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Metropolitan see Lecce, Italy

Archdiocese of Lecce

Lycien(sis)

Latin Church

The Archdiocese of Lecce is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese in Apulia, Italy, elevated to metropolitan status in 1980. Angelo Raffaele Panzetta was appointed archbishop in June 2025, succeeding Michele Seccia.

On the map

Esri
The address the register holds for Cattedrale di Maria Santissima Assunta, in Lecce, Italy.

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Established
1057
Catholics
295,280
Priests
115
Territory
750 km²

Parishes and churches

68 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.

This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.

The bishop

Archbishop
Angelo Raffaele Panzetta
Born
26 August 1966
Birthplace
Pulsano

Explore the ministry of the bishop.

The cathedral

Cattedrale di Maria Santissima Assunta stands in Lecce, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

A Latin Church territory in Apulia, southern Italy, the Archdiocese of Lecce (Latin: Archidioecesis Lyciensis) traces its diocesan existence to the 11th century. By the bull Cum a nobis of 28 September 1960, Pope John XXIII removed the diocese of Lecce from the ecclesiastical province of Otranto and placed it directly under the Holy See. Pope John Paul II then created the ecclesiastical province of Lecce in the bull Conferentia Episcopalis Apuliae of 20 October 1980, at which point the Archdiocese of Otranto became a suffragan diocese.