We recently became aware of a situation regarding visitor access to the historic center of Lecce. It was reported that at times tour group motorcoaches are being denied access to the area due to concerns about traffic congestion and pollution. However, a problem arises in that this ban is requiring visitors to walk some distance from the motorcoach dropoff point to reach the old city. This is particularly burdensome for the elderly and other visitors who may have difficulty walking, especially in the intense summer heat of southern Puglia. We asked Sally Mayo of Cultour for her perspective on the situation. Here’s what she reports from Lecce:

Transport is an enormous problem here for a complexity of reasons, but attempts to resolve the problems by various administrations are often poorly considered and create others in their place.

Traffic and parking in the center of town is one of the most serious problems that the local government has to deal with. Occasionally, the city organizes traffic bans on Sunday (to all cars and traffic) in order to alleviate problems of the excessive pollution created by the cars, but naturally, seeking to create as little chaos and inconvenience to the voting public as possible, the ban is imposed during the lunch hour when there is no traffic in town anyway!

I may sound rather cynical, but tourists don’t vote and so inconveniencing them by insisting that their coaches stop outside the historical center probably seems like good political thinking. It removes the problem of the traffic and disruption they can cause without ever being something most voters need to consider much. It is true that during the summer when there are many, many tourist coaches, the streets in the center have trouble coping with both the additional traffic and the interruption of the flow of traffic caused when the buses stop to let passengers out.

I remember when the buses were able to stop there and indeed there were often scores of tourists floating about in the center of a busy road and it did tend to cause both disruption and, at least in my opinion, some danger to the tourists. The solution can certainly be better managed than it is, though.

When there are special events in Lecce and traffic bans are in place in the center, there are an abundance of car parks just outside the historical center which fill up with those coming to Lecce for the occasion. I’m not sure, though, whether the administration takes the extra step of putting on shuttles that can move the people from the car park to a more convenient dropoff point closer to the center. This could also be a solution for the tourist coaches. There are standard intra-urban buses that pass by the coach dropoff point, but I don’t know that they would be a particularly convenient solution for a large group of tourists.

Once in the historical center, it is also the case that there are few facilities provided by the local council for tourists; there are only two public toilets that I am aware of in the town (one near the castle and one near the main piazza), both of which are underground and thus are accessible by rather steep stairs and which, if I am not mistaken, are often closed and are poorly maintained. In the two main piazzas (in the historical and modern center) there are plenty of benches and some shade to take a rest, but in the summer these fail to meet demand. There is the tourist train which transports visitors for a tour of the city for a fee. It is a good way for those less-able walkers to see the historical center.

There is a lot of discussion, which increases each year, about developing services for tourists, but there is really a serious lack of direction and coordination of these initiatives. It is often difficult for tourists to get information about services and initiatives which are on offer, especially for non-Italian speakers.

Despite presenting here all these very real and present problems for tourists in Lecce, it is also to be said that the relative “backwardness” is something which appeals to many who visit. One has the sense of having made a real “discovery” upon finding the gems which are buried here. The extra effort required to go anywhere and do anything renders what is special even more so. Perhaps I am making excuses for the local apathy which permits the situation to continue as it does? It is not apathy in the face of tourists, but general apathy towards government promises of change and improvement to services and facilities in the city.

What is clear is that, in any case, tourism outside the peak season of July-August is advisable, as is a good pinch of patience and openness. Some Anglo-Saxon tourists unfortunately come to Italy with the expectation of finding everything functioning as it does in their country of origin and everyone capable of speaking with them in English. If it were so here, it wouldn’t be Italy. It’s important too to take the negative things with the same degree of calm and resignation as the locals and conserve one’s energy and enthusiasm for the wonders which distinguish this part of the world as one of the finest anywhere.

Photo by Thomas Granieri/Puglia Connection