The “Apprezzo della Terra di Racale”, a seventeenth-century document: some observations on the town
An unpublished archival document from the end of the 17th century contains useful information for
understanding the development of the town of Racale, in the previously knows a Terra d’Otranto.
The
document describes the shape of the town, the number of entrances, the city walls, and the fortified Palace.
Furthermore, it describes the road layout, as well as the building materials used and the construction
techniques of that period. Specifically, provides both quantitative and qualitative indications, and ends
with the drafting of a sort of land registry of citizens’ properties, thus listing the type of crops present in the
territory, the different professions, and socio-economic aspects. The news of this document was analyzed and
compared with data from other historical cartographic types and historical aerial photography references, aiming at formulating a hypothesis about the state of conservation of Racale at a precise historical moment,
as a step forward for a deeper and more systematic knowledge.
