Ground-penetrating Radar prospections in the Lecce Cathedral: new data about the crypt and the structures under the church

Lecce is a city located in the southern part of the Apulia region (south Italy). Its subsoil is rich of the remains of superimposed ancient settlements from Messapian period (7th-3rd cent. B.C.) to the Roman, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Cathedral is one the most important buildings in the town. It was built in the 12th century and transformed in the 16th and 17th centu-ries. Ground-penetrating Radar (GPR) surveys were carried out in the Cathedral and its crypt with the aim to evidence both probable buried structures related to the known crypt and other features such as tombs. The GPR investigations allows us to locate many features under the floor of the church. Some of them are unknown and could be belong to the previous building of the Romanesque period. Furthermore, most of the identified structures are related to tombs and un-derground rooms (ossuaries). Under the crypt floor six tombs of the 19th and 20th centuries and other ancient structures were documented.