SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA – Italy’s “heel” has shortened by about one metre as “the rock has crumbled,” say fisherman who raised the alarm on Saturday.

 Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that local fishermen were the first to notice that part of the rock had collapsed at Italy’s southernmost point of Salento, and alerted authorities. 

 Mayor Francesco Petracca explains that “It was the locals and the fishermen, who noticed the missing piece of rock. 

 "It is difficult to quantify the damage at the moment due to the adverse weather and sea conditions so it was not possible to carry out a reconnaissance of the site, which we will do next week with the harbour master's office, but at a rough guess the damage caused will be about one metre, calculating the visible white area where the rock was positioned.”

 It is thought that the piece of rock may have become detached when a sailing boat was thrown violently by the force of the stormy sea against that stretch of coastline in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 

 cw