History

Our tradition

They called it the “Corte dei Gettatelli“, the one where today stands Palazzo De Noha was the island of San Nicolò dei gettatelli and has a long history, full of good feelings that has been lost in the thousand rivulets of the lives that have crossed it.

It was here that the Lecce of the time, that of the sixteenth century, knew the painful but salvific practice of the “wheel of the exposed”, or where abandoned children born in extremely destitute families or out of wedlock.

It was precisely the spouses of Noha who gave it their own home to court and, in 1490, Francesco De Noha had a notary deed with which he left his property to his second wife Marzia but in usufruct and with the commitment to build the hospital of San Nicolò degli Esposti right in their home.

Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, nurses, nurses and children inhabited these spaces, and thanks to the services provided by doctors and “valentuomini” of the time, Lecce took its first steps towards medicine and paediatric care.

The sensitivity of Paola and Giorgio have thus brought to light this small great story of the city, returning the attention it deserved, taking care of it as an intangible heritage that inhabits these large and luminous environments, where attention, concern and love still echo.