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Villa Achille Tamborino was built by Senator Achille Tamborino who contracted the engineer Tommaso Pispico from Poggiardo: the latter finished the construction in 1874.
The park of the villa was originally part of Tamborino Palace, the residence of the wealthy Maglie family, and was actually separated from the main building by a public open space, which now has become a square.

The Tamborino family donated the park to the local municipality around 1975; the latter could not afford the high maintenance costs, thus neglecting the whole estate for a long time.
Since 1996, the very same municipality has eventually started a recovery project targeted at dramatically enhancing the park.

The park was reopened on 8 December 2004, during an official ceremony and a presentation of the new work done by some contemporary architects, who has made Villa Tamborino the most beautiful public park in the entire province of Lecce.
Many summer events are, in fact, held inside the park with its splendid natural setting in the background.

The entrance to the park features a monumental neoclassical pavilion with large arcades overlooking a small square.

THE PARK

The park brings together all the typical elements of the past “romantic” style, including small bridges, lookout points, small caves, and artificial elevations.

The park is divided into three zones. The first one, the closest to the residence, is basically an “English” garden, full of flower beds, short paths and neoclassical statues.
The second zone features holm oaks (Quercus ilex), planted in regular rows.
Under those trees, there are children’s facilities and benches placed under the thick foliage.

The third zone reproduces an evergreen wood reminiscent of the ancient forests that grew all over Salento until the XIX century; the features mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus), buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus), viburnum (Viburnum spp.), and asparagus (Asparagus spp.).

The main path from the entrance pavilion, run across the entire park and reaches its end at a belvedere located above an artificial cave. In the latter – the largest in the park – visitors can admire a “trompe l’oeil” fresco with sea and lake scenes, as well as stalactites and stalagmites coming from other caves on the Adriatic coast.

On both sides of the main avenue, there are stairs that lead to rooms carved into the rock and some little bridges.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)