Highlights
• Matera. Ancient city in a canyon. Aglianico and Moscato wines
• Murgia. Alberobello, Monopoli, Martina. Primitivo and Locorotondo
• Taranto & Manduria. Greek and Spanish heritage. Primitivo di Manduria
• Gallipoli, Otranto. Romantic sea towns, top seafood. Alezio rosé
• Salento-Lecce. Elegant Baroque city. Salice and Negroamaro wines
Why would you travel to Puglia? Picture a luminous hues of blue sea and azure sky, vineyards, olive grooves, a romantic farmhouse or a hidden cove perfect for dinner. Imagine a place where Greek and Roman, Normand and Spanish ruins, walls, chucrhes and castles are everywhere, and make history alive. Where do you find this all? In a Mediterranean country, especially in Southern Italy, in Puglia for sure! Complete the picture tastings orecchiette, focaccia, superfresh seafood, mozzarella and provolone, olive oils, Primitivo and Negroamaro. Season all with Apulian hospitality and smile, blend together and you get a great, intense multisensorial Mediterranean experience that you won’t foget.
Well, how can you find all that? Simple! Join a passionnate native guide who discloses the best of all: country and ancient cities, magic Casteldelmonte, millennary olive forests, vineyards, Romanesque cathedrals, Greek ruins, white villages, fishing harbours with Spanish forts, Baroque architecture, amazing Matera! Discover traditional dishes, the rich and black Apulian wines, you will become fan of for your life!
Days 1-2 TRANI, MATERA. A medieval harbour, an ancestral city.
A Romanesque cathedral dating back to the Crusades, a mysterious castle, ancestral settlements in a canyon are the highights of these two days. We are in the higher Puglia hills, a windy landscape of pastures and wheat fields.
Trani, our meeting point, is a small, lively city, yet 1000 years ago it was a major port for the Middleast. It preserves a Templar church, a Synagogue, and a tall Romanesque Cathedral, built on the shore like a ship and a fortress at once.
The next day we drive up the Murgia plaetau, across the first olive grooves, until Casteldelmonte. This castle, octagonal like the Holy Sepulchre church, is indeed a mysterious temple, concealing much of the initiatic knowledge of Frederick II, enlighted emperor, in love with Puglia. Third stop is Matera, Unesco site, built on a canyon side and the oldest constantly inhabited in Italy. This spectacular city was set of 70 different movies, like the Passion and the last 007. The original homes were caves carved in the tufa rock, some of them are now unique hotels and restaurants. We experience Matera’s atmosphere in the maze of stone-paved alleys and stairs, we can walk by the scenic canyon rim, and visit frescoed Byzantine rock churches.
Food & Wines: Fresh fish, Matera bread and pasta, crusco peppers pasta, shepherd's lamb stew. Moscato di Trani wine, Gravina, Aglianico.
Days 3-5 TARANTO ALBEROBELLO OSTUNI Greek heritage, whitewhashed towns
For three days we travel by the coasts, to find three archeological places and in the hills, green, fertile and populated, to see the nicer, more lively towns.
In Metaponto we find the Doric Hera temple, while in Taranto, once poweful Spartan colony, we visit an amazing Museum with wonderful statues, pottery and jewellery, and by the harbour we taste the finest seafood. Exploring the Murgia hills, we visit the typical whitewashed villages: Ostuni, Martina Franca, and of course Alberobello with its unique trulli homes districts. If you like and immersion in the largest Italian caves, we visit the big Grotte di Castellana. Then we reach Monopoli, on a cliff over the sea, what is left of Egnatia, Roman harbour, and we walk in the majestic millennary Fasano olive forest. The Murgia is specialized in livestock farming too, its cuisine is rich of meat and dairy. Enjoy a fornello dinner, sequence of various grilled meats, try provolone and more cheese specialties, maybe try to make fresh mozzarella yourself. The wines are, of course, rich, black reds: Gioia del Colle and Manduria Primitivos, you will discover which one you like better.
Days 6 to 9 GALLIPOLI OTRANTO LECCE
Italy’s frontier, castles, coasts, Baroque Lecce.
The Salento peninsula is another story, no hills, but a flat rolling land with different sceneries reminding nearby Greece, architecture, and language. With picturesque towns, and a pervasive marine atmosphere, that you feel in its dishes and wines too. We round all the heel of Italy, to see two amazing coastal town, the most scenic coast, and beautiful Lecce at last. We start visiting Grottaglie, Apulian pottery center, where the workshops, still in natural caves, sell dishes, mugs, traditional artwork of warm tints reflecting the Mediterranean light. Beyond the Roman Appian road, we cross extensive vineyards, and stop in Manduria to try Negromaro, the Salento signature wine.
The first harbour that we see is famous Gallipoli, beautiful city, all contained in a small islet that was a fortress. Walking its circular lungomare, you enjoy the nicest views, and find fine restaurants. The kasbah style alleys reveal fascinating mansions, a Spanish fort, beautiful fishermen chapels, and a beach right in the center of town.
The next town, Otranto, shows a severe appearance, all constrained by tall walls, and by the unmissable castle. We walk around town and in the Cathdreal, famous for the Martyrs shrine, memory of a terrible siege of 1480, and for its fascinating floor mosaic. Looking at it is like suddenly immersing i the culture and beliefs of the medieval times. We take our last, longer and more beautiful walk along the unspoiled Otranto coast that, instead seems a remain of the land as it was thousands of years ago, before that there were churches, castles and cities, but just sea, rocks, pastures and wind.
The last day we pay a pilgrimage to Lecce, Salento capital, the richer and more elegant city since when Spain ruled. We spend a day in Lecce to see by ourselves all what it’s famous for: the ornate Baroque architecture, the urban class of the leccesi and their saper vivere, the good food the liveliness of its movida, street life, that it shares, as for a genetic heritage, with the Barcelona and the more lively places in Spain.
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