Torre San Giovanni is a wide coastal marina of Ugento, with predominantly sandy coast, situated between Gallipoli and Santa Maria di Leuca, bordered to the south with Fontanelle and Torre Mozza and to the north with Posto Rosso. Located where once stood the ancient Roman port, Torre San Giovanni is a small harbour; northward the coast is dotted with low volcanic cliffs, southward there are long stretches of fine white sand. In the sea off the coast, there are some small islands, the water here is crystal clear and the bottoms mostly low. Here, as often occurs along the coasts of Salento near the sea, the landscape is dominated by trees and shrubs typical for the Mediterranean vegetation, with the unmistakable aroma of pine, thyme and rosemary.
The tower is the oldest site of the entire village and is located on a small promontory jutting into the sea that ideally divides the coast in half. To the north the coast is mostly rocky, fairly low almost everywhere, while to the south, past the harbour area, the famous shores with fine white and fine sand attract the tourists. At the foot of the lighthouse every year at Christmas, an outdoor small nativity scene is set up. In addition to the residential area, which is concentrated in the vicinity of the Tower and extends from Mare Verde toward north, until the beginning of the Fontanelle toward south.
There are areas of great historical and archaeological interest (the remains of the ancient district Pazze) and of course the stunning nature (the major site of the municipal is the pine wood). In addition, similarly to the territory of Ugento (of which it is fraction), there are vast agricultural areas used for pasture. The territory of Torre San Giovanni has suffered severely from changes implemented in the name of the business logic, designed to make the most of natural resources present in terms of tourism. Particularly dramatic is the problem of the marine erosion that within a few years has changed the appearance of the coast, especially in the sandy slope. Because of this phenomenon, the extent of beach has been gradually thinning until its total disappearance in some places. This is due to the lack of respect for the natural and original topography of the area: the levelling of the dunes, the eradication of spontaneous vegetation and the illegal building have emphasised (and in some cases caused) the destructive action of wind and sea currents, allowing accelerated erosive action than any natural process. This is particularly visible in the adjacent beach to the lush pine forest south of the town. The cutting down of trees to allow the construction of large tourist villages has deprived the land of the invaluable support of the roots of the trees. The particularly strong currents and the winds did the rest, causing the collapse and subsequent swallowing of whole stretches of beach.
Similar is the story of the marina. Sited in the same place where once the great Roman ships docked, protected from the tower, it has undergone major changes over the years, with the intention to increase capacity to meet the growing demands of tourism. The latest work, however, have worsened the existing situation by increasing the available landing zone, but at the same time, seriously damaging an area of coastline always been the preserve of swimmers which are now almost abandoned. Add to this the pollution of waters, caused by the discharge in the drainage canals (which empties into the sea) of sewage. The result was, that at an inlet of rocky coast (which because of its special shape and the presence of shoals has a very slow water exchange) prohibition of bathing has been applied as a precaution. However, the crystalline waters of Torre San Giovanni are ornamented on three occasions at the turn of the nineties with the Blue Flag of Legambiente.
