The civic coat of arms of Cursi has a man running with a parcel in his right hand on a green background. Cursi had 4 menhirs, those big blocks of stone dating to the Age of Bronze. The menhirs called ‘Croce di Bagnolo’ and Croce delle Tagliate’ can still be seen today but other two have been destroyed, their names were ‘Chetta’ and ‘Abbondanza’.  We do not know exactly when and how the village was found but the scholars have three hypothesis. It was probably founded by the centurion Cursio when he built here a house for himself and his soldiers. The name of the village could also come from Marco Curzio, a young man who committed suicide and gave his soul to the Devil. The third and more probable hypothesis says that the village was a place where the couriers met with the messages for and from the Salento. It was founded as a military station in 267 B.C. with the name of Curseomnium which means couriers. When the roman Empire decayed the village was sacked by the Greeks, the Longobards and the Saracens. When the Normans came, the King Tancredi gave the village to the Church of Otranto even if later, the baron Anastasio Maresgallo was given a part of it. In the 12^th and 13^th centuries the village belonged to the Church of Otranto again. In the Angevin period, from 13^th to the 14^th century the village was divided in three parts. One part went to the Church of Otranto while Pietro Hugot was given the other two parts. The village was also ruled by the Maremontes and the Venturas. In 1633 Girolamo d’Acquaviva bought the village for 6200 ducats, sold it to Giovan Battista Cucinelli 7 years later and earned 6300 ducats. Mr Cucinelli was very ambitious and he was given the title of Prince by the King of Spain, Philip IV. Among the famous people of Cursi we remember: Michele De Pietro was born in 1884, took his degree in Law and took part to the First World War. He took side against the Fascists and became senator of the first republican parliament. He was chosen as Vice-president of the Senate and Ministry of Justice. He died in 1967. Vito Del Me lived in the 18th century and was an appreciated priest, he gave all he had to the poor people.