Let's Visit the Hypogeum of Torre Pinta
We were just looking up places to visit while spending some days in Otranto, when Patricia, my travelbuddy of this week found a place she wanted to visit called ''The Hypogeum of Torre Pinta'' known by the locals as the ''Ipogeo di Torre Pinta''. Without any more research done, we decided to walk there. The walk was around 2,5 kilometers, which is a nice way to see something along the way which you were not even looking for.
Along the way I saw a tiny little tree with very tiny fruits which looked like oranges. I had never seen them before and somehow I really love weird fruits. Don't ask me why. So I felt like I had to take a photo. A neighbour saw it and came to us. He only spoke Italian but he started picking some fruits and showed us that you can actually eat these fruits and gave us a view. It was really nice to encounter the locals this way.
The little oranges. I don't know the name of the fruit but I thought that they were really tasty and you can actually eat them entirely, including the peels!
As we walked further, we arrived more and more at the countryside. It felt really nice to feel the more farmer vibes of Italy, Instead of only beaches and cities. We also encountered this giant Mantis on our way, he was just chilling on the road.
We walked further until we came through some kinda gate. There was still a road and we knew we still had to go straight, as far as our map reading skills told us. A man on a scooter stopped and started explaining things. We understood almost nothing but I decided after some minutes to pretend like I did understand, to prevent that we would just be standing there for an hour and still not understand anything. So we walked further.
When we arrived at a small car parking place, an older woman kinda started shouting at us. She invited us for coffee in a way that wasn't really an invitation but more like we had to. We didn't really find any reason not to have a coffee there, so why not. There was also a Hungarian couple who ended up there in the same way as us. The coffee place was actually a guesthouse, and they gave the people coffee for ''free price'', a concept that you decide yourself how much you pay. The woman also gave us 2 pieces of cake. I gave the largest to Patricia as I wasn't that hungry, not knowing that it was the ''green'' one It was actually covered in mold I didn't really know what to do with it, so I looked around if anybody was looking and threw it from the balcony. The Hungarian guy happened to watch and he just started laughing. I kinda defended myself as it is kinda rude to throw food, as he was just laughing and said that that was the reason he didn't want any cake. Well, this guesthouse was definitely an experience. Everything seemed weird here.
The turtle of the guesthouse almost looks like a statue. We were wondering at first if it was a real turtle but it was
The guesthouse also happened to have the key to the place we actually came for since the Hypogeum of Torre Pinta is privately owned, and a man from the guesthouse was nice enough to show us the place.
The gate to the Ipogeo di Torre Pinta was closed, the people from the guesthouse opened the gate for us
The Hypogeum of Torre Pinta was discovered in 1976. The hallway and chamber are dug out of the rock in the shape of a cross, probably in the early-christian times. The long stone hallway leads to a round chamber. The orgin of this historical place is unknown, however, some people believe the chamber was used for funerary worship. Later on, they changed its usage and turned into a dovecote.
This is the tunnel to the place, I didn't take the pictures on purpose with this light effect, it just happened and I guess it looks kinda cool and it fits the mysterical vibes
Thank you for reading my story of our trip to the Ipogeo di Torre Pinta. If you ever happen to be in Otranto, I would highly recommend to visit this place But don't eat the cake
Regards, Sascha