The name Sanarica comes from the original name of Senereca, which means Senectum Recans, literally the one that leads to old age, as saying that it gives us a chance to get to old age.

Another belief which is attached to the name is found in the air we breathe healthy.

The village was founded in the ninth and tenth centuries by a handful of survivors of the destruction of Muro Leccese, who wanted to create a new village in a place not far from the homeland. Having been destroyed by the Saracens in the ninth century, the inhabitants were scattered in the surrounding developing new small towns: Sanarica, Giuggianello, Puzzomauro, San Cassiano, etc.

Soon, however, between the houses were built on border disputes, misunderstandings, which were smoothed by Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini, Prince of Taranto.

These not only defined the boundaries of empire between the various houses, but to make them visible towers built at the edge of each fief; remember, then, that the defensive towers held. It was probably this circumstance in determining the choice of the image of the coat of arms of Sanarica represented by five towers.

Passed to the Orsini del Balzo, d'Aragona who entrusted the fief to Lubelli and then to Basurto, who kept it until 1806, date of the abolition of feudalism.

Monuments of interest

The Church of San Salvatore - a Greek cross, built in the eleventh century, is home to several Byzantine-style frescoes;

the Shrine of Our Lady - has a Baroque façade, adorned with rich decorations on the portal and windows;

the anchoritic the Crypt of St. Lasi - the sixth century, which houses within it a chair carved out of the rock.

Ducal Palace of the Basurto - built in 500 and enlarged and remodeled in the next century, we can still admire the windows and the portal, while the interior include several frescoes that date back to the sixteenth and the seventeenth century.