The Province of Lecce (Italian: Provincia di Lecce) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecce which is known as the Florence of the South. The province itself is called the "Heel of Italy". Totally included in the Salento peninsula, it is the second most populous province in Apulia and the twenty-first most populous in Italy.It has an area of 2,759 square kilometres (1,065 sq mi) and a total population of 814,495 (2012).