The earliest records we have of Palmariggi dates back to 1269 when Charles I of Anjou, divided the feud in half.

In 1330 Guidone Sambiasi reunified the feud and in this same way it then passed to various families: the Cesaroli, the Santacroce and the Ventura.

From 1463 it became an Aragonese's property the property, then it passed to the Mattei family, and finally, in 1688, to the Vernazza's.

According to the historian Maselli, Palmariggi was originally a castle of Otranto, built as a defense against incursions from the inner-lands of the Ionian Sea. Around the castle was built the first urban center called Casale San Nicola which was repeatedly assaulted, dismantled and destroyed and then rebuilt.

Story goes that in 1480, after the capture of Otranto, the Saracens began to plunder the the hinterland villages, the small Casale San Nicola included. On the hill of Monte della Guardia, said Montejuzzu (Mons Jovis), the men of the farmhouse were preparing to fight with the Turks while the women took refuge in the Church to invoke divine help. When the Turks were about to attack, something prodigious happened: the Blessed Virgin appears holding a palm tree at the head of an imposing phalanx. The Turks, fearing that the army led by the Duke Alfonso of Aragon was about to come, moved away, and the population was saved.

Hence the name and emblem of the country that could be explained in terms of fertility and steadiness: the palm among the ancients was in fact a symbol of abundance and durability, but also of victory and strength.

In memory of this event and according to tradition, the inhabitants of the village wanted to change the name of Casale San Nicola in Palmarice, Palmaricce and finally Palmariggi which is intended to mean precisely You who hold a palm, in memory of the Madonna holding the palm and who was elected as their protectress.

[www.comune.palmariggi.le.it]