San Cataldo (Lecce, Italy). The Historical Evolution of the Coastal Landscape

San Cataldo (Lecce, Italy) is located on the Adriatic sea coast, about 10 km east from Lecce, in Apulia (Puglia) region. Since ancient times it was an important departure and landing place for trades and travels between the two shores of the Adriatic Sea. A clear evidence of it is the presence of a Roman pier, whose remains are currently partially visible. They were studied by recent multidisciplinary researches, outlining their technicalconstruction features and the ancient topography of the surrounding area. Starting from the analysis of San Cataldo coastal landscape in ancient ages, this contribution is firstly focused to illustrate the evolution of the port in medieval times, when the resuming of long-haul commercial traffic led the port to be an important landing place for the Adriatic routes again. At this time, the old Roman pier was restored and protected by a coastal tower. After a long period of abandon, the document analyses the transformations occurred between the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was built: a lighthouse, a new pier, close to the old one, a tramway. This ensured a fast connection between Lecce and its seashore. In the second half of the 20th century, a new tourist vocation finally replaced the commercial one for San Cataldo, leading to overbuilding events that characterise the current coastal landscape.