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Visit Lesina
Lesina is situated on a small peninsula on the southern side of Lesina Lake, to the north of the Puglia region of south-east Italy. It is a place for the tourist who loves to discover nature, with the presence of the lake, sea and lush vegetation, also a large Mediterranean maquis, with woods, pine forests and dunes where the visitor can admire a wide variety of birds and other animals, like the buffalo. To the north lies the 'Marina di Lesina' village, famous for its clear waters.
Lesina is an important and attractive tourist resort characterized by lagoons, with the Lesina and Varano Lakes. Local industries include eel fishing in the Lesina Lake and the cultivation of mussels in Lake of Varano, while many bird species use these two lagoons to nest or stop in their migrations, and can be photographed during nesting and migration - hence Lesina is a popular destination for bird spotters.
In addition to the appeal of the natural surroundings Lesina itself contains some buildings of great artistic interest.
Lesina Cathedral, in the Greek-roman style has had repeated reconstructions over the course of time. The current cathedral was built between 1828 and 1837, and it is located on the site of a former church, built itself in the second half of the seventeenth century near the church which was destroyed during the earthquake of 1630. The cathedral consists of a vestibule, with slender columns and Romanesque arches. The roof and the ceiling, collapsed in 1922, was completed in the early '50s. The interior has a nave with two side chapels, surmounted by paintings of the “Holy Cross” and 'Eucharist”, while the central railing that separates the nave from the liturgical area with the baptismal font is below a painting showing the "Assumption of Mary into heaven".
The Church is decorated with a series of frescoes, which, like the paintings of the side chapels and the central balustrade, are the work of the Neapolitan painter G. Bocchetti (1888-1990, a painter of landscapes and still lifes). The frescoes depict the life of Jesus, from the "Nativity" to the "Flight into Egypt" on one side, the “Meeting of Jesus with the Doctors of the Law ", and" Jesus with Mary and Joseph Carpenter ", on the other side. The cycle is concluded with the 'Last Supper', located above the entrance of the Cathedral.
Very interesting close to Lesina is the Abbey Church of Santa Maria della Ripalta, which holds a wooden statue dating from the Renaissance and depicting the “Madonna with the child". According to critics, the work seems to be a copy of the Neapolitan school of Giovanni da Nola (1488-1548, a sculptor who was able to blend the art of the fourteenth century with the ideas that came from the art of Michelangelo [1475-1564]).
In addition to its natural and artistic resources, the Gargano region is also known for its culinary tradition. Lesina is most famous for the eels, with which the local speciality eel soup is prepared, best accompanied by one of the delicious local wines.
Note: photo by Giuseppe Quattrone is copyright and shows lake and countryside just east of Lesina. See also history of Lesina