Sotto le superficie del Salento: Underneath the surfaces of Salento

Words and Images by Ayuj Consul

There’s a tune I can’t get out of my head, it’s a rhythm connected to the very first civilization on the shores of the Mediterranean, in a land that came to be called La terra d’Otranto and now, simply, Salento. The words to the song go like this: “Na na na na na na na bedhu l’amore ci lu sape fa?” A chorus repeated endlessly till the night reaches a hypnotic fugue. How beautiful this feeling of love, it says, but then who knows how to love? It is hard not to fall in love with Salento surrounded by dancers, the music of tambourines and the voice of singers, as your body sways to the rhythms of the Pizzica – the traditional Salentinian dance.

This ritual of music and dance is embedded deeply in the region and the soul of its people. In 1970, a team of explorers discovered a natural cave formation by the seaside near the town of Porto Badisco. This came to be known as the Grotta dei cervi or the Deer Cave, most remarkable for the paintings and pictograms coverings its walls. These images have been dated back to the late Neolithic period, about 20,000 years ago. The maestro who leads us in dance carries imprinted on his tambourine a pictogram from the cave: that of a dancing figure. “Dance has always been a way to channel the spiritual energy of the earth through human body,” he explains, “this has been a constant throughout human civilization and across regions,” he adds as he draws parallels to the God Shiva who, in Indian mythology, creates the universe through an endless cosmic dance.

Dance in Salento isn’t just a form of merriment, it is a communal healing ritual. Primarily an agricultural region throughout its history, workers in the fields were sometimes bitten by the Lycosa tarantula spider sending them into a state of restless convulsions resulting in death. The only way to cure this was to invite musicians who would play until the victim got up and started dancing to the tune in a manic, frenzied state, expelling the poison, and saving his or her life – most victims of the spider bite were women. The Lycosa tarantula spider, however, is not venomous. While experts have suggested the Mediterranean black widow spider as the cause of the illness, there is no evidence to suggest that its bite can cause such convulsions, or that dancing can cure those afflicted by its venom. It is thus a story built up over time by the community to justify and defend their rituals, especially when such rituals faced the ire of the Roman Senate. Till today Salentinians maintain an independent identity and have a fractious relationship with the centers of power.

Stories have endured in this region over the ages, as can be seen in another pictogram from the Deer Cave that caught my eye, this one showing a group of people who seem to be sitting around a fire, telling stories. Myths and legends are spun around every corner of this land and are laid out in strata under your very feet. There is said to be an Ancient Roman Bath in Lecce under the Piazzetta of the Santa Chiara church, a popular square in whose restaurants and bars the town’s youth congregate in the warm summer nights. The structure, however, hasn’t been excavated for it would disturb the imposing Baroque church. There is a mosaic to Zeus, some say, in an underground alley, but it cannot be accessed by anyone. This has led many others to say that it is merely a tale. The question caused an argument between our tour guide and the owner of a restaurant near the site of the supposed mosaic, no conclusion was found.

One place where you can see these layers of history for yourself, though, is the Museo Faggiano – a small house-museum in Lecce’s historic center that was born out of the Faggiano family’s desire to open a trattoria. They dug up the floor of their house to lay down pipes for the kitchen, bathroom, and other amenities their new restaurant would need only to find themselves knee deep in ancient artifacts. Many artifacts date back to the Ancient Messapian civilization which flourished in the region in the 6th to 8th centuries B.C., and somewhat more recently the structure was used as a Templar hideout, exemplified by markings and codes typical of the organization as well as a network of underground passageways to serve as secret escape routes. You can see here how history has built itself up to our times, brick laid upon brick and story layered upon story.

To truly enjoy Salento, however, head out of the city, towards the sea. Every weekend, families and groups of friends head to the numerous beaches that the region boasts of. Lay down your beach towel and go for a swim or find a spot to dive off the rocks. There’s a strong sense of community at the beach, most people know each other from their weekly encounters at the lidi or beach clubs. Although the region is being discovered by tourists, it never becomes so crowded as to hamper a divine experience. A hidden gem is the Grotta verde (lit. Green Cave) nestled under a cliff, accessible through a small network of tunnels, the otherwise dark cavern has a small opening in the rock wall allowing light to filter in from under the water, filling the chamber with an emerald like glow.

It was no surprise then that at the sagre – community festivals hosted by each town celebrating food, music, and dance – some of the most popular songs were about the sea. It is impossible for Salentinians not to think poetically about the sea, with so much of their history and their dreams linked to the waters of the Mediterranean. From the sea-side Deer Cave which housed the first civilization of the region, to the Turkish fleet whose brutal conquest of and expulsion from Salento marks the bloodiest period of the region’s history, one can’t help but also think of the lover who sings waiting for her beloved to return from voyages of trade and exploration. The sand on the beaches is made of the melted dreams of those who came before and forms the building blocks of Salento’s future.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Ayuj Consul spent most of his childhood in India before returning to the U.S. to study Film and TV. Passionate about languages from childhood, Ayuj learned Italian at university and sees Italy as the destination for the next phase of his life. Throughout this journey he documents his thoughts and observations in the form of writing, art and films. An ardent cinephile, he seeks out films that connect to the social realities he has observed, being greatly influenced by the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami, Jia Zhang-ke and Pier Paolo Pasolini. As a reader he is interested in poetry, philosophy and fiction by writers such as Italo Calvino, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Hafez of Shiraz.