Pietra Leccese

The Lecce stone is the basis of the miracle of many architectural and artistic expressions of the Salento, here where are the deposits, sometimes outcropping at the surface, from which is extracted.

And’ a rock, from the morphological point of view, calcareous, in which there are a number of different minerals, predominantly calcium carbonate, and then clays and quartz.

La sua fortuna nel campo dell’impiego artistico ed architettonico è dovuta ad alcune sue caratteristiche di lavorabilità, that have made, since ancient, a preferred material by artisans Salento.

At first, when the stone is extracted from the subsoil it is very easily workable, even may be partly shaped by hand, thanks to the presence of the clay content in its composition.

Come si lavora la Pietra Leccese

Once processed the stone has the characteristic to consolidate and harden over time, while being particularly sensitive to the attacks of the weather, water wind, smog. Per questo motivo essa necessita, during processing of suitable treatments that prevent become moldy.

The Lecce stone non è solo particolarmente facile da lavorare e duttile al punto da costituire una materia ideale per quelle lavorazioni molto complesse rappresentate per esempio dalle decorazioni barocche o dall’arte statuaria, but also has another merit, its coloration.

As you get older in fact it presents, depending on the percentages of materials present in the rock, una gamma cromatica molto affascinante e calda, with colors ranging from beige to pale yellow to amber, and even, in certain cases, in deep shades of pink.

Se questo materiale ha conosciuto una grande fortuna durante l’epoca barocca, this does not mean that it is not used in previous eras, even before the big boost to its use promoted by the Romans, who used abundantly in civil construction.

Even today, the processing of local stone is a very lively and stimulating a vibrant craft business. In the historical centers of Salento, Lecce especially but also in other places, it is not unusual to see small shops where you work the dusty local stone in the form of statues and architectural elements, for the domestic market but also, sempre più spesso all’esportazione all’estero, where the local stone is very appreciated and requested.