Cycling through a live museum: Grand Tour in 4 stages along the Salento Peninsula

Salento is an area in Puglia, the southern region of Italy. It's exactly the heel of the boot of Italy. Its landscape is full of beautiful beaches along the Adriatic and the Ionian seas, covered by a typical rock of the region which is called limestone, it's a very soft white rock with a lot of vibrance.
This tour covers the peninsula all along the coast line with stops in the main cities of Otranto and Santa Maria di Leucca.🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️
"Otranto occupies the site of the ancient Greek city Hydrus (in Greek: Ὑδροῦς) or Hydruntum (in Latin), also known as Hydrunton, Hydronton, or Hydruntu. Otranto was a town of Messapian (Illyrian) origin, which, in the wars of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal sided against Rome.In Roman times it was a city. As it is the nearest port to the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, it was perhaps more important than Brundisium (present Brindisi), under the Roman emperors as a point of embarkation for the East, as the distance to Apollonia, (in present Albania) was less than from Brundisium.In the 8th century, it was for some time in the possession of duke Arechis II of Benevento. It remained in the hands of the Byzantine emperors until it was among the last cities of Apulia to surrender to the Norman Robert Guiscard in 1068, and then became part of the Principality of Taranto. In the Middle Ages the Jews had a school there. "
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otranto🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️
"Santa Maria di Leuca is famous for its iconic lighthouse. With its height of 47 metres, and position at 102 metres above sea level, is the second most important lighthouse in Italy, after Genova. Next to the lighthouse is the large Sanctuary, or Basilica, De Finibus Terrae ("End of the Land", 1720-1755), built to commemorate the passage of St. Peter here during his travel to Italy. It is devoted to Saint Mary (from whom the town gets the name Santa Maria di Leuca). It lies on the former site of a Greek temple dedicated to Athena. The edifice has a fortified structure, and during its existence it sustained several assaults by Algerian pirates. In the same site, a Corinthian column was erected in 1939 to celebrate the construction of the Apulian Aqueduct (Acquedotto Pugliese). The basilica is connected to the port through a 284-step staircase."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_di_Leuca--------------Thanks to “Italy cycling guide” for the inspiration
italy-cycling-guide.info/cycle-routes/coastal-rides/puglia-tour/puglia-tour-3(image source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salento#/media/File:Torre_Sant'Andrea_(Lecce).jpg)