The civic coat of arms of Porto Cesareo has a blue background and it represents a siren with the   tail in her hands. In the upper part of the coat of arms, you can read a Latin inscription "caesarian communitas." Porto Cesareo is on the ionic coast and its origins are very ancient. This discovery of some  ancient archaeological finds proves that man already lived here during the Neolithic Age. There are no historical documents about the first village: probably the first village was built after the construction of an ancient harbour called  "portus sasinae," that was used for commercial exchanges. Then it became a flourishing Messapian centre but it was destroyed and razed to the ground by the people of Gallipoli that could not bear the economic success of Porto Cesareo. After some centuries the centre was repopulated thanks to a group of fishermen that settled down on this territory. The first historical documents date back to the XIII century, and according to a census Porto Cesareo  was uninhabited. During the Angevin domination  an important  military and commercial harbour was built , and Charles V made an imposing tower erect to defend  the village. Porto Cesareo was first incorporated into the Principality of Taranto  and it was invaded a lot of times. It remained a frazione  of Nardò until 1974,  when it got its own administrative autonomy. Among the most interesting local people there  is the legendary Artas, that  lived between the V- IV centuries  B.C. and he was most fearless and brave Messapian  of all the Salento.