Trip to Lecce, Italy

If you would like a cooking class while in Lecce, I am taking a market/cooking class with Awaiting Tables. Excellent reviews.

How long are you staying and will you have a car?

Thanks for the recommendation, Jean! I will think about that!
Tinac, I will be there 2 full days and yes, I will have access to a car.

It's well on the tourist path, but the Faggiano museum was neat.
What's on your list already?
I have visited twice, and both times we drove to the Adriatic one day and the Ionian the other day. There is a WWF reserve called La Cesine where you can do tours if nature is your thing. For a town based excursion, I would head to Galatina next time.

For a day out by car you could go to Gallipoli in the morning before it gets too busy and then Galatina -
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/11/puglia-in-september-2023-galatina-and.html
Or a day trip to Otranto would be nice

I was also going to suggest Gallipoli and Otranto.

Thank you all! I looked into the suggestions and they seem like great spots.
I am meeting my uncle and 3 other people there. They didn't seem to have solid plans so I wanted to bring some suggestions to the table. These are great!

In Puglia many shops are going to close from around 1-5pm, restaurants will close after lunch until 7pm or later. So much of what tourists do is explore and visit in the morning, have lunch, then relax in the afternoon. You could look online for some beaches near Lecce or ask at the hotel desk.

The Lonely Planet book "Lonely Planet Puglia & Basilicata" is several years old but has descriptions of many of the town in the region.