Torricella is a town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Taranto

Province of Taranto

The Province of Taranto is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Taranto.It has an area of 2,437 km², and a total population of 580,588...

, in the Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

 region of southeast Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is home to a large tuff castle from the 15th century, one of the best preserved in the region.

It is mostly an agricultural center, with production of olives and olive oil, wine, wheat, figs and sheep husbandry.

History

The settlement's origins date to the 11th century, when a group of shepherds and peasants abandoned the coast (where is now the archaeological site of Torre Ovo) to seek protection against the Saracen raids. To crypt of the Santissima Trinità church (12th century) is from that period.

In 1407 it was held by the Capitignano family, which was followed by the Santoro, Montagnese and Muscettola. After the abolition of feudalism in the early 19th century, it was part of Sava and then Lizzano, becoming an autonomous comune in 1954.