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MASSERIA LI DOGANIERI -FEUDO DI TABELLE

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The Masseria Li Doganieri was once part of the ancient Byzantine hamlet known as Tabelle, strategically positioned on high ground and crossed by the Asso Canal (also called Raschione, Reale, or Canale della Pinnella), the most important watercourse in the Lecce area of Salento. This canal collected rainwater from the nearby hills (Serre) and carried it all the way to the entrance of Nardò.

The presence of this rainwater canal, the fertile soil, and a rich network of local rural roads branching out from the hamlet towards important main routes undoubtedly encouraged, during the second Byzantine colonisation (9th–11th centuries), the development of a human settlement (chorion). This was a small economic nucleus composed of several plots of land of different types and uses, intended for the intensive exploitation of the soil through land reclamation, clearing, deforestation, and the introduction of new crops such as mulberry, vine, saffron, olive, and cereals.

Its settlement history is poorly documented in archives and relies mainly on historical reconstruction, as few archaeological surveys have been carried out to collect surface ceramic finds or catalogue the rock-cut chambers.

High, sturdy dry-stone walls built of rough stones gathered by peasants during the clearing of farmland marked the boundaries with other hamlets. Together with the specchie—large heaps of stones whose sole function was control and watch—they formed the defensive system of the rural village, serving as outposts to signal approaching danger. However, they were not enough to prevent the constant raids, lootings, and assaults by Saracens and bandits.

In its Byzantine phase, the village of Tabelle consisted of small houses scattered across bare cultivated fields. Within the grounds of the Masseria Li Doganieri, one particularly interesting feature is a hypogeum, carved into the calcarenite rock face, with two entrances leading to a large rectangular chamber, from which two quadrangular rooms open, separated by monolithic pillars.

The residential use of these caves is evident from the niches carved into the rock, which served as beds, and from the circular holes in the ceilings, which allowed air circulation in the living areas and the escape of smoke from fires. Other single-room cavities, fitted with rudimentary mangers, were used as animal shelters, while others served as food storage or wine presses (palmenti). This underground environment was completed by numerous cisterns for collecting rainwater.

The use of these crypts continued over time, as confirmed by the ceramic material found there: pieces dating from the 8th to the 10th centuries, polychrome glazed ceramics from the 14th century, and other items dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Some of these caves were still in use in the 1600s, as confirmed by a document drawn up during the pastoral visit of Bishop De Franchis of Nardò in 1616, which lists among the possessions of Orazio Colitta, near the church of Santa Lucia, an “hortale unum cum crypta” (“a vegetable garden with a crypt”).

Today, all these caves, now overgrown with dense vegetation, provide a peaceful refuge for foxes, owls, and other wildlife, in a picturesque and unspoilt natural setting.

These fertile lands soon attracted the Normans who, in the second half of the 11th century, took advantage of the wars between Saracens and Byzantines to conquer much of the Terra d’Otranto. With their arrival, the ancient Byzantine village (chorion) changed entirely, becoming a fief under the county of Nardò, with a manorial organisation.

In this period, the feudal system grew stronger: the State lost control, and power passed to the nobility, whether secular or ecclesiastical. These lords knew well that farming the land was the main source of livelihood and, as historian Henri Pirenne put it, “the sole condition of wealth.”

With the Norman conquest, the rural environment was transformed entirely, and large agricultural estates were entrusted to an increasingly widespread ecclesiastical feudalism, countering the Byzantine liturgy in favour of the Latin clergy.

The first archival record mentioning the hamlet dates back to 1092: in it, the Norman Goffredo, Count of Conversano and Lord of Nardò, donated to the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria de Nerito, as the feudal domain of the Church, the hamlet of Tabelle “cum vaxallis et iurisdictionibus suis et quod ipsius casalis homines societatem semper habeant cum hominibus Neritoni” (“with its vassals and jurisdictions, and that the people of this hamlet shall always have fellowship with the people of Nardò”).

In another document dated August 1223, transcribed by Abbot Luca Pecoraro, Frederick II of Swabia confirmed the donation of Tabelle to Abbot Everardo of the monastery of Santa Maria de Nerito, recognising the exercise of the “jus bayulationis,” the right to collect revenues from the tenants, to impose fines and monetary penalties on offenders, and to exercise the cura animarum (care of souls).

The deep Norman reform of the ecclesiastical structure and organisation did not, however, erase the influence of the Greek-Byzantine Church, which continued to have a hold on the conscience of the local population and to compete with the Benedictine foundation of Santa Maria de Nerito in both religious and territorial jurisdiction.

In the medieval rural settlement of Tabelle, there were numerous places of worship whose Greek-Byzantine origin is evident in their dedication to saints such as St Nicholas, St Constantine, St Eleutherius, St Demetrius, St Onuphrius, and St Mary. The only surviving one among these chapels, which once dotted the fief of Tabelle, is the little church of Santa Lucia, where the Greek community—by language and liturgical rite—gathered to attend ceremonies celebrated by their own protopapa. He was obliged to pay his ratio decimarum (share of tithes) to the abbots and, from 1412, to the bishops of Nardò.

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The small church, though damaged by repeated acts of vandalism, has not lost its sacred structure. Modest in size and simple in volume, it was structurally altered between the 16th and 17th centuries. At that time, the building’s body was shortened, and a new right-hand side wall was constructed, brought closer to the parallel wall and thickened to allow for the construction of a barrel vault. This transformation changed the original square plan into a rectangular one.

Along the side of the old east wall, the exposed foundation stones confirm that the wall was once longer. In its original layout, it was precisely on this east-facing façade, overlooking the road, that the church had its entrance, now walled up. This doorway features a stone lintel topped by a blind semicircular arch, whose lunette still bears faint traces of a fresco—probably depicting the saint to whom the church is dedicated (holding a small plate with eyes).

This façade, along with the rear wall, is among the oldest surviving parts of the religious monument.

Inside, there is a small, non-projecting apse with a central splayed single-light window, now off-centre from its original symmetrical design. The remains of a small Baroque altar preserve faint traces of frescoes, barely visible beneath thick limewash layers. The same applies to the niche behind the altar, where hints of red and yellow pigments can be seen, forming vegetal patterns belonging to a Byzantine fresco.

The north-facing front façade also dates to the reconstruction phase. Particularly noteworthy is the lintel of the entrance door, decorated with a horizontal sawtooth relief. Below it, in the centre, is carved a Greek cross framed by coats of arms and vegetal motifs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The cross recalls the sacred nature of the place, while the other elements evoke temporal power and the agricultural world. Taken together, they suggest the decorative lintel is somewhat out of place—perhaps taken from another building and reused here.

Deconsecrated due to severe damage, the church was used as a tobacco storehouse and later as a hayloft. Only in the 1980s did the local Archeoclub intervene to prevent its collapse and complete destruction.

During the Swabian-Angevin period, starting in 1239, some lands belonging to the hamlet of Tabelle and surrounding territories were donated to the noble feudal lord Sambiasi Guido

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It then passed to another noble landowner, Vinciguerra of Galatone, and in 1316 to his son Guido. At the beginning of the 16th century, part of Tabelle was still in the possession of secular lords, specifically Giovanni Sancto Blasio, a member of an ancient noble family whose history is closely tied to that of the city of Nardò and the hamlets within its walls.

One possible cause of this fragmentation was the second excommunication (1239) sent to Frederick II by Pope Gregory IX. This excommunication certainly led to heavy reprisals by the emperor against the Church and, above all, against its possessions within the Kingdom of the Swabian ruler.

In 1407, the land of Galatone and the surrounding hamlets, including Tabelle, came into the hands of the condottiero Ottino De Caris, known as Malacarne. This infamous mercenary, greedy and fiercely loyal to the Durazzo rulers, had taken part in military campaigns against Louis of Enghien and Raimondo Orsini Del Balzo, managing to seize vast estates, including Grottaglie and the county of Copertino, confiscated from the powerful aristocratic Sanseverino family. By decree of 12 February 1420, Queen Joanna II of Naples granted him the lifetime title of Marshal of the Kingdom and confirmed his supremacy over various feudal territories across Salento.

Perhaps it was after the Turkish invasion of 1480—which also devastated Salento with increasingly frequent and deadly raids—and the ever-heavier tax burden (the peasant, as in previous centuries, continued to be considered “like the walnut tree” that “the more you beat, the more fruit it gives”) that the hamlet of Tabelle began to experience depopulation and abandonment of the land. The settlers sought refuge in more secure enclosed estates, where the economy was better organised.

Between 1494 and 1496, King Ferrandino of Aragon returned the landed possession of Tabelle to the Church of Nardò, now under episcopal authority, granting it the right to exercise the bagliva (the feudal right of jurisdiction).

In the second half of the 16th century, Bishop Ambrogio Salvio (1569–1577), in an effort to curb the exodus from the countryside, granted the fief of Tabelle in emphyteusis (long-term lease) to the peasants. The population numbered about 240 settlers, with agreements in place for crop rotation and the payment of tithes to the Bishop’s Table (Mensa Vescovile). However, the emphyteutic contract did not in fact benefit the tenants, who received the land in exchange for an annual rent, as it placed on them the entire risk of unstable harvests, offering no chance of a secure or increasing income.

Records from the pastoral visit carried out in 1637 on behalf of Fabio Chigi by Vicar General Granafei include the capitoli baiulari (bylaws) of Tabelle, which give a detailed picture of the agricultural and economic situation. All crops—wheat, barley, oats, flax, cotton, saffron, and various vegetables such as onions—were subject to tithes. Nothing was exempt from the payment, not even wine, which had to be transported to Nardò, to the bishop’s cellars or to those of the collectors in Galatone. Compliance with these bylaws fell under the authority of the baglivo, whose decisions could be appealed to the Marquess’s court in Galatone.

Throughout the 16th century and part of the 17th, the rural settlement suffered greatly from economic crisis, due to plague (1630 and 1656), famine, worsening climate conditions, the presence of armed bands of bandits, smugglers, and pirates, as well as feudal disputes and internal conflicts.

As a result, the hamlets disintegrated and transformed into a new, more structured and compact form of settlement: thus was born the Masseria, in a renewed form of manorial exploitation of the land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hamlet of Tabelle built anew its defensive tower with a machicolation, to guard its lands, people, and livestock, and continued to serve as an administrative customs centre.

The Masseria Li Doganieri became firmly established. Fortified in the open countryside and crossed by important road routes—both for trade with towns such as Lecce, Copertino, San Pietro in Galatina, Cutrofiano, and Otranto, and for pilgrimages to the sacred sites of Salento—it took on the role of a productive organisation centre. Its harvests now exceeded the needs of the household, allowing for sales in the markets of nearby cities, as well as livestock farming, especially sheep.

Around this “fortress,” additional structures were built—together with sheepfolds, stables, a hayloft, and an apiary—defining the present-day masseria complex. Around 1722, the Masseria dei Doganieri passed into the ownership of the Conservatorio di Santa Maria della Purità of Nardò. In a deed by notary Bonvino Emanuele, dated 1725, Bishop Antonio Sanfelice of Nardò confirmed its donation “among many other things.”

In the Catasto Onciario of Galatone of 1745, compiled between 1741 and 1745, the Masseria is described as follows: “Masseria in Tabelle called Donfederico, partly in Tabelluccio, consisting of courtyards for livestock, four houses—one for goods storage and two upper ones with stables for oxen—three cisterns, a threshing floor, and a walled garden.”

During the French decade of the Kingdom of Naples (1806–1815), with the suppression of ecclesiastical properties and their confiscation by the State, the vast real estate and agricultural holdings of the Church were put up for sale, resulting in new transfers of ownership.

From Giuseppe Vaglio Massa of Nardò, and by a notarial deed dated 26 December 1928, Agostino De Giorgi of Galatone purchased part of the Masseria Li Doganieri, later consolidating it by acquiring various neighbouring plots from different owners.

Today, the Masseria Li Doganieri is the result of a process of architectural growth, in which various rooms have been added to the older central core—the massive square-based defensive tower, equipped with a machicolation and aligned with the entrance gate leading into the courtyard. The newly built tower was likely erected on the remains of a medieval motta, taking advantage of the orographic features of the landscape by being set on a rocky outcrop, artificially squared to create a projecting block with sheer walls. The Asso Canal, flowing along the outer perimeter, served as a natural defensive feature. The fortress was probably surrounded by a dry-stone wall—of which traces remain—and wooden palisades.

Other signs of the medieval layout can be seen in the considerable number of cluster granaries carved into the rock and waterproofed with cocciopesto, evidence of the hard work of the fief’s peasants in cultivating the lands around the Masseria. Drought, arid soil, and the harsh calcarenite rock severely tested the resilience of this rural community, which devised systems for collecting and conserving scarce water resources. An example is the large medieval cistern for water collection and supply—circular and pear-shaped in section, carved into the rock, then waterproofed with lime and cocciopesto, and covered with a large slab to prevent evaporation. This cistern was complemented by other wells and cisterns scattered throughout the Masseria’s grounds, often oblong in shape with a truncated-pyramid section.

The ground-floor spaces of the rural building were used for agricultural activities, livestock farming, and tool storage, while the upper floor served as living quarters and grain storage—so much so that deep bins were built along the walls to better preserve cereals.

Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works enriched the building complex, turning it into a fine residence for the feudal lord, who would periodically move from his city palace to oversee the work of his peasants and stewards.

Outside, a masonry staircase leads to the piano nobile, where four large rooms with elegant groin vaults are aligned, alongside a fifth room adjoining the tower. On the ground floor, an entrance archway followed by a passageway—positioned asymmetrically in relation to the façade’s axis—opens onto the inner courtyard. In this space stood large bread ovens, small rooms for storing work tools, and a walled citrus garden—an oasis of greenery and the delicate scent of orange blossom to counterbalance the pungent smell of manure.

The entire building is set against a large enclosure wall, raised to a height of four metres, with an overhanging upper section (paralupi), and closed on three sides by cattle stables, sheepfold huts, and apiaries.

A beautiful dovecote tower, square in plan and decorated with a stone battlement, dominates the Masseria. This type of building, typical of the rural landscape, was built to house rock pigeons, whose breeding dates back to the mid-13th century, when Frederick II used these birds to train hunting falcons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The dovecote was a privilege of the nobility and clergy, ensuring a constant supply of meat with particular nutritional properties. Pigeon broth, in fact, was considered the ideal dish for women who had just given birth.

Archival records highlight the importance of pigeon breeding, the regulations governing their hunting or protection, and the role these prized birds played in the economy of the noble families of Terra d’Otranto. Even Queen Maria d’Enghien, second wife of King Ladislaus of Naples, took an interest in pigeon keeping. In her Codex, she declared—almost threateningly—“that no person shall dare to kill or shoot with crossbow or bow at the pigeons of the dovecote, nor capture said pigeons with nets or traps, except if one is the owner. And whoever does otherwise shall incur the penalty of one augustale.” This concept was fully reiterated in the Capitoli della Bagliva of Galatina (1496–1499).

The dovecote, open to the sky, has a single entrance about 3.5 metres above ground to prevent access by predators. A ladder would be placed against this opening, and from there, projecting steps like stone shelves along the inner wall led to the pigeons’ nesting niches. Raised stone bands were set beneath the opening to hinder climbing reptiles. Battlements, corbelled courses, and projecting cornices, in addition to their decorative function, served as perches for pigeons as they entered or exited the tower.

The dovecote, besides being part of the masseria’s economic structure, was also an expression of the landowner’s social status, so much so that here and there the owner’s coat of arms was carved into its walls.

In front of the building’s façade still lies the intact threshing floor, circular in shape and paved with robust stone slabs, where the agricultural cycle once reached its conclusion. After the harvest with sickles, the ears of grain were threshed here with sturdy sticks until the kernels were separated from the chaff.

The architectural forms of Masseria Li Doganieri embody the building experience of many generations, realised without damaging nature or the landscape. Restoring this rural architecture follows the goal of preserving the legacy of traditional construction techniques, with simple, low-cost building materials combined with both ancient and modern methods.

The careful integration of this architectural and landscape synergy has constantly pursued a harmonious and timeless relationship between building and wild countryside, between labour and nature. It is, in our philosophy, the only way to restore ourselves to a eurythmic balance that once again beats in time with the rhythm of the universe.