Gallipoli old town and the western seafront

Gallipoli's old town is not on the coast, it is off it: a small limestone island a hundred metres from the modern town, reached by a single bridge and ringed by a defensive wall you can walk almost the whole way round. Inside, the lanes are narrow, salt-stained and lined with baroque churches, fishmongers and laundry.

The wall is the reason to come at the end of the day. Because the island lies on the Ionian side, the western ramparts face open sea and take the entire sunset — you can walk fifty metres and change the background from a fishing harbour to bare water to a church dome, without losing the light.

Morning is the working city: the fish market by the bridge sells what came in overnight, and the harbour side is loud, wet and full of nets. It photographs completely differently from the evening and is worth a separate visit rather than a detour.

Gallipoli is about forty-five minutes from Otranto and is the busiest resort in the Salento in high summer, with a nightlife reputation to match. In June and September it is a quiet fishing town with the same walls and the same light.