Narḍ Hotels - Puglia

A baroque jewel in the heart of Puglia's Salento region, Nardò welcomes visitors in the splendid square of Piazza Salandra, at the center of which there is a wonderfully ornate column erected in the 18th century in honour of the Immaculate Conception.

The town's principal buildings religious and pubic buildings are all situated around the square. Not far away lies Giovanni Maria Tarantino's magnificent baroque Church of San Domenico. The Castle, constructed between the 15th and 16th century, now houses Nardò's town hall.

In the nearby bay of Uluzzu a great number of artefacts testifying to the passage of prehistoric populations in the area have been found, artefacts so old as to have merited the classification of Uluzzian paleolithic.

Around about the 8th century B.C. the Messapics founded today's Nardò, giving the town the name "Nerito", derived from the Greek "nar" or water.

The water of the Ionian sea: another reason for which Nardò is an extremely popular tourist destination. Indeed, very few visitors can resist the temptation of taking a dip in the glorious sea which laps the beaches of Santa Maria al Bagno, Portoselvaggio, Santa Caterina and Sant'Isodoro.