Lesina

The lake village of Lesina, located in the Gargano National Park, between the Tavoliere delle Puglie and the Gargano promontory, is the small capital of the homonymous lake. Founded by Dalmatian fishermen, its roots date back to Roman times, when the area was known as Alexina.

Today Lesina is an important tourist center in the north of Apulia, especially for the area overlooking the sea where there is Marina di Lesina, repeatedly awarded among the Italian tourist resorts for the purity of its waters.

Considered one of the largest lagoons in the Mediterranean and known for its fresh waters, the queen of the local cooking, the famous eel, a Slow Food presidium, lives in Lake Lesina.
The eel soup is one of the traditional dishes of the village and is prepared with tomato, salt, chilli, the addition of “scalded” vegetables and served with slices of bread. Another typical product of the Lake of Lesina is the “salicornia”, also known as sea asparagus, inserted in the “Atlas of typical agri-food products of Apulia” for the typical recipe of salicornia in oil.

Whoever arrives in Lesina cannot miss the Naturalistic Museum, with an aquarium composed of 14 tanks where it is possible to see numerous fish species of the lake and an exhibition on ancient fishing tools and traditional local furnishings.
While in Ripalta, a hamlet of Lesina, it is possible to admire the castle and the ancient church of Santa Maria di Ripalta.