Some cities show you everything at street level. Lecce keeps a good part of its story underground. Beneath the honey-coloured Baroque facades of this Puglia city sit Roman arenas, Messapian tombs and medieval chapels, and several of them only came to light because someone needed to fix a pipe or dig a foundation.
Our Lecce Lokafyer Nicla knows these stories well. Born in Rome, she spent 20 years living in Cardiff before falling for Lecce and making it her home. In this Lokafyer spotlight, she shares the place that, for her, captures the city best: Museo Faggiano, an ordinary-looking building that turned out to be sitting on 2,000 years of history.
Meet Nicla, Your Lokafyer in Lecce
Nicla grew up in Rome, then spent two decades in Wales before choosing Lecce as the place to put down roots. That mix gives her a rare angle on the city. She sees Lecce with the eyes of someone who chose it, and she can explain it to visitors in fluent English, with Spanish and French as well.
What she loves most is connecting with people and sharing the culture of her adopted city, from its Baroque churches to the stories hidden under its streets. History is a big part of how she sees Lecce, and Museo Faggiano is one of her favourite ways to show it.
Nicla on Museo Faggiano: What Lies Beneath the Surface
A remarkable discovery showing that Italy's greatest treasures are often hidden in unexpected places. In Nicla's own words:
One of the things that I love most about Italy is that it constantly reminds us that there is always more than meets the eye. Beyond an unassuming entrance in the heart of Lecce in Puglia, a treasure trove of remarkable discoveries waited centuries to be revealed, and 2,000 years of history came to light purely by chance.
In 2001, the owner of the building, Luciano Faggiano, who had always dreamed of turning it into a restaurant, was forced to remove the flooring in order to replace old sewage pipes that were causing damp and condensation problems. Little did he know what lay beneath the surface! The excavation revealed an extraordinary collection of architectural and historical remains, providing evidence of the many civilisations that had occupied this site over the centuries. Layer upon layer of history emerged, stretching back thousands of years, and Luciano, together with his family, devoted himself to preserving everything they had uncovered.
Despite facing a number of challenges, Luciano never stopped searching for the stories that begged to be told, and his determination to dig deeper gave us a wonderful gift: a place where forgotten voices from the past have been brought back to life, reminding us that history can be hidden beneath our feet.
Walking through Museo Faggiano, I couldn't help but think about how many stories remain hidden, waiting for the right moment to emerge. What appeared to be an ordinary home became a window into the lives of those who came before us. It was a reminder that Italy's soul is not only found in its famous monuments, but also in the unexpected places where the past quietly continues to live.
This is undoubtedly part of Lecce's charm, as some of the other notable archaeological discoveries have also come to the surface after centuries, and even now they continue to fascinate travellers who are willing to look beyond the obvious.
The Story Behind the Museum
Luciano Faggiano bought the building on Via Ascanio Grandi with one goal, to open a trattoria. When sewage kept backing up, he and his sons started digging to find the broken pipe, expecting a job of a week or so. Instead, they broke through to underground corridors and rooms, and kept going.
The dig did not stay quiet for long. Neighbours reported the unauthorised excavation, and work stopped until Faggiano reached an agreement with the authorities that let him continue under the supervision of heritage officials. Over the following years the family uncovered a Messapian tomb from the people who lived in this part of Puglia before the Romans, a Roman granary, cisterns, remains of a chapel from the convent of Franciscan nuns that once occupied the site, and etchings attributed to the Knights Templar. The museum opened to the public in 2008.
For many people in Lecce, the find was less of a shock than you might expect. As a local councillor told The New York Times in 2015, "Whenever you dig a hole, centuries of history come out." That line sums up the city well, and it is exactly what Nicla loves to show visitors.
Lecce's Other Accidental Discoveries
Museo Faggiano is not the only part of Lecce that spent centuries out of sight.
The Roman Amphitheatre. Sunk below street level in Piazza Sant'Oronzo, the city's main square, this 2nd-century AD amphitheatre stayed buried until 1901, when workers digging foundations for a bank hit its stone seating. Excavations in the 1930s revealed a horseshoe-shaped arena that once held around 15,000 spectators. Much of it still lies under the surrounding buildings, so the part you see from the piazza railings is only a section of the whole.
The Roman Theatre. A short walk away, tucked behind a row of buildings, Lecce's Roman theatre was found in 1929 during excavations for the foundations of a house. Smaller and quieter than the amphitheatre, it seated a few thousand people and is easy to walk straight past. The small museum beside it displays statues and fragments recovered on site.
Visit all three and you start to see Lecce the way locals do: a Baroque city built on top of a Roman one, which was itself built on top of something older.
Why Explore Lecce with a Local
Most visitors come to Lecce for the Baroque architecture, and it deserves the attention. But the city makes far more sense when someone helps you connect the layers: why a Roman arena sits in the middle of a shopping square, how a convent ended up under a would-be restaurant, and which quiet corners of the old town are worth a detour.
That is where a Lokafyer like Nicla comes in. A walk with her is a conversation with someone who chose Lecce, knows it well and enjoys sharing it, shaped around what you want to see. If underground history is your thing, she can build your walk around it. If you would rather focus on food, neighbourhoods or day-to-day life in Puglia, the route changes with you.
Explore Lecce With Nicla
Ready to see Lecce through Nicla's eyes? Start beneath the surface at Museo Faggiano, then come back up to Piazza Sant'Oronzo, where the Roman amphitheatre sits below the café tables. Save time for the hidden Roman theatre afterward, and keep looking down as you walk. Take a private, personalized walking experience with Lokafy in Lecce.
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