Ceglie Messapica in the context of "Ostuni DOC"

The Messapians were an Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respectively. All three tribes spoke the Messapian language, but had developed separate archaeological cultures by the seventh century BC. The Messapians lived in the eponymous region Messapia, which extended from Leuca in the southeast to Kailia and Egnatia in the northwest, covering most of the Salento peninsula. This region includes the Province of Lecce and parts of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto today.

Starting in the third century BC, Greek and Roman writers distinguished the indigenous population of the Salento peninsula differently. According to Strabo, the names Iapygians, Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians were exclusively Greek and not used by the natives, who divided the Salento in two parts. The southern and Ionian part of the peninsula was the territory of the Salentinoi, ranging from Otranto to Leuca and from Leuca to Manduria. The northern part on the Adriatic belonged to the Kalabroi and extended from Otranto to Egnatia with its hinterland.

Itria Valley (in Italian: Valle d'Itria) is an area located in Apulia region, in Southern Italy.Itria Valley spreads over Province of Bari, Province of Brindisi and Province of Taranto, and coincide with the lower part of Murgia upland (Low Murgia).The towns of Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica overlook Itria Valley."Valley" is an inaccurate term, because Itria Valley has not the typical conformation of mountain area valleys: it is just a depression due to karstic phenomena.