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There was a beautiful castle in Soleto but today there is only its garden left. It was built around 1400 The Orsini spireaccording to the will of Raimondello Orsini Del Balzo. In 1940 it was in a very poor condition and broke down in 1948. On the contrary, the baronial palaces are still in their splendour. The most important are: Orsini Palace (XVII century), Gervasi Palace (XVII century.), Arcudi Palace (XVI century), Sergio Palace (XVI century) and Scanderberg Palace (XVI century). Soleto has also several churches, the most important is the Parish church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption which was built in 1573 on a pre-existing medieval church with nave and double aisles. Inside the church there are several altars dedicated to St Luigi, St Antonio, St Francesco, the Sacrament and so on. There is also a font and beautiful paintings. The most characteristic part of the parish church is its bell tower. It has a clear Gothic style and is the symbol of Soleto. It is 45 m tall and was built by Francesco Colaci from Surbo in 1397 according to the will of the Orsini del Balzo. The Romanic church of St. Stephen is also interesting. It was probably built in 1347 and inside the tourist can admire the beautiful Byzantine frescos representing the holy spirit descending on the Apostles, the Last Judgement, the Virgin with the Child, saint Stephen and so on. Another important religious building is the convent of St Chiara and the Church of St. Nicola which was built in 1469The portal of the Madonna delle Grazie's Church and rehandled around 1648. The church of the Congregation of the Purgatory was built around the 1660 and is also known as Church of the Souls because of the statues on the portal that represent the souls in the torments of the Purgatory.The Church of Our Lady of Leuca was built in 1766 and inside there is a beautiful fresco representing the Virgin with the Child. The Church of Our Lady of the Graces was built around 1614 has a baroque façade with statues of St. Antonio and St. Francesco. Inside there is an interesting wooden crucifix of the 17th century and a painting representing Our Lady of the Rosary dating to 1607 by Donato Antonio d’Orlando. In the past people used to dug small pools, the ‘pozzelle’, in order to have some water apart. Their structure is very similar to the public cisterns of the Greek cities in the 8th century B.C.. The patron saint of the village is St Antonio from Padua.

 

 

The people of Soleto are usually called "macari" that means magicians. Since 30 or 40 years ago the magicians The sanctury of the Madonna delle Grazieof Soleto were apparently able to cast spells or make love potions. People came also from the near villages and asked the magicians to find somebody to marry or to prevent being cheated. Even the famous Matteo Tafuri has been considered a magician! According to the legend he could foretell somebody’s death or what was going to happen. Somebody says he built the bell tower only in one night, being helped by witches and elves. He was only a man of science, of course, and as such was very interested in astrology and astronomy even if those subjects at that time were looked at very suspiciously.

 

 

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