On the civic coat of arms of Surbo there is a she-wolf, an ilex tree and a blue and grey background. Some scholars think that the name would derive from the Latin word "suburbium" that means ‘suburb of Lecce’ and the village is only a few kilometres far from that town and in the past there was a tunnel between them. Other scholars think that the name could come from the Greek "soyrbos" or the Latin "sorbus", both words mean ‘sorb’ or ‘mountain ash’. The fruits of those trees were dark red and had the shape of a pear. Those trees were very common in that village even if nowadays they do not exist any longer. The village was apparently founded by Litio Idomedeo, King of Crete and Lord of Lecce or by people coming from the near Casale Daurio, also known as Casale San Pietro. We do not have any historic evidence for those hypothesis but we can find the name of this village in same documents written by Tancredi the Norman and Henry IV in 1190, 1193 and in 1197. The village was donated to the Benedictine Nuns and they kept it until 1377. It became part of the County of Lecce with Giovanni D’Enghien and was ruled by the Queen Mary D’Enghien until 1446. It was ruled by the Orsini Del Balzo until 1463 when the Principality of Taranto declined. In 1528 the territory of Surbo was purchased by Pirro delli Falconi who left it to his sister Victoria when he died. She sold it to Giò Cola Capece, his son Francesco Antonio sold it to Livio Pepe. The last heir of the Pepes married to Francesco Severino in 1672 and in 1792 the Pepes sold everything they had to Don Giuseppe Romano from Brindisi who ruled until 1806 when the feudal system came to end. Among the famous people from Surbo we can remember: Vincenzo Ampolo was born in 1845, his father wanted him to become a layer but he was much more interested in Arts and Science which he studies at the University of Naples. He became a good poet and an appreciated philosopher. He wrote many books such as ‘Dreams and Sunsets’ or ‘The Flower of the Fair’. He died at the beginning of the last century. Saverio De Rinaldis was born in 1732 and was the son of Isabella Paladini and the physicist Isaia De Rinaldis. He studied to the Jesuit College in Lecce. He founded a High School in Gallipoli and wrote many books such as ‘Paolineide’. He died in 1818. We can also remember: Pietro valzani, Luigi Messa, Raffaele Pico, Noe Scalinci and Vincenzo De Marco.