Salento's walled island city — a Byzantine Greek settlement on its own limestone rock, olive oil that once lit London's streets, and a Riviera party scene that runs to sunrise
Gallipoli (from the Greek Kallipolis, 'beautiful city') is a Salento fishing city whose entire medieval old town sits on a small limestone island connected to the mainland by a single bridge — one of the few true island old towns on the Italian coast. The city carries a dual identity: by day, a serene Baroque old town of sea-washed lanes and Aragonese fortress; from July to August, the Riviera della Puglia beach scene south of town is one of southern Italy's most celebrated summer destinations.
Gallipoli was originally a Spartan Greek colony; the name derives from Kallipolis meaning 'beautiful city'. The medieval walls — largely intact — were built by the Byzantines and reinforced through Angevin and Aragonese periods. The Aragonese Castello (13th century, rebuilt 16th century) is connected to the island by its own small bridge. The city was known in the 17th-18th centuries as a major producer of refined olive oil — Gallipoli oil was used to light London's street lamps before mineral oil, making the local merchant class wealthy enough to commission the city's extraordinary Baroque c…