The name comes from the Latin hortella, the little gardens, and it says exactly why the village is where it is: in a Salento of thin, rocky soil, here there was a little good land and, above all, water. A shallow water table, held up by layers of clay, allowed a community to stay put; and it is a rule that holds for the whole of Salento, where the size of villages and the distance between them depended on wells far more than on roads or lords. That balance was broken only once, when the great Apulian aqueduct arrived.
In what is now piazza San Giorgio the documents say there stood a menhir: it is gone, but it is carved on the stone coat of arms above the door of the mother church. In largo San Vito two underground crypts open up, and in the one dedicated to the Madonna della Grotta the restored frescoes tell the Catholic faith as it was preached after the Council of Trent. The surnames of the village record Greek immigration, and one street, the Giudecca, the presence of Jewish families. Until 1806 Ortelle belonged to the county of Castro.
Burrata di Andria
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Next up: Saint George and Saint Fortunatus of Lecce and the ancient Fiera di San Vito, Wednesday 18 August
Nearest airport: Brindisi, 79 km away
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📅 Every year, on 18 August
Ortelle celebrates Saint George and Saint Fortunatus of Lecce together on 18 August. The Fiera di San Vito, on the fourth Sunday of October, is among the oldest in Puglia, active for centuries.
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 Ortelle, but an easy day trip away.
