Puglia is a wonderful land that has nothing to envy of anyone. The tourist offer it offers is vast and includes real pearls that are absolutely worth visiting. Yet, there are still some great little treasures and places of extraordinary beauty but less known.
Culture is the basis of the action of our Pro Loco, an association that also takes care of safeguarding the history and traditions of our country. Culture is one of the engines of growth of a community, but it could also represent, especially for small communities like ours, a further possibility for development and employment. In fact, we should look at culture not as a niche product, but as a driving force capable of acting as a platform for a new “renaissance” which must also involve small local areas, such as Cellino San Marco.
Precisely for some years the UNPLI Puglia APS together with the Puglia Region and the Pro Loco Foundation of Italy, has been organizing the regional initiative “Hidden Treasures in Puglia” and for 2024 for the days of 25 and 26 May it has selected 12 “treasures” including “Villa Neviera” and the adjacent forest, for the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto.
The small green lung, located in via Campi Salentina in Cellino San Marco, a few steps from the town, is one of the strips of the Oritana forest in the area. In addition to being the park of the “Villa Neviera” (or “Torre del Rifugio”) for having hosted King Vittorio Emanuele III in September 1943, fleeing from Rome due to known historical events, it has within it an interesting necropolis open-air dug into the rocky bank that extends into part of the “Lì Veli” forest where, in addition to the presence of parallelepiped tombs, some cylindrical wells are evident, probably home to funerary vases.
This site has never really been the subject of in-depth investigations, but the archaeological/scientific discovery in 1948 of an Eneolithic oven tomb in the same grove, a short distance from the necropolis in question, suggests that the place should have been, with good probability, an ancient urban agglomeration and inherent the presence of civilizations of various eras.
“Villa Neviera”, built in 1888 and residence of Prof. Antonio De Viti De Marco (one of the greatest Italian economists and politicians between the 19th and 20th centuries), owes its name to the fact that in its cellars it was possible to conserve snow supplies even in the hottest periods.
The “Lì Veli” grove (15 hectares) is mainly made up of holm oaks, with some oaks; at the edges of the private residence there is a specimen of Vallonea Oak and, inside, a specimen of Virgiliana Oak as well as the undergrowth with essences typical of the Mediterranean scrub. A few steps away stands the Masseria “Li Veli”, to give life to a high quality project in Puglia, a region with ancient winemaking traditions. During the two days the site will be described by a tourist guide and will come to life through the activities that will be organized in side: various exhibitions and tasting of typical products, food and wine, baked goods, pastries, etc.
We will receive visitors from many areas of Puglia and this will be a source of great satisfaction for us and for Cellino.
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