Sagre and local festivals
The best way to discover a place is to be tempted by its cuisine. Local festivals, indeed, are good occasions to taste local food which includes peculiar fish but also meat varieties, cooked in special ways. From the festival dedicated to the "Municeddha" (little earth snails) which takes place in Cannole and the one dedicated to the "Purpu" (Octupus) in Melendugno, by passing through Felline and its Potato's sagra (local term for festival), it is only a matter of choice. Meat lovers, then, could find in Seclì a tasteful meeting: people celebrate the "pezzetti" (horse meat cooked with tomatoes and onion), eaten with sandwiches or alone, accompained by good red wines (Primitivo, Negramaro, Salice Salentino).
Obviously wine is the most wanted, honoured and drunk drink of the region (Carpignano, Nardò, Copertino, Galatina and many other cities are used to organize events dedicated to wine). For those who love strong spicy flavours, in Ruffano, every year "Maru - il peperoncino in festa", delights his guests with chili peppers of any kind.
And let's end in style with the well-known "Pasticciotto", the typical sweet of Salento, filled with pastry cream and chocolate (in same versions), celebrated in Surano.
Finally, oils, beers, cheeses, cold cuts, vegetables, fish, meat, fruits, ice-creams and chocolate are only few of the many ingredients part of the "Mercatino del gusto" (local food and drink fair) of Maglie, where every year the city offers the opportunity to admire the city's beauties while eating and drinking most of the regions' excellences.
Music, culture and visual arts
The most famous and well known event of summer in Salento is the "Notte della Taranta" in Melpignano. It takes place in August in Melpignano (after several other stages in the nearby towns) and it attracts people from all regions due to its well known artists who come from all over the world.
It is the ideal concert for Taranta and Pizzica lovers, who could dance and enjo themselves under the notes of these traditional songs, renewed and trasnformed by young musician generations.
But Salento is not only Pizzica; it is the stage for culture, cinema and art and Specchia well reflects all these features being elected one of the best "Borghi più belli d'Italia" and Bandiera Arancione del Touring Club and last but not least for the "Festa del Cinema del reale".
In Trepuzzi, "Bande a Sud", it is a festival which promotes local musical culture and it is a nice occasion to gather, drink and eat together. Torrepaduli, then, with its festival of Saint Rocco it is the best event where you could admire the well known "swords' dance", where people dance while fighting at the rhytm of tambourines, castanels and accordions.
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