LECCE (anc. Lupiae)  , a town and archiepiscopal see of Apulia, Italy, capital of the province of Lecce, 24 in . S.E. of Brindisi by rail . Pop . (1906) 35,179 . The town is remarkable for the number of buildings of the 17th century, in the rococo style, which it contains; among these are the cathedral of S . Oronzo, and the churches of S . Chiara, S . Croce, S . Domenico, &c., the Seminario, and the Prefettura (the latter contains a museum, with a collection of Greek vases, &c.) . Buildings of an earlier period are not numerous, but the fine portal of the Romanesque church of SS . Nicola e Cataldo, built by Tancred in 118o, may be noted . Another old church is S .

Maria di Cerrate, near the town . Lecce contains a large

government tobacco factory, and is the centre of a fertile agricultural district . To the E . 72 m. is the small harbour of S . Cataldo, reached by electric tramway . Lecce is quite close to the site of the ancient Lupiae, equidistant (25 m.) from Brundusium and Hydruntum, remains of which are mentioned as existing up to the 15th century . A colony was founded there in Roman times, and Hadrian made a harbour—no doubt at S . Cataldo . Hardly a mile' west was Rudiae, the birthplace of the poet Ennius, spoken of by Silius Italicus as worthy of mention for that reason alone . Its site was marked by the now deserted village of Rugge . The name Lycea, or Lycia, begins to appear in the 6th century . The city was for some time held by counts of Norman blood, among whom the most noteworthy is Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard .

It afterwards passed to the

Orsini . The rank of provincial capital was bestowed by Ferdinand of Aragon in acknowledgment of the fidelity of Lecce to his cause . (T . As.) See M . S . Briggs, In the Heel of Italy (1910) .