Built in 1869 to a design by the engineer Achille Rossi, the Punta Palascia lighthouse rises 32 metres above the clifftop and was for decades one of the most important navigation lights in the central Mediterranean — recognised by the Italian state and the EU as one of the five historically significant lighthouses of the country.
The lower buildings have been converted into a small museum on the marine environment of the Strait of Otranto, with displays on the cetaceans, turtles, and seabirds that pass through the narrows on migration. The light itself is automated and still working, flashing every five seconds toward Albania.