Guagnano (Uagnanu in Salentino dialect) is a town and comune in the Italian province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy with 5,925 inhabitants. Situated in northern Salento, it also includes the fraction of Villa Baldassarri.

Guagnano was originally part of a group of villages, and at the end of the 13th century the region belonged to the fued of the count of Lecce. It became the possession of the Lords Orsini del Balzo, princes of Taranto, then passed into the hands of Baron Matteo de Admiaris, before becoming the possession of a series of families (the Sambiasi, the Zurlo, the Paladini, the Galateo, the Lopez, the Santoro and the Mattehei, the Albrigi, then finally the Filomarini, Dukes of Cutrofiano). In 1811 a large village, Villa Baldassarri, was added to the principality of Guagnano and remains part of it today.

The etymologia of Guagnano possibly derives from a word referring to marshes that are rich in water. It could also derive from a Latin name of an unidentified person, maybe Covanius or Aequanius, with the suffix "-ano" added to indicate possession of a property. According to historian Giacomo Arditi, however, the name comes from the word guadagno which refers to the fertility of the land and the meadows and to lucrative activities of the region.

The territory of Guagnano, 24 km northwest of Lecce and bordering on the Province of Brindisi, sits 44 m above sea level and covers 37 km². The western part of the territory falls in the zone of the Terra d'Arneo, the area of Salento on the Ionian coast between San Pietro in Bevagna and Torre dell'Inserraglio. Guagnano is bordered by: San Donaci (BR) and Cellino San Marco (BR) to the north, Campi Salentina to the east, Salice Salentino to the south, and San Pancrazio Salentino (BR) to the west.

Guagnano has a Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot humid summers. The average temperature in January, its coldest month, is 9 °C, while in its hottest month, August, the average temperature is 24.7 °C. Yearly average precipitation, which is frequent in autumn and winter, reaches 626 mm. Spring and summer are characterized by long periods of drought. Eastern Salento is subject to cold winds from the Balkans and hot winds from North Africa.

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