The University of Salento is a public research university located in Lecce, Italy, founded in 1955 by Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli. It commenced activities in the academic year 1955–1956 under the "Salentine University Council," became the "Free University of Lecce" in 1960, and passed to Government authority in the 1967–1968 academic year. Known as Università degli Studi di Lecce until 2006, the university today enrolls over 20,000 students across 35 bachelor's degree courses and 42 master's and single-cycle degree programmes — including 9 taught entirely in English — spread across three campuses in Lecce, with its iconic Ecotekne scientific-technological campus housing advanced laboratories for engineering and sciences.

Faculties span Economics, Engineering, Law, Education, Political and Social Sciences, Humanities, Language and Cultural Heritage, and Mathematics, and the university maintains more than 130 Erasmus partners and 50 international cooperation agreements. Situated in Lecce — known as the "Florence of the South" for its stunning Baroque architecture — UniSalento is a cornerstone of cultural and academic life in southern Italy