The name seems to say jujubes, and it does not. In dialect the village is called Sciuvaneddhru, which literally means Giovannello, little John, like the grotto of San Giovanni out in its fields; if it really came from the jujube tree, it would sound quite different in Salentino. And yet for centuries the coat of arms bore an uprooted jujube tree: a mistaken etymology turned into a picture. Today's arms carry four millstones instead, in memory of Quattro Macine, a medieval hamlet that vanished nearby.
It is the least populated comune in the province of Lecce and in the whole Salento peninsula. It was born in the ninth century and grew suddenly when the Saracens destroyed Muro Leccese, in 924, and the refugees scattered across this countryside: neighbouring Sanarica came into being the same way. In 1434 Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo granted it the privilege of having its fief marked off from the surrounding villages. The mother church, rebuilt in 1781, has a front left unfinished: the money ran out first.
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📅 Every year, on 25 July, with the day before and the day after
On 25 July Giuggianello, a municipality of 1,249 inhabitants in the province of Lecce, celebrates its patron Saint Christopher (San Cristoforo), with lights and music on the day before and the day after too.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Giuggianello, but an easy day trip away.
