In June 1219 Frederick II gave the casale to the archbishop of Otranto, and the church of Otranto kept it without a break until 1806, when feudalism ended: for almost six centuries the archbishop was also «Baron Oggiani», and his baronial court sat on the ground floor of the tower of the Angel.
The Byzantine crypt now called sant'Elena was, until the nineteenth century, san Solomo: the new name would be a corruption of Eleusa, the epithet of the Virgin painted inside it. It has three naves cut in the rock, twelve pillars and the small holes for the oil lamps. The name of the village, instead, would come from the Latin Vigilarum, the look-out post: the first houses grew around a tower that watched the road to Otranto.
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, from 21 to 23 July; late July brings the Caloma Festival at Casamassella
Uggiano la Chiesa celebrates Saint Mary Magdalene from 21 to 23 July, in the church dedicated to her. Late July, at Casamassella, brings the Caloma Festival, linked to the Weavers' Village project.
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 Uggiano la Chiesa, but an easy day trip away.
