Mini Travel Guides

Day 59
I’ve never felt more a part of Italy, which makes for a sad goodbye. Spending so much time in its mountains (even shaping them with my own hands!) and all the people I’ve met over the last two months of travel—these are things I’ll never forget. Georgeta Perhald, Sommelier and Manager of PR for Rocca delle Macíe winery, spoke of how Italy changed her life, and how she could see it changing mine. “You cannot help it,” she said. “You stop thinking about what you put on the outside of your body, and begin thinking about what you put inside.”

Italy changes you. Witnessing such ancient traditions as the trulli, meeting smiling Italians who, as part of their culture, say hello and goodbye every time they enter and exit a store or café, walking among buffalo and tasting cheese only a few minutes old. The senses are heightened by the influx of carefully prepared dishes composed of carefully produced ingredients.

Suddenly, a 25-euro bistecca fiorentina seems more important than a new pair of sunglasses. The array of powerful flavors and aromas is so intoxicating that you forget to do what makes sense and begin to just do what you enjoy. You do it for no other reason than because you want to, as Armando, of Il Parma Delizie Alimentari, might say .

I’ve been able to watch the terrain change region by region, from the bottom to the top of Italy—from Puglia to Veneto—and I’ve seen a plethora of unique cuisines and landscapes. Every 30 miles brings a new Italy, with different traditions; different mountains, islands, or beaches; different wines made with different native grapes. Italians are proud of their regions, and even if one or two try to chase you off their property with a pitchfork , most will take the time to share some secrets. Massimo Criscio knows this, and shares his knowledge.

To know one region of Italy is not to know Italy. You must dig deeper. You must visit the small towns in the quieter regions. Then you will begin to see Italy as a whole.

I’m at that point in a trip, only two days from its end, when every bone in my body aches for extra time. I hold each breath of Italian air a moment longer, hoping to incorporate it into my body. I watch Kristin packing her backpack, carefully wrapping the bottle of ’98 Brunello di Montalcino so that it won’t break in transit.

Tomorrow we’ll catch a train to Naples, where we will spend two nights before boarding a plane for JFK International Airport. Direct flights run between Naples and New York City during the summer months, and Meridiana Airlines offers some of the best deals.

We’ll say goodbye to the friends we made at Italy Farm Stay and to Antonello Siragusa and his family, and then we’ll say goodbye to all of Italy. But all of the people I met—Italian, American, Romanian, German, etc.—all of their words and smiles will remain. Life is beautiful, and as Giuseppe Siragusa says ” Don’t make problems.”

I’d like to thank everyone who accompanied me on this journey. I’ll continue to publish articles on EuropeUpClose.com, so always feel free to contact me with questions in regard to your own travel plans. Until then, so long from Italy From Bottom to Top.

Written by and photos by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack…

Day 39
Last night, to celebrate the dollar’s dramatic comeback against the euro, Kristin and I scoured Florence for the famous bistecca alla fiorentina. Made from a unique breed of cow, Chianina, the steak is served in huge slabs of between 1.5 lbs and 3 lbs, and traditionally cooked al sangue, which means “bloody.” I say “scoured” because the prices of bistecca alla fiorentina vary, and I was looking for the best combination of price and quality. I discovered that most restaurants charge 45 euros per kilo (2.2 lbs); the cheapest I found the steak for was 30/kilo, and the most expensive was 55/kilo.

We ate at Gusta Osteria, and the meal was excellent. The house-made pastas are authentic and inspired. The bistecca alla fiorentina was excellently simple: a very, very thin cut of beef, cooked to a succulent crisp on the outside, barely warm on the inside. I’ve only eaten raw beef that tender once before, and that was a porcini carpaccio in Puglia. Gusta Osteria is an impressive restaurant. During the day it operates a panino bar that serves cheap and delicious panini (3-4 euro) to go. It’s called Gustapanino. Right across from Chiesa di San Spirito, it’s a good way to grab lunch on the go.

Another traditional Tuscany dish is a soup called ribollita. So far I’ve sampled it at two restaurants. It is a rustic soup composed of bread, fava beans, black cabbage, and other vegetables. The bread makes the soup very light. Certainly a good example of a dish from Italy’s culinary past that’s still alive today. I highly suggest sampling it for yourself.

I’ll leave you with a tip for finding cheap accommodations in Florence. Online booking sites do not include many of the cheaper hotels in Florence. This means that, if you’re willing to roll the dice, you can shop around upon arrival. There are probably 30 hotels just around the train station, most of which are respectable, offer free WiFi, and cheap. Go door to door and get the best price. We found ours for 40 euros/night with WiFi. Not bad for peak season. However, I don’t recommend trying your luck during July or August.

Tomorrow I’m renting a car and heading for Tuscany’s wine country, where I’ll taste the latest Chianti wines. I can’t wait to hit the road.
Gusta Osteria
Via De’ Michelozzi 13/r
Florence, Italy

Written by and photos by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpCLose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car.  Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack…

Day #33
I wanted to learn more about Umbria’s traditional foods, especially that strange Norcian mortadella with the chunk of mystery meat inside. When I found the store, Il Parma Delizie Alimentari, with a large man carving meat behind the counter, I knew I had the right place.

Armando is an experienced purveyor of fine foods, and when I asked him about Umbria’s most important culinary ingredients, he enthusiastically explained. He told me that Pecorino is Umbria’s most important cheese. There are three basic ways of aging Pecorino (I’d only eaten the hard version commonly found in the United States). The freshest is actually soft. It is usually aged 3 months and has a very light texture. The next Pecorino is aged 6-9 months, and it still retains the creaminess, but its sharp flavors are more pronounced (this is my favorite). The final type is aged at least one year, it is very hard and very sharp. The flavor of this cheese is so strong that it might knock you off your feet. Unless you’re a formaggio veteran, you might want to incorporate this cheese in a pasta dish (speaking of which, I have found very few types of pasta or pasta dishes that are unique to Umbria).

When I asked Armando about the mortadella from Norcia, he said that the piece of meat in the center was lard. Do they put it in to keep the salami moist, I asked? He responded, No, they just put it in because they want to. It serves no purpose. Well, that’s what you get when you ask too many questions.

Umbria has a traditional bread called torta di testo, which is a flat, almost pita-like bread that has very little salt. Kristin and I made sandwiches on it with Umbrian prosciutto, which is made extra salty to pair well with the local, salt-less breads. The regions around Umbria, such as Tuscany, make their bread without salt. This ancient tradition originated in a protest against the pope. I’m not certain on the century, but the church once controlled the tax and sale of salt. The Italian people became fed up with the  pope at the time, and they boycotted salt. The ramifications can still be tasted today.

Armando finished his lesson by talking about Norcia’s famous truffles. White truffles can be found in the northern areas of Umbria, but the Norcian black truffle receives the most praise. It is made into a spread or sauce called salsa di tartufo, and you can’t beat it when spread on a sandwich. I’ve tried using it on pasta, but I find that the flavors are masked. On a sandwich of fontina and prosciutto on torta di testo, it’s divine.

Today I’m heading off to Florence. It looks like rain. We’ll see.

Written by and photos by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack…

Day 30
Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year: Cantine Aperte. A countrywide wine tasting, the event’s name literally means “Open Wineries.” I started just outside of the Montefalco region, a D.O.C.G. region that produces wines made with the Sagrantino grape. The word sagra means festival or party, so I like to think of the grape as a “little party,” although that is not actually what it means. However, yesterday’s event was a very. big. party.

The wine road, La Strada del Sagrantino, runs through the region, bringing many visitors to the wineries. I visited Antonelli Winery first. Even at 10:30 in the morning, barbecues were smoking, and salami and prosciutto were being sliced and served. My girlfriend and I purchased our glasses for 5 euros each, then tried our second Grechetto. It was different than the first (less oak), showing the grape’s versatility. At the next winery, Fongoli, each glass of wine cost between 1-2.50 euros. Their wines are good, but because I was driving, I wasn’t prepared to drink an entire glass of wine. We drove on to find more tastings.

After 5 minutes of driving, I found Perticaia winery, which was offering three small pairings of wine and food for 5 euros. Perticaia offered my favorite Sagrantino di Montefalco D.O.C.G. of the day. The 2005 was classic, very refined. Some American wine drinkers might be turned off by how dry the Montefalco DOCG wines are; I personally wouldn’t want to drink them alone. They are, after all, designed to be paired with food. Perticaia’s Montefalco Riserva was served with a traditional porchetta panino, aka pork sandwich. To make porchetta, an entire pig is deboned, then filled with a stuffing composed of its organs and herbs. The entire pig is then roasted. The sandwich was delicious and tasted like a combination of pork, sweetbreads, and foie gras. Very rich and decadent. A perfect pairing.

I had a free tasting at Cantina Colle Ciocco before finding the real party. When I arrived at Tiburzi winery, I knew this wasn’t a middle-of-the-road winery. Fashionable women were pouring wine, a band was playing, and a single table held 30 or so college students who were seriously celebrating. For a moment I thought I’d walked onto the set of MTV’s Spring break. Tiburzi also offered free tastings, and the students were actually having cases of wine served to them. Sitting in the shade, escaping the hot sun, and watching the party swell around me, I decided to take a break from taking tasting notes and just relax. A water fight broke out. Summer has truly begun.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about the incredible dinner served by the restaurant at Pian di Boccio’s restaurant. The campground is also an agriturismo, which produces its own olive oil and a plethora of home-style marinated veggies.

Written by and photos by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack. . .

Day #14    
I’m taking a SITA bus along the Amalfi Coast. If you’ve ever taken this nerve-racking trip, you know it’s a roller coaster ride. Every time we go around a corner we swing well into the other lane of traffic, and the driver’s blowing his horn frantically. A year ago I actually had to walk the road along the Amalfi Coast in the middle of the night. I’d waited for a bus that was two hours late, and then I was taken only a few kilometers toward my destination. Unbeknownst to me, the road was closed to SITA bus traffic for a 100-meter stretch. While I had to walk this supposedly dangerous stretch of road in order to get another bus, other traffic encountered this piece of the highway without a problem. But rather than wait for the next bus, which was scheduled to arrive in two hours, I decided to walk the 4.5 miles to Amalfi. There are no sidewalks and I had both a heavy backpack and a wheeled suitcase. But I made it. Eventually.

Before getting on this bus, I spent two days in Salerno. Salerno is located on the eastern edge of the Amalfi Coast and though it’s primarily a transportation hub, it’s worth checking out for one or two days. With inexpensive restaurants, happening bars, and a seaside promenade, Kristin and I usually stay in Salerno before hitting Amalfi.

Yesterday we visited the ancient ruins of Paestum, located on the coast just south of Salerno. The train to Paestum costs the same as the bus, 3 euro, and takes less than half the time: 40 minutes. This trip is one you can easily do without a car. The weather stayed the same, alternating between dark clouds and warm sun. The ruins at Paestum date back to 600 B.C., and the three colossal temples that remain demonstrate the bulging Doric columns of the time period. Photos do not do them justice. Tickets are priced at 4 euro. While the only place that I know of that rivals Paestum’s temples is the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, I wouldn’t pass up a trip to Pompeii to see Paestum. However, if you have time, it’s well worth visiting.

A trip to the sight does have other rewards. A beautiful beach is just a short, 20-minute walk from the archeological area. Again, no sidewalks, but there’s a beaten down path on one side of the road, and on the walk you’ll pass two buffalo farms that produce mozzarella di bufala. The famous cheese, often found atop Neapolitan pizza, is only made in this region. It comes as a ball, the inside of which is a mixture of cream and fresh cheese. The first time I tried it, I didn’t believe it was made from buffalo milk. There’s not only mozzarella, but also ricotta, which I write about here , scamorza cheese, and even gelato. First, we visited Azienda Agricola Barlotti, which offers generous tastings of the cheese. Next, we stopped at La Fattoria del Casaro di Di Lascio Luigi. Surprisingly, the two cheeses were quite different. Both were excellent, but I preferred La Fattoria del Casaro’s because it had a good balance of creamy flavor and texture. Barlotti’s had a tang to it that makes it good for pairing with tomatoes. The buffalo were huge, happily eating fresh hay.

Throughout Italy, it’s important to remember that many smaller train stations do not have ticketing booths that are open all day. Such was the case in Paestum. Fortunately, I bought my train tickets at a tobacconist, which usually sell regional train and bus tickets. The next problem was finding a functioning machine to validate the tickets. No luck, so when the ticketing agent checked our tickets on the train we explained the situation, and he was very understanding.

When I returned to Salerno, I couldn’t miss visiting one of my favorite gelaterie in all of Italy. Bar Nettuno, located at 136 Lungo Mare Trieste in Salerno, offers an incredible invention called Nettuno, which is a light chocolate gelato with caramel, pieces of fudge, and crunchy pieces of chocolate. Other excellent flavors include Ricotta-Pistachio and Ricotta-Pear.
The bus ride’s almost over. In my next post I’ll talk about the Amalfi Coast’s excellent beaches, hiking trails, and seafood restaurants.

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack. . . starting now.

Day #11
I’ve left Italy’s Puglia region and entered the Basilicata region, which lies to the northwest. The region is poorly served by trains and buses, likely because of its mountainous terrain, but I want to visit the town of Matera once more before heading north. I spent the better part of this morning trying to find a good train or bus route to the town, but there’s just no comfortable way other than renting a car. Fortunately, my friends pulled through once again, and I’m getting a ride.

When we reached Matera, we headed to Café Schiuma, which is famous for its pastries and gelato. When I first saw the pastries I thought they were fruit tarts, but then I began to notice ingredients such as shrimp and hard-boiled egg. These  luxurious pastries looked like a combination of fine art and sushi.

Matera is best known for its caves; they are built throughout the canyon that runs though the city. These caves are called Sassi, and they reveal a poverty-stricken reality that greatly contrasts with the delicacies in Café Schiuma. In the 1950s nearly 50% of Matera’s inhabitants lived inside of Sassi. Today, the Sassi that are still inhabited are equipped with electricity and other luxuries. This is a fascinating place and its no wonder that Mel Gibson chose this location to film The Passion of The Christ.

After a late lunch and some particularly bad gelato (not at Café Schiuma), I got a ride to Metaponto, a small town that is about as in the middle of nowhere as a town can be. Fortunately, unlike Matera, it has a train station with trains running north. As the sun set, my girlfriend Kristin and I threw on our bags, said goodbye to our friends, and went to buy tickets. Inside the station the ticket office was closed, but the automatic machines were working and we bought two tickets to Salerno. If we’re lucky, we’ll arrive by 10:30 tonight, with the fresh air of the Amalfi Coast filling our lungs.

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack. . .

Day #8
Fabio Ingrosso and I first met when he commented on one of my articles on EuropeUpClose.com. He is an internet marketing professional, as well as one cool guy, who focuses on promoting the Puglia region, particularly its wine, tourism, reggae dancehall festivals, and pizzica dancing. His wine blog Vino 24 (in Italian)  is one of the top 10 most popular wine blogs in Italy. This afternoon we met in a cemetery. It may not have been the ideal place, but it was the most easily findable landmark.

From there, we set out to find a trullo and shoot the video. Fabio saw a crew of workers trimming grapevines and pulled over. He asked if we could set up on the trullo on the property. They said it was ok, so we pulled out the gear, hiked up a hill covered with olive trees, and took a seat right on top of the trullo.

TV Interview Part 1 focuses on Puglia’s countryside
TV Interview Part 2 focuses on Puglia’s wine

Afterward, we ran into the owner. She’d returned while we were filming. There’s no better way to describe her other than saying that she was a well-worn peasant woman. And she didn’t like us on her property. She demanded that Fabio delete the video or she would call the Vigilanza, a branch of the police. Fabio managed to quell her anger by deleting a few photos.

We then went back to my friends’ house and tried a couple wines. The Diciotto Fanali, a rosé by Apollonio Winery, was quickly gone, so we moved onto one of my favorite white wines made in Puglia: Cantina Santa Barbara’s “Ursa Major Bianco.” It is made with the international grape Sauvignon Blanc. It does not represent Puglia’s traditional native grapes, but it is wonderfully balanced. It is medium-bodied, with pineapple and chamomile on the nose, a nice balance of acidity, and a creaminess from malolactic fermentation. These components make it great for pairing with fruity green salads, saucy fish dishes, and barbecue chicken.

It was a pleasure spending time with Fabio. He’s a dedicated, hard worker who loves the area he grew up in.  
In my next post, I’ll head north, to the city of Matera, in the Basilicata Region.

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools, the entire two months living out of a backpack. . .

Day #7
To enter Puglia’s culinary world is to walk into a combination of creativity and simplicity infused with fresh produce. For centuries, agriculture was the primary source of income, and you can taste the high standards of the local farmers who know just how a vegetable is supposed to taste. Chemicals have been introduced to the area, but even though most farmers use chemical fertilizers and pesticides of some sort, the vegetables taste very, very good. They aren’t as full-flavored as those my mother grows in her garden in Maine, but they maintain their unique flavor profiles.

Lunch is the big meal of the day, and Sunday lunches are the most important. It’s common to have six or more courses. Common first dishes include eggplant or zucchini involtini with tuna or parmesan, raw vegetables—especially fennel and barattiere (a type of cucumber that resembles a small melon), and roasted bell peppers covered with breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are customarily used to add flavor and are one example of the cucina povera, or the cooking for the poor, that Puglia is known for.

The second course often includes seafood, such as baked mussels topped with breadcrumbs, fried anchovies, or marinated octopus. No meal is complete without polpette, a uniquely small and delicious version of meatballs. The next course is pasta, of which orecchiette with broccoli raab, orecchiette with meat sauce, linguini with rabbit, sagne with a local mushroom cream sauce, and spaghetti carbonara are common. Risotto is also common, especially with squash, as well as riso al forno, a baked loaf of rice, potatoes, and mussels. Interestingly, though most people think of Rome when they think of spaghetti carbonara, the city of Bari, Puglia’s capital, also claims to be the origin of the dish.

The fourth course is either fish or meat. Whole calamari stuffed with breadcrumbs and shellfish or whole prawns cooked in a broth of parsley and tomato are common. One of the most frequently found meat dishes is involtini, and the most commonly used meat is horse. The slices of thin meat are rolled up with a large piece of parmesan and a sprig of parsley inside, then toothpicked to ensure than none of the cheese escapes as it cooks. A common technique in Puglia is to cook the involtini in tomato sauce; to serve the sauce over orecchiette first, and then to eat the saucy involtini for the next course. It took time, but I have gotten over the stigma of horse meat, and it’s very tender and rich.

The final two courses of a Sunday dinner are fruit and dessert. I always appreciate the fruit course after the first four courses, which are very filling. Desserts in Puglia are excellent, and include numerous variations on pastries made with marzipan, dried fruit, and creamy custard. Finish me off with a homemade limoncello and a coffee and I’m ready for a nap.

Ceglie Messapica is known for having some of the best food in Puglia, and I had wanted to sample the traditional fare at a renovated masseria (large, fortified farm houses that dot the countryside and remind you of a more prosperous time). Unfortunately, the season has yet to truly kick off and I couldn’t secure any reservations. Instead, my friends and I ate at Entroterra, a restaurant just outside of Ceglia. The décor is rustic and friendly and the grounds are beautiful, boasting the iconic high stone walls of Puglia.

The antipasti demonstrated Puglia’s approach: Roughly 16 plates of food arrived for 6 people at a total cost of 30 euro for this course. Plates included sautéed lengths of zucchini covered with shaved parmesan and drizzled with balsamic vinegar, a fonduta of eggplant involtini and speck, sliced salami and prosciutto, fresh cheese and fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and arugula, deep-fried balls of potato, cheese, and parsley, chicory sautéed in terracotta pots, sautéed green beans with pancetta, and a very sharp, spreadable ricotta forte, all served with a selection of artisan breads.

Disappointingly, the restaurant required advanced notice if you wanted to have a pasta course (this is not common in Puglia), and it offered only meat courses. We decided that the antipasti were enough and skipped to dessert, sampling a very good panna cotta that tasted just like freshly whipped cream, but with a firmer texture.

Tomorrow I have a television interview with Fabio Ingrosso of Vino 24, during which we’ll talk about Puglia’s wine and culture.

Salute!

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way, I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools … the entire two months living out of a backpack

Day Six
Because we arrived in the dark, it wasn’t until this morning that I discovered the unique beauty of the countryside that surrounds us in Ceglie. Located in Italy’s middle-Puglia, it is hillier than the south, with clumps of pine forest. My friends, with whom we will stay, have renovated an old farmhouse. The farmhouses in Puglia are known as masseria and they literally fill the countryside. Many are fortified with impressive stone walls.

When we arrived their three dogs gave us a royal greeting. Today, Neil is working in the garden, which is bearing fruit already. I grew up in Maine, where the growing season is incredibly short, and we were lucky to have strawberries by my birthday, on July 6th. This morning, in early May, strawberries are ripe for the picking.

Trulli are a unique form of hut that have cone-shaped roofs. They have existed for at least 2,000 years in this region and their origin is ancient Greece. The most popular place to see trulli is the town of Alberobello, which I write about here . The town has more than 1,500 of the peculiar huts. Right now, the countryside around me is filled with trulli. Some have been left to fall into disrepair but many are being renovated. In this area, trulli are also commonly renovated. This morning I met an English couple who have spent the winter restoring a trullo. After a lunch on homemade bread, we took the dogs for a walk and explored some of the abandoned trulli for signs of life.

For tonight’s dinner, my girlfriend Kristin is making homemade pasta. Recreating popular regional dishes is one our favorite challenges. Whether it’s an incredible eggplant Parmesan made with unbreaded eggplant, or a Bolognese sauce made using a secret family recipe, we like to test our taste buds and see if we can recreate it. We are very comfortable cooking Puglia’s food. Many different types of pasta are traditional in Puglia, the most famous of which is orecchiette, which means little ears. Today’s dish is regular linguini however, only it is made with semolina, the flour used to make orecchiette. It is eggless. We’ll eat it simply, with a healthy amount of sautéed garlic in Pugliese extra-virgin olive oil and a bottle of Cantele winery’s Aglianico.

Buon appetito!

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Follow me as I journey from the southern tip of Italy’s Puglia region all the way up to the Trento Alps. I’ll be focusing on budget-friendly travel, and I’ll rarely use a car. Along the way I’ll sample traditional foods, visit lesser-known ruins and cities, sample excellent wines, and visit local cooking schools; the entire two months living out of a backpack.

Day Five
This morning, we woke up and said goodbye to the city of Lecce. We have two bicycles, only one of which has gears (profuse apologies to my girlfriend). We’ve given our backpacks to a friend who we will meet up with in the city of Mesagne. Fortunately, bicycling in the south of Puglia isn’t very challenging because the terrain is mostly flat and there are many private bicycling paths. It is a favorite vacation spot for bicycling enthusiasts in Europe. Lecce’s tourist office didn’t have any trail maps, but I found good information through a Google search.

The wind was blowing from the south, which is known as sirocco, and it was actually pretty cold. The nights are still chilly here in early May. Fortunately, the exercise and the sun warmed me, and once the sun was up, the day was full-blown hot. This is my favorite time of year to be in Puglia, when the sun and the wind are in balance.

The roads that I’ve taken are as small as bike paths. They are lined with stone walls that make it somewhat difficult to pass cars. When two cars meet, one has to pull into a driveway. The local drivers have given us the right of way whenever they’ve seen us. Not that they’ve always seen us. Near Salice Salentino, I had to cross a major intersection where cars whipped by at nail-biting speeds. For a moment it felt like bicycling on a major highway. There was nothing to do but wait until traffic cleared, then pedal hard.

For most of the ride, the countryside has been full of grapevines, fig trees, pawpaw cactus, and 500-plus-year-old olive trees. The olive groves seem endless; Puglia produces nearly two-thirds of all the olive oil in Italy. The grapevines are mostly Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Malvasia Nera grapevines, and the city that I’m now in, Salice Salentino, is one of the most famous in Puglia for wine production. The Salice Salentino DOC (a government classification of wine) is made with 80% Negroamaro and 20% Malvasia Nera.

Upon entering the town of Salice Salentino, we parked our bikes in front of Leone de Castris winery, located on Via De Castris 56. This winery is noted for being the first in Italy to make rosé wine, and its story is fabulous. A United States general visited the winery toward the end of WWII and loved the rosé wine (rosé is called rosato in Italy). The winery didn’t have any glass bottles because of the war and couldn’t bottle it, so the general had his soldiers collect empty beer bottles around camp. The first bottling of Leone de Castris’s Five Roses rosato came in beer bottles. Today, we tasted many of their wines and talked about the future of Puglia wine with Export Manager Salvatore Ria.

Now I’m preparing for the rest of our cycling journey to the small town of Mesagne. A friend will pick us up there, and we’ll spend the night at her house in Ceglie Messapica, a small town full of the strange architectural creations known as trulli. We’ll be only a few miles from Alberobello.

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com