administrative autonomy.
Today, the majestic Baronial Palace tells this ancient story to its visitors. Dating back to the feudal period and subject to subsequent interventions and expansion works, until the 18th century, it incorporates an ancient building erected in 1576 on top of a defense tower from the Byzantine era.
For those seeking evidence of the great religious faith of the local community, the recommended destination is the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, commissioned by the noblewoman Consiglia Pesce in 1865, after the sudden collapse of the ancient parish church, with its simple and austere façade. In the period between the collapse of the ancient church and the construction of the new mother church, the Chapel of the Holy Trinity hosted the faithful of the village. The sixteenth-century building has neoclassical elements and houses a bell from 1857 and two valuable nineteenth-century paintings.
Finally, one of the most anticipated and attractive folkloristic events is the “Palio dei Rioni Collepassesi”, during which the four districts of the town challenge each other in various games and disciplines. The event takes place every summer in August, between Parco Bosco and Piazza Dante, bringing back to life legendary disagreements and indissoluble alliances between the districts.
