Lecce, deface 16th century church: two 40-year-olds on vacation charged

The perpetrators of the defacement of the small church of Santo Stefano in Montesardo, in the province of Lecce, in the municipal territory of Alessano, have been identified and traced. The episode dates back to early August: the facade of the inscription had been covered with ranting writings traced with black spray paint. The same for the side walls of the building. The perpetrators were identified thanks to the surveillance cameras of some private individuals installed near the building: the culprits are a 48-year-old man from Livorno and a 40-year-old woman from Berlin, who had gone to Salento for a vacation. Still unclear are the reasons for the act: the two were nevertheless charged with aggravated defacement and defacement in conspiracy. However, they would not have been the only ones: three other people, who are in the process of being identified, would also have participated in the action.

Satisfaction from Italia Nostra, which had reported the incident. The association’s South Salento section “communicates that it reserves the right to join the civil action in the related trial,” reads a note signed by the section’s president, Marcello Seclì,“because of the interests represented by Italia Nostra in the field of cultural and landscape heritage and (specifically) in consideration of the numerous activities that the South Salento section has been carrying out for several years precisely to protect and enhance the widespread heritage of rural churches.”

“At the same time,” the association concludes, “Italia Nostra hopes that this affair may serve as a warning to those who, out of ignorance or purely destructive spirit, engage in activities to deface cultural heritage and also be a warning to all local communities and institutions on the need to work to protect the enormous heritage of rural churches, often abandoned to themselves (not for the case of the church of S. Stephen), present throughout the countryside of Salento.”

Lecce, deface 16th century church: two 40-year-olds on vacation charged

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