Alessano: what to see, don Tonino Bello and 2027 guide [GUIDE]

What to do and what to see

You can walk round Alessano in half a day, but it deserves more: the old town and its churches, don Tonino’s tomb and the rock-cut village of Macurano, Montesardo on the hill and, for those who love walking, the route on foot to Leuca. Here are the experiences not to miss.

1. The Chiesa Madre del Santissimo Salvatore (45 minutes)

On Piazza Don Tonino Bello stands the collegiate church of the Santissimo Salvatore, Alessano’s Chiesa Madre, which was the cathedral of the diocese until 1818. It was built from the second half of the eighteenth century, to a design by the Alessano-born architect Felice De Palma, on the site of an old twelfth-century Romanesque cathedral, of which the bell tower remains; the work took decades and the church was only reopened for worship in the mid-nineteenth century. The neoclassical façade was left unfinished; the bronze doors, with episodes from the life of Jesus, date from 1994. The interior, a Latin cross with a nave, two aisles and a dome, holds Baroque altars, the papier-mâché statues of the apostles and the evangelists and the church’s most precious painting, «Tobias and the Angel» by the Caravaggesque painter Paolo Finoglio. Here don Tonino Bello received the sacraments and, on 8 December 1957, was ordained a priest.

2. The old town and the Renaissance palazzi (1-2 hours)

The old centre of Alessano has a medieval layout: stone-paved lanes that end in small squares, courtyard houses with a shared well, the «mignani», outside staircases with a small balcony, and carved doorways and balconies. Along its streets you come across the palazzi of the town’s golden age. Palazzo Ducale, on Via Alessio Comneno, was built at the end of the fifteenth century by the Del Balzo, whose coats of arms with the sixteen-pointed star survive, and later became the residence of the Gonzaga; its Renaissance façade is hidden by a building added in 1794. Palazzo Sangiovanni, on Piazza Castello, has a unique façade, covered in diamond-point rustication arranged in a zigzag. Palazzo Legari was built in 1536 by the merchant Donato Legari, who came from Tricase: once a place of parties and banquets, it has belonged to the municipality since 1986 and houses the library. The tour is completed by the sixteenth-century Rivellino, the Torre dell’Orologio, from 1893, the small church of the Madonna Assunta, Via della Giudecca and the late nineteenth-century villas along Via Scipione Sangiovanni. Palazzo Ducale and Palazzo Sangiovanni are private: you admire them from the outside.

3. Sant’Antonio, the Capuchins and the Madonna del Riposo (1 hour)

Just outside the old core is the church of Sant’Antonio da Padova, one of the oldest in the town, built between the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth century: an inscription from 1671 even claims that St Francis of Assisi built it with his own hands. Inside there are Baroque altars with twisted columns. Not far away, the Capuchin church, from 1628, holds a monumental eighteenth-century carved wooden altar that covers the whole back wall, with the large canvas of the Pardon of Assisi; in the convent there is a Franciscan spirituality house dedicated to don Tonino Bello. On a rise at the edge of the town, towards Presicce, stands the little church of the Madonna del Riposo: legend tells of a pilgrim on his way to Leuca who stopped to sleep in a small cave and dreamt of the Madonna. On 8 September her statue is carried in procession.

4. The tomb of don Tonino Bello (30-45 minutes)

Don Tonino Bello was bishop of Molfetta and president of Pax Christi, and in December 1992, already ill, he marched with about five hundred volunteers to besieged Sarajevo. He died on 20 April 1993 and rests in Alessano’s town cemetery, about 2 km from the centre, on the road to Montesardo and Novaglie. The tomb is very simple, a slab on the ground with no monument, and bears only the name «don Tonino», as he wished. It draws a constant stream of pilgrims: on 20 April 2018 Pope Francis also prayed here, and since 2021 don Tonino has been Venerable. Keep silent and check the opening times: according to the municipality’s website the cemetery is closed on Tuesdays.

5. The rock-cut village of Macurano (1 hour)

About 2 km from the centre, on the road to Novaglie, lies Macurano, an ancient village of caves cut into the tufa at the foot of the hill of Montesardo. Basilian monks fleeing the East at the time of iconoclasm took refuge here and farmed the land, collecting water in cisterns through a system of channels that is still partly visible. In the caves there are carved crosses and the remains of olive mills: Macurano is considered the symbol of Alessano’s olive-oil culture. In the sixteenth century the masseria Santa Lucia was built next to the village, with its tower and the chapel of Santo Stefano from 1585. Visits are by booking: you will find the contacts on the municipality’s website.

6. Montesardo, the village on the hill (1-2 hours)

2 km from Alessano, on a rise of about 180 metres from which the view takes in the Capo di Leuca, is Montesardo, «Muntasardu» in dialect. The name probably comes from «Mons arduus», the steep mountain, and the village was already inhabited in Messapian times: at the base of the castle a stretch of wall in large stone blocks from the fourth to third century BC survives. In the Middle Ages it was a fortress with walls, towers and four gates, demolished in 1867, and it was home to schools of mathematics, philosophy and music. Today it is worth going up for the fifteenth-to-sixteenth-century castle, with its corner towers and corbels, which houses a care home and can be admired from the outside, for the mother church of the Presentazione di Maria, from 1727, with a large fresco of St Christopher on its side, and for the little church of Santa Barbara, from the thirteenth century, with frescoes ranging from the Byzantine period to the fifteenth century: it is privately owned, so check on the spot whether it can be visited.

7. On foot to Leuca on the Cammino di don Tonino (half a day)

The Cammino di don Tonino, open since summer 2020, is a route of more than 400 km, on foot or by bike, that starts in Molfetta, the city where he was bishop, reaches his tomb in Alessano and continues to the sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca. The last stage, from Alessano to Leuca, is 15.6 km long, of medium difficulty, and follows a stretch of the Via Francigena, passing near Barbarano, Giuliano and Patù, as far as the de Finibus Terrae sanctuary. Do it in spring or autumn, setting off early, with water and suitable shoes, and arrange your return with a car or a lift.