Top of the World
The Capo D'Otranto lighthouse, known as the "Palascìa," is now almost a century old. It is located just outside Otranto along the coast road that leads from the city of the martyrs to Santa Cesarea. At this point the Italic peninsula reaches its easternmost point. Again geographers want that here the Adriatic Sea reaches its southern limit and the Ionian Sea begins its adventure instead (common belief has it instead that the waters of the two seas merge in front of Santa Maria di Leuca). The Balkan coasts are no more than 70 km from here, and on cool northerly days or at the first light of dawn it is not difficult to admire Monte Acerauni or the Greek islands of Corfu and Seseno. The lighthouse structure consists of two floors inhabited by the families of the two lighthouse keepers. Until the 1970s it was used as a real lighthouse, but now it is nothing more than a derelict building. But although in a state of abandonment, the lighthouse still retains a strong charm also because of its location, placed between Punta Facì to the north and the bay of Sant'Emiliano, thus in the most beautiful and unspoiled area of Otranto.
