Ugento today is a sweet little town in Salento’s hinterland. In Messapian times, the city was known as Uxentium, surrounded by a wall about 5 kms long and 6 kms high and inhabited, according to estimates, by about 10,000 people.

A few miles to the South West of the city lies the sea resort of Torre San Giovanni: This is roughly the spot where the port of Uxentium used to be.