Santa Maria di Leuca - Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae

The Punta Meliso promontory is, where the heel of the Italian boot ends. Here is the "Basilica di Santa Maria de Finibus Terrae", erected where once a Roman temple stood and where St. Peter on his way to Rome made a stop. So the place developed into a place of worship and pilgrimage in the ancient and medieval age.

The current fortified structure of the church was built between 1720 and 1755 to resist the numerous and repeated attacks by Turkish and Saracen invaders. When in 1990 Pope John Paul II visited the church got the title "Basilica Minor".