During Christmas week, Bill and I decided to take a little side trip since both the Vatican Library and the library at the American Academy in Rome were closed. We were planning to visit Palermo, Sicily, but Francesco at the Rome Center suggested Lecce instead. Lecce is located in the heel of the Italian peninsula.
This may seem like a macabre introduction to Lecce--a look at its walls. Before you see the glory of Lecce's exuberant Baroque style, I wanted to show you the effects of time and sadly, of human intervention.
As I have mentioned before, Italian cities are are very distinct from each other, and Lecce is no exception. In Roma you notice the rosy, ochre hues of pollution and mold-stained walls; in Lecce you see the light golden color of the Pietra di Lecce, a sandstone found in the region. Because it is sandstone, it is very easy to carve and lends itself to extravagant expressions of artistic fancy. On the other hand, because it is sandstone, it is subject to the ravages of time and the elements.
Originally, the ashlar was given a smooth finish, as suggested by what I think is a replacement stone in the picture above. Over time, however, the stone seems to be dissolving into numerous cavities.
If you touch the stone, it leaves a powdery residue on your fingers.
If Mother Nature isn't messing with the beauty of Lecce, man is. Sadly, there is a lot of graffiti in Lecce. Roma seems to be on top of its graffiti, at least in the historic center, these days. I was told that the sanitation department routinely paints over the new graffiti in Roma. That may be an easier task for the Romans since many of their surfaces appear to be stuccoed. On the other hand, much of Lecce contains very porous rock which I would think would make their job more difficult.
Still, the walls of Lecce hold little vignettes of beauty, and on this hopeful note, we'll leave the decay of Lecce for the beauty that the city holds.
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