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Villa Baldassarri Village

The town of Villa Baldassarri, also known as Villa Baldassarre, is the only hamlet of Guagnano, in the province of Lecce.

At the beginning of 1600, the owners of these lands were obliged to pay tithes to the Abbey of S. Andrea dell'Isola in Brindisi, following the division of said fief, a considerable part of the land, together with the farm of the Giannino family , became the property of the Baldassarro family of Lecce. The farmhouses scattered throughout this area do not yet constitute a hamlet. Only in 1795, in the statistics of the Kingdom of Naples, we find annotated: "Baldassarri Villa, Diocese of Brindisi, fief of the Abbey of S. Andrea in Insula - with an unhealthy air - and population: 250 inhabitants".

At the center of the rural houses, there was a chapel dedicated to S. Maria del Carmelo. This information can be found in a number of original documents, preserved in the State Archives of Lecce.

In 1612 Lucrezio Baldassarro establishes a census on his property located in Villa Baldassarri.

In 1633 the property of Lucretius was sold to Domenico Farro and Marco Saetta, who did not satisfy the tithe due to the Abbey of S. Andrea dell'Isola; the property was exhibited at a public auction and bought by the cleric Marzo Vignes.

A notarial deed of 1637 declares that Giacomo Baldassarro owned a farm in the fief of Monicantonio "in loco dicto Baldassarri". A document in 1637 attests that Sister Eugenia Braccio made a donation to Bernardino Simone and Gianpietro Braccio of a farm called "li Baldassarri", near the Benefits of the Chapel of the Madonna del Carmelo "cum immagine Sanctae Mariae Montis Carmeli". In 1690 Oronza Baldassarro da Lecce married Girolamo Rubino and brought as a dowry a farm called "li Baldassarri".

Villa Baldassarri, having never had its own university, was subject, as regards assets, to the land registers of the Universities of Campi, Guagnano, Cellino, Sandonaci and Squinzano; until in 1811 it was released from any dependence on many countries and aggregated to the University of Guagnano. If civil independence was reached only in 1811, religious independence dates back to a long time before, that is to 1767.

Buildings of historical interest are the school of Villa Baldassarri which dates back to the period of the Twenties.

The town is known for the Pig Festival which takes place in the ancient village of Villa Baldassarri in the first days of September.

Map: Villa Baldassarri Village