Accolans

Giurdignano like many other towns in Salento is a place of ancient origins. A necropolis of the II-III century AD found in the Cantalupi district, it shows how the area was already "inhabited" in Roman times, the testimonies left here by some Italian-Greek monks are of inestimable value.

Later Giurdignano became a fief of Otranto with a castle, a sort of winter district for the soldiers who settled in Otranto. To confirm this thesis there is also a Greek epigraph found above a tomb near the town itself.

Over the centuries Giurdignano has been able to witness a significant population increase, the inhabitants of the nearby farmhouses in fact, Vicinanza and Palanzano, constantly migrated towards Giurdignano. To dominate the Jurdignanese fiefdom were the Lords Alfarano Capece, a family of Greek origin, who descended from Alano Lord of Epirus. Until the 17th century, the protector and patroness of Giurdignano was the Madonna del Tuono. Then San Rocco was chosen which in the period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries protected the town from the plague.

Legend has it that in the time of the plague, a Venetian ship passed through the Otranto Channel, whose crew on board had been completely infected. The commander then asked for help to San Rocco making a vow that if he were saved, he would make sure that a statue was dedicated to him, as soon as he arrived on the ground and in the first village he had encountered that had San Rocco as protector. Arrived in Giurdignano after escaping the plague, learned that the patron was San Rocco, he built a beautiful statue and donated it to the town, thus fulfilling his vow. San Rocco is commemorated on August 16th.

During the course of 1100 Tancredi D'Altavilla, Count of Lecce and King of Sicily destined the fief of Giurdignano to Niccolò De Noha, the son of this, Guglielmo, in 1269 lost the fief and bought it Carlo I D'Angiò who to his time he gave it to Erardo Fremi and in 1272 it passed to Filippo De Tuzziaco. This was followed by his son Ezelino, who died immediately, since there were no relatives in Italy who could take possession of the fiefdom, it became property of the Kingdom.
Filippo d'Angiò, prince of Taranto, handed over the fief of Giurdignano to his personal doctor Giacomo Pipino. During the 1300s the feud passed from Giacomo Pipino to Guidone Sambiasi.
The latter was succeeded by Rinaldo Sambiasi who married to Giovanna di Belloluogo, their only daughter Antonella sold the fief to Giovanni Filippo Santacroce, who took over from Giacomo Venturi. On the death of this succeeded his son Leonardo nicknamed "Monaco" who married Filippa Carmignano, and their son Roberto Venturi married Elisabetta Dell'Acaya. Subsequently Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo took the fiefdom from the Venturi and gave it in 1439 to Margherita Dell'Acaya who bought it as guardian of his son Buzio De Noha, the successors were in order: his son Antonello, Niccolò, Giovanni Vincenzo, this gave it to Giovanni Paolo Rondachi. His son Bernardino gave it to Cesare De Ponte during the 1500s with the return agreement. The fiefdom returned to Bernardino Rondachi who gave it to Giovanbattista Matino, then his son Vittorio inherited it, then it belonged to Scipione Santabarbara, again to Vittorio Matino who assigned it to his creditor, Giovanni Bernardino Saetta. Then it fell to Orazio Vignes Barone di Pisignano, to Niccolò Prototico, and to the subsequent children of his sons: Francesco Prototico, Antonio Prototico, Giuseppe Prototico, Antonia and Maddalena Prototico who brought him as a dowry to Carlo Alfarano Capece. The fief passed to the various successors: Antonio, Francesco, Benedetto who maintained it until the end of the feudalism.

Giurdignano is about 45 km away. From Lecce, it has an essentially agricultural economy, based on the cultivation of olive and wheat. Another characteristic of Giurdignano is the presence of megaliths: numerous menhirs are still visible in its territory: Palanzano, Monte Tangolo, San Paolo, Vicinanze I, Vicinanze II, Madonna of Constantinople, Fausa, San Vincenzo; and several Dolmen: Orfine, Peschio, Chiancuse, Cauda, ​​Grassi, Sferracavalli. Outside the urban perimeter there are the remains of the famous Centopietre, an ancient early Christian monastery. On the way to Uggiano there are the most important rock church of Salento: San Salvatore, from the early Middle Ages which has some frescoes in the central apse.
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