Martignano is a small town of 1,770 inhabitants in the province of Lecce in Apulia, Italy. It is part of Salento and is one of the nine towns of Grecìa Salentina, an area where an ancient Greek dialect is spoken. Marquess Giuseppe Palmieri (Martignano, 1721 - Naples, 1793) was one of the most important figures of the Enlightenment in Southern Italy.