Specchia

Because of its historical beauty, fantastic unspoiled landscape and relaxing atmosphere in the ancient village, Specchia has become part of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy and is a destination for numerous visitors from all over the world. Specchia takes its name from that pile of stones arranged in a conical shape, called precisely 'specchia,' used as a defense or lookout post. Certain and documented news about the town are from the year 1000 when, during the Norman domination, it was incorporated by King Tancredi to the county of Lecce and given as a feud to the Monteroni family, around 1191. The fief was then acquired, in 1319, by the Ramondello Orsini Del Balzo family, who associated it with the principality of Taranto, of which it was part until 1463. In this period Specchia, like all the fiefs of the principality of Taranto, passed to the Royal State Property and from this to Ferdinand of Aragon, who gave it to the Guarini. Until 1806, the time of feudal suppression, numerous feudal lords succeeded one another, to whom many streets in the historic center are still named. The family that most honored the town was the Ripa family whose progenitor, Nicolò, was notary to Frederick II.