Officially in 1755, this expression makes it into civil documents. But long before, humans had made this precious area their home.
It’s the Messapian civilization – 8th century BC – that leaves the first significant trace on this area. Growing cereals, olive groves and producing wine, their livelihood was fully dependant on these activities.
This area, with Lecce at its heart, includes: San Pietro in Lama, Lequile, San Cesario di Lecce, Monteroni, Campi, Squinzano, Trepuzzi, Novoli, Carmiano, Arnesano, San Donato di Lecce, Cavallino, Lizzanello, Vernole and Surbo.
Some sources show that the first settlements date back to the Palaeolithic Age, mainly because people could easily get hold of water and food in this territory.
Morphologically it’s a fertile soil composed of volcanic origin clay, rich in tuff, which then created the foundation for the well known Pietra Leccese, a kind of beige sandstone quarried only in this area. Thanks to craftsmen who mastered how to work this material, this formation allowed the population to be able to have the essentials to build shelter and tools for their sustenance.
The first important colonisation occurred when the Greeks arrived at the most important port of the Mediterranean world, Taranto.
Soon after the Greeks, local populations named Messapi, were conquered by the Roman empire, who founded the city of Rudiae and Cavallino, right on the edges of this spectacular valley. Byzantines followed up, coming from Byzans (Costantinopoli – current Istanbul) who first caused social and economic dislocations, but then able to create a booming commercial activity with the Orient.
When Romans, Greeks and Saracen were done fighting to rule this territory, it was the Church’s and The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies’ turn to begin their battles to split the lands.
It’s 1500, and in La Valle della Cupa the Masserie start to rise. These mansions were instrumental for agricultural and farming purposes. The idea of living nobly in the countryside took three centuries to kick in, and it’s only around the second half of the 19th century that wealthy families moved into these villas to live permanently.
The 19th century was the time in which La Valle della Cupa developed the most delightful sense of rural architecture: the art of sculpting Pietra Leccese had been mastered to perfection and it was largely used to decorate each room of the Masserie, as well as cathedrals and palaces. Columns and arches were built and thoroughly embellished on every entrance, porch or decorations in their gardens.
In 1900, some changes occurred due to the wars: the population was looking for safe shelters due to the bombardments and moved out of the cities to hide in the countryside. They eventually settled in and, once the fights were over, they stuck around to work the fields and create their own way of sustaining their families.
For the first half of the 20th century, the production of wine, olive oil and tobacco was booming. La Valle della Cupa made its people increasingly wealthier and more skilful in working and exporting the products of the land.
But it lasted only some decades.
Stricter regulations started to apply, and tobacco could not be farmed anymore. The soil that had been used to a certain plantation for centuries had to be repurposed. Many people didn’t know how to do so on such a large scale, or lacked the financial resources to act on it. Ending up with the fields unused.
Then, in the 80s, most of the wine production systems were replaced by large scale, more automated methods, which let many expert hands jobless, often resulting in less refined final products.
Nowadays, we face another catastrophic problem. A bacteria named Xylella has appeared on our centuries-old olive groves. It affected only the trees in Salento. And conveniently, large scale corporations made it known that they want to plant their trees on these lands. Nevertheless, one can still have a glance at what the past beauty of this land was by walking along these dusty roads. They’re still vivid in my memory, fields glowing in the sun with their dark green healthy crowns.
Over the centuries, the countless hardships and tragic events that rained upon this piece of scenic land have shaped La Valle della Cupa to the way we know it. Perhaps some think it was prettier or richer in the past. But the ones who live it and love it, still treat it as it’s the most precious place on earth, teaching us that true meaning of resilience, a familiar concept around here.
It’s a place where nature and people have come together to stand up for the common good, to defend their long-lasting traditions, aware that mastery brings shared wealth, health and progress.
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