From today you pay a ticket to visit churches in Lecce

Starting today, the most important churches in Lecce, one of the capitals of Baroque in the south, can be visited for a fee. The initiative has been given the name LeccEcclesiae - Alla Scoperta del Barocco (Discovering Baroque), is promoted by the Archdiocese and is implemented by the ArtWork Social Cooperative. The tickets, which are much discussed in the city, are offered to the public in different solutions, which always guarantee entry to the different sites, with continuous hours, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and with extensions until 9 p.m. on the Spring and Easter bridges, from May 1 to Sept. 30, on All Saints’ Day and from early December to Jan. 6. The project, the diocese explains, is precisely to be able to guarantee the continuous opening, twelve hours a day, of the sites concerned, while ensuring usability and decorum.

The full ticket costs 9 euros and entitles visitors to visit the Cathedral, the Old Seminary, the Diocesan Museum, the Basilica of Santa Croce, the church of Santa Chiara and the church of San Matteo. Reduced rates if you are less...voracious: 6.50 euros for Cathedral, Santa Croce and Seminary; 5 euros for Cathedral and Seminary or Santa Croce and Seminary; 3 euros to visit the Seminary plus a church between Santa Chiara and San Matteo, or the Seminary plus the Diocesan Museum. For the family, there is a full ticket of 17 euros, while slightly reduced fares for discounted categories: discount of 2 on the family ticket, 1 euro on 9, 6.50 and 4 euro tickets, 50 cents on 3 euro tickets.

Under-18s and school groups will have further reductions: 3 euros the full ticket, 1 euro for individual monuments or for the Duomo+Seminary and Seminary+Diocesan Museum combos. All residents of the Lecce diocese will be exempt from paying the ticket: it will be enough to show an identity document. Also planned are altars reserved for prayer for the faithful, who will have to communicate their intentions to the attendants.

In the photo: the basilica of Santa Croce. Ph. Credit Matthias Kabel.

From today you pay a ticket to visit churches in Lecce

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