Opening hours for the Infopoint and visits to Castello Volante:
Tuesday to Friday 9.00 am–1.00 pm
Saturday and Sunday 10.00 am–6.00 pm
Book your experience
+39 351 913 7972
SUNDAY 12
THE COURTYARD OF TRADITIONAL GAMES A play area within the castle grounds
Throughout the day, the castle courtyard will welcome children and adults who wish to switch off and rediscover the magical simplicity of traditional games. The space will be set up for both free play and competitive tournaments.
Handcrafted wooden games to test aim and concentration, a large hoop to burn off some energy whilst moving about, and two stations to challenge each other to a game of ‘Pantaleo’ memory – a card game in Griko created by the nursery school children.
Every Sunday, the Castle thus becomes a place where play and memory intertwine, bringing ancient forms of socialising and direct interaction back to life.
Recommended for everyone.
Free entry for all visitors to the Castle and guests of ‘Sundays at the Castle’
10.00 – 18.00
FROM CASTELLO DE MONTI TO THE FLYING CASTLE Guided tour of the castle
Come and discover two millennia of a history still in the making.
A journey through the history of Salento and Puglia, starting with the original medieval castle embraced by the impregnable Aragonese fortress, through to the opulent court life of the 16th century and the stunning façade considered one of the jewels of Lecce Baroque.
A journey that also continues through the region’s society and economy in the modern era, thanks to the remains of the steam mill, the oil mill and the tobacco factory.
A journey that never ends, as you’ll virtually step aboard the “Castello Volante”, a community hub and creative hub that today breathes new life into the history of this place.
Booking is compulsory for groups of more than 20 people.
Ticket: €10
10.00 am
CASTLE MISSION: A guided tour and team-based game for families, featuring costumes and medieval games.
After a brief introductory guided tour, families are divided into teams and the children are given the insignia of their respective houses. Immersed in a historical adventure inspired by the castle’s history, the teams – equipped with a map – move from room to room tackling puzzles, quizzes and practical challenges. The team that observes the hidden marks on the walls most carefully and gathers the clues scattered along the route, demonstrating teamwork, memory and ingenuity, wins the mission.
The winning team will be honoured with a simulated knighting ceremony, receiving a certificate from the Company of Knights Defenders of the Flying Castle.
Recommended for families with children aged 8–12 years
Booking essential.
Tickets: €10 adults, €5 children
11.30 am
SATURDAY 18
FROM MAITO TO CORIGLIANO: A HISTORY OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY Guided tour of the Museum of Industrial Archaeology in Terra d’Otranto and the ‘factories’ of Corigliano Castle, in collaboration with Infopoint Maglie
Booking essential for groups of at least 10 people
Ticket: €13, including admission to the Maito and the castle
3.00 pm
THE CASTLE, THE MILL AND STORIES OF WATER AND FLOUR IN CORIGLIANO A unique tour of the Castle and its surroundings for “TRAME DI PASTA”, in collaboration with Pasta Manta
During this unique tour, organised by Infopoint Corigliano d’Otranto, we will symbolically mix water and flour to knead together little-known stories. In Corigliano, water has not merely been a vital element for settlement and life, as it is for all towns and villages. Water has also been central to many places that define the town’s identity and are steeped in the experiences of its inhabitants: the Pozzelle, the ‘Vasca’ of the Apulian Aqueduct, and the ‘Eureka’ spring. But flour, too, played a central role – so central, in fact, that the Castle itself was home to the ‘San Nicola Steam Mill’. With the boom of the Industrial Revolution, others were added, such as the former Coratelli Mill. And with the new production of ‘industrial’ quantities of flour, the first pasta factories also sprang up, such as the former Pedone Pasta Factory, whose architectural significance can be seen from the castle’s west terrace. These factories, which we shall view from the outside, constitute a heritage of industrial archaeology that is yet to be fully discovered and appreciated.
“PASTA TALES: VOICES OF THE EARTH AND ROOTS”
The Bookshop at Corigliano d’Otranto Castle hosts the third and final stop on this tour, which began in Aradeo and is organised by Pastificio Manta, in collaboration with the writer and illustrator Fabiana Renzo, to celebrate its first 33 years. In Salento, pasta has never been merely food. It has been a necessity, work and ingenuity. It was a matter of household economy even before it became an industry. It has been a ritual in homes, hard labour in the fields and energy in the mills. Above all, it has been memory.
Aradeo, Corigliano and many towns across Salento have known the sound of the mills, the smell of ground wheat, the steam from the first batches of production. They have witnessed the birth of family-run pasta factories and have transformed domestic knowledge – often preserved and passed down by women – into a business. They have made pasta not just a product, but an identity. “TRAME DI PASTA” stems from this realisation: to pause and view pasta not as an end result, but as a process; not as a commodity, but as history and culture.
The project, structured as a three-stage itinerary, begins in Aradeo (home to the pasta factory) and the fields of the Sante Le Muse (Salve), it concludes – and not by chance – at the Bookshop of Corigliano Castle, once the site of a steam-powered mill and now a venue for selling the region’s finest local produce, including Manta pasta.
Free event, booking essential.
5.00 pm
SUNDAY 19
THE COURTYARD OF TRADITIONAL GAMES A play area within the castle grounds
Throughout the day, the castle courtyard will welcome children and adults keen to switch off and rediscover the magical simplicity of traditional games. The space will be set up both for free play and for competing in a points-based tournament.
Handcrafted wooden games to test aim and concentration, a large hoop to burn off some energy whilst moving about, and two stations to challenge each other to a game of ‘Pantaleo’ memory – a card game in Griko created by the nursery school children.
Every Sunday, the Castle thus becomes a place where play and memory intertwine, bringing ancient forms of socialising and direct interaction back to life.
Suitable for everyone.
Free entry for all visitors to the Castle and guests of ‘Sundays at the Castle’
10.00–18.00
SATURDAY 25
THE COURTYARD OF TRADITIONAL GAMES A play area within the Castle grounds
Throughout the day, the Castle courtyard will welcome children and adults who wish to switch off and rediscover the magical simplicity of games from days gone by. The space will be set up both for free play and for competing in a points-based tournament.
Handcrafted wooden games to test aim and concentration, a large hoop to burn off some energy whilst moving about, and two stations to challenge each other to a game of ‘Pantaleo’ memory – a card game in Griko created by the nursery school children.
Every Sunday, the Castle thus becomes a place where play and memory intertwine, bringing ancient forms of socialising and direct interaction back to life.
Recommended for everyone.
Free admission for all visitors to the Castle and guests of ‘Sundays at the Castle’
10.00–18.00
THE TOWER OF SAN GIORGIO’S BOOKS Reading and creativity workshop in collaboration with Magma Aps and the Corigliano d’Otranto Library
St George, depicted as the protector of one of the Castle’s towers, has been celebrated for centuries in Corigliano d’Otranto with a historical fair held on 23 April, World Book Day. The veneration of the saint has ancient roots: it developed around a local monastery which housed a scriptorium, where monk scribes copied and preserved books. This tradition has given rise to a workshop that invites participants to discover reading as an act of courage and knowledge, capable of defeating ignorance and opening up new worlds. Led by staff from the municipal library housed within the castle, participants will explore picture books and selected titles dedicated to the themes of castles, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque period, as well as countless aspects of the local tangible and intangible heritage (the Grika language, traditional agricultural produce, tarantism and folk traditions, etc.).
Recommended for children aged 8–12
Booking essential.
Ticket: €6 (Free for children from Corigliano and their friends)
10.30 am
FROM THE SAN GIORGIO TOWER TO ITS FAIR A special tour to discover the historical origins of the Fair.
Organised by InfoPoint Corigliano d’Otranto
In the 16th century, the Fair could not begin without the noble lord’s solemn opening of trade from the top of the tower (not coincidentally) of San Giorgio. How did the cult of St George come about and what traces has it left on the town’s oldest monuments? When and where did the fair originate? How did it flourish again, becoming intertwined with the history of the De’ Monti marquisate? What did a cattle fair look like in the past? We shall discover all this on this special guided tour, which weaves together the threads linking the Castle, the town and this ancient tradition, tracing its history through the town’s streets, the artefacts in the emerging museum space, the beautiful photographs on display from the Palumbo Archive, the travel accounts of ancient chroniclers and the words carved beneath the high relief of the Saint on the tower of the same name.
Duration: 2 hours
Booking essential.
Ticket: €10 for adults. Free for residents of Corigliano and a reduced rate of €6 for their guests
5.00 pm
