St. Lucy's Fair

Officially Santa Lucia Fair, for the Leccesi "fera de li pupi." The people of nativity scenes return to the historic spaces of the former Convento dei Teatini in the heart of the city to light up the Christmas atmosphere. Once reserved for hobbyists and enthusiasts, today the fair showcases the best of handmade terracotta and papier-mâché artifacts often inspired by classic iconography, 19th century settings, and the sacred atmospheres of altarpieces.

The centuries-old exposition, the flagship of the municipality's Christmas events, thus keeps alive the link with tradition, the one born in the stores in the alleys of the historic center where the characteristic smell of red-hot irons for the "flaming" of papier-mâché statues can still be smelled. No plastic, synthetics or industrial elements: crossing the threshold of the former convent are exclusively handmade works and nativity figures made of terracotta, papier-mâché, nativity scenes and crib accessories and Christmas gifts in line with Salento's craft tradition.

Caves, comets, "holy families," angels, bagpipers, shepherds and artisans of all kinds overflow from the stalls lined up under the portico and in the adjoining halls on the ground floor of the Theatines, an endless and varied humanity bustling and motionless at the same time, immortalized by the hands of artisans on any day in any century, unknowingly reaching out toward the event that will change the fate of the world.

St. Lucy's Fair can be visited from December 8 to 23.

Hours: weekdays 9:30am-1pm and 4-8:30pm; Saturdays and holidays 9:30am-1pm and 4-9:30pm.