57 towers.
One entire coastline.
57 Towers is a coastal itinerary connecting the ancient watchtowers of Salento, following the natural line of the Ionian and Adriatic coasts. A route that combines history, landscape and movement along one of the most varied and intense areas of the Mediterranean.
Click on a tower to see the distance from the previous one and estimated travel times on foot and by bike.
Three ways to walk the same coast
The West Coast route starts from Torre Castiglione, near Porto Cesareo, and follows the Ionian coast southwards, tower after tower, to Santa Maria di Leuca: 100 kilometres and 25 towers. The East Coast route instead starts from Torre Specchiolla, near Squinzano, and runs down the Adriatic coast to the same cape: 129 kilometres and 33 towers, with Leuca as the meeting point of the two seas.
From the union of the two comes the Complete route, the whole circuit of historic Salento: 229 kilometres, 57 coastal towers, two seas. Not a route designed to be completed quickly, but a line of reference that can be tackled all at once or in successive fragments, one tower at a time, in the time available.
Getting there and back
- East Coast From Lecce take the bus to Squinzano, where the route starts. At the end, walk from Santa Maria di Leuca to Gagliano del Capo, about 2 km away, and take the train back to Lecce.
- West Coast From Lecce take the bus to Porto Cesareo, where the route starts. At the end, walk from Santa Maria di Leuca to Gagliano del Capo, about 2 km away, and take the train back to Lecce.
- Complete From Lecce take the bus to Porto Cesareo, where the route starts. At the end, take the bus from Squinzano back to Lecce.
Why they were built
The coastal towers of Salento were built in response to the Turkish threat and the constant raids by Saracen pirates that, starting in the 15th century, terrorised the coastal populations. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the conquest of Otranto in 1480, the Spanish viceroys launched a systematic construction plan: an unbroken chain of lookouts able to communicate with each other by sight, capable of raising the alarm along the entire coast in the time it took to send a smoke signal.
Each tower was a stone outpost, a permanent sentinel on the kingdom's maritime border. Today that same defensive line becomes the connecting thread of a route that crosses the coastal Salento in its most direct form.
How to approach it
57 Towers lends itself to different ways of being experienced: it can be tackled in a sporting way, even competitively or for training purposes, or at a more relaxed pace, as a hiking experience accessible to families too.
The sea changes constantly along the route: the coast alternates shapes, colours and depths, moving from wilder natural settings to more developed coastal areas. The towers become the reference points of this continuous reading of the landscape.
Travel times
57 Towers has no mandatory departure date nor an imposed pace. It can be tackled in spring when Salento is still quiet, or in autumn when the light on the sea changes every hour. The important thing is to start with a realistic estimate of the time available.
You can travel the entire route or choose individual stretches, building a tailor-made experience without losing the coherence of the route.
A traversable structure
57 Towers connects a complex territory, building a unified reading of it through the connection of landscapes, signs and identities. A structure that can be travelled according to different preferences and timings, continuously or in fragments, without losing its own coherence.
The route crosses 24 municipalities, each with its own coastal identity. A dimension that can only be fully understood by experiencing it: a journey that gives back what cannot be conveyed in words and which, in the Italian context, currently has no equivalent.
what cannot be conveyed in words.
In the Italian context,
it currently has no equivalent.
Begin your journey
Everything you need to walk 57 Towers — tower by tower, at your own pace — in a single package.
These are not part of the package: they are services from selected partners we work with, which we arrange for you only if you need them.
