Mini Travel Guides

Even though Italy has one of the highest obesity rates in Europe, the Mediterranean diet is alive and well in the southern Italian region of Puglia. Here traditional foods include fresh seafood, eggless pasta, and plenty of hearty, often foraged vegetables, such as chicory and wild artichokes.

For the first time in all my trip, the air had the hard edge of fall. My girlfriend and I met up with a couple ex-Brits—friends who now call Puglia home—and went to the town of Ceglie Messapica to check out a food festival dedicated to wine and chestnuts. The whitewashed town was eerily quiet and dark, and I was surprised by how difficult it was to find the festival. Then the soft breeze of an accordion whirled through the alleyways, calling us to a small piazza full of people celebrating traditional seasonal foods.

For me, Puglia and these small festivals, known as sagra, are inseparable. Historically impoverished, Puglia developed luxuries in edible form, and it’s amazing how sweet a chestnut or bell pepper can taste when grown in Puglia’s soil. Ceglie Messapica is one of Puglia’s leading gastronomic cities thanks to Al Fornello da Ricci, the only restaurant in Puglia to receive a Michelin star. However, it is very difficult to get a bad meal in Puglia, and good traditional restaurants abound.

I had my first Pugliese meal at Nonna Tetti restaurant in the city of Lecce. Lecce is one of Puglia’s most beautiful cities thanks to imaginative, Baroque architecture and a handful of impressive Roman ruins. It is also a great place to eat, and Nonna Tetti provided us with excellent traditional fare for nearly dirt-cheap prices. We began with an antipasto della casa. One of Puglia’s specialities, antipasto are usually comprised of five or six small plates. We were served broccoli rabe sautéed in olive oil, cauliflower casserole, eggplant stewed in tomato sauce, beans cooked in a pancetta broth, and a barley salad—the hearty, flavorful food of Puglia. We followed the antipasto with orecchiette pasta with tomato sauce and cavatelli pasta with seafood broth and mussels.

The table wine was rich, dark, and juicy. Puglia’s table wine is excellent because the region gets so much sun each year, resulting in huge grape yields, which produces large amounts of fresh bulk wine are produced. A liter carafe of house wine can cost as little as five euros. Puglia predominantly creates red wines with the negroamaro, primitivo, nero di troia, and aglianico grapes.

After Lecce, I wanted to hit the Adriatic coast, so we visited the town of Polignano a Mare, where the houses are built right into the walls of the cliffs. Arriving around lunch, we found a café that advertised a glass of novello, or new, wine with a panzerotti for 3.50 euros. A panzerotti is one of Puglia’s best street foods. Fresh dough is wrapped around mozzarella cheese with a little sauce then deep-fried. Sometimes called calzone fritte, or deep fried calzones, panzerotti are a must when visiting Puglia.

On the third day in Puglia, I visited Valle Dell’Asso winery, which is located just south of Lecce. Puglia is a great place for wine tasting because most of the tastings are free and the wines, at least in my mind, are very amicable, with juicy, dark fruit flavors and a silky mouthfeel. If you’re a DIY wine taster, check out my article on how to plan a wine tasting trip in Puglia.

Valle Dell’Asso winery specializes in negroamaro and primitivo wines, but I really love their Galatina Bianco, made of 100% chardonnay. Winemaker Elio Minoia explained that good wine begins with good grapes, and he uses biodynamic practices to keep his grapevines healthy. The result is vibrant wines made with perfectly mature fruit, and I got a lot of tropical fruit scents and flavors from the 2010 Galatina Bianco.

As the end of my trip approached, the many dishes and bottles of wine that I’d had seemed to haunt me. I wasn’t dying, but all of my meals flashed before my eyes. Each was unique and unrepeatable, and none of these dishes would taste the same recreated abroad. It’s like Dolores Racic said, all the way back in Dubrovnik. “It’s better to drink our wine here in Croatia, that way you can have all of the components that made the wine what it is—the sun, the wind, the sea—around you.” I thought this trip might take the edge off, but seems to have just whetted my appetite.

Lecce Restaurant Recommendation

Nonna Tetti – $$
This restaurant always surprises me with new antipasti, and the pastas are as authentic as they come. The prices are very reasonable: a five-plate antipasto costs 10€ and most pastas are 6-8 €. The atmosphere matches the food, and the ceilings are the typical vaulted ceilings made of Leccese stone that one would find in local homes.
Piazzetta Regina Maria, 17

Wine Tasting Recommendation near Lecce

Valle Dell’Asso
This winery makes budget friendly white, rosé, red, and dessert wines, many of which are surprisingly elegant for the price. My favorites included the Galatina Bianco, Galatina Rosato, “Terra S. Giovanni” Primitivo, and the “Piromafo” Negroamaro. Tasting Fee: Complimentary; 5€ with traditional snacks
Via Guidano, 18, Galatina

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com

Editor’s Note: This concludes the ‘Eating the Adriatic’ series of thirteen articles written by the intrepid Mattie Bamman. If you, our readers, have not had the opportunity to read all of Mattie’s articles, we invite you to do a website search for “Eating the Adriatic”.

Related posts:

1. Eating the Adriatic -The Traditional Foods of Piran, Slovenia ...
2. Eating the Adriatic – The Traditional Foods of Italy’s Lombardy Region ...
3. Eating the Adriatic – Traditional Dubrovnik Dishes ...

I’ve already written about Gargano’s beautiful beaches . Visiting these beaches south of Vieste also provides a nice excuse for a drive through the Gargano’s most stunning coastline.

The road is high up and curving, but road conditions are pretty good. There are places to stop and park the car to allow you to get out and admire the views over the rugged coastlines.

There are pretty rock formations and numerous ancient watchtowers dotting the coastline. These used to be an important line of defense for the local population – watching for Saracen or Ottoman invaders. Today, they serve as panoramic viewing points over the dramatic coastline.

Enjoy your drive along Gargano’s picturesque coastline.

The Gargano peninsula’s stunning coastline – Puglia, Italy

Browse through our Europe travel tips to find the best places to visit in Europe. Content published on Europe a la Carte.

The road between Italy’s Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto hugs the incredible white stone cliffs of the southern Italian coastline, offering unparalleled views of the wide-open Mediterranean Sea. The plethora of white sand beaches with adjacent, friendly, picturesque beach towns makes the drive perfect for beach hopping. Part of the Puglia region, the Salento peninsula contains some of the best kept secrets in Italy, and this drive hits several, including the seductive sea caves known as grotte. Read more about this beautiful road in southern Italy

Finding a good place to swim in the crystal-clear waters of the Gargano peninsula in Italy’s Puglia region isn’t difficult. The region, which forms the spur of the Italian boot,  has kilometers and kilometers of wide, sandy beaches that are easily accessible.

But my European travel tip this week is to seek out the best Puglia beaches amongst the wilder coves, cut into the stunning white cliffs of the Gargano coastline. These are located between the pretty town of Vieste and southward towards the town of Mattinata.

To reach these beaches, you must park your car along the road and walk down a trail – be sure to have decent walking shoes on hand – in order to reach these pretty pebble beaches.  It’s well worth the effort. Here are some of the best:

Campi

This pebble beach is located south of Vieste, just after the Felipe coastal tower, and in front of a small island with the same name.

The waves are gentle and the water clear. The trail is quite short and most of it is gentle, only the last section along the rocks is a bit slippery. Unlike most of the beaches in this area, this beach does have a snack bar and  a restaurant, so you can purchase snacks and beverages there.

Cala della pergola

This is the easiest beach to reach, with a driving path that leads you almost up to the beach.

The beach itself is very tiny and can fill up quickly on weekends. Nevertheless, it’s nestled in a  pretty spot along the rocks. There are no bathrooms or snack bars on this beach. Bring your own water.

Porto Greco

This is my favourite beach in the area and it also takes the most effort to reach, down a fairly long trail. But you’ll be happy to have made the effort.

This pebble beach is surrounded by dramatic white cliffs, boulders and lush green Mediterranean pines. The water is an inviting clear blue and it’s a pleasure to swim in this beautiful spot. There are no facilities here, so bring along any provisions.

The widest selection of hotels close to these beaches in Vieste, you can search for the best prices at Vieste Hotels using the price comparison search box below.

The best beaches in the Gargano Penisula, Puglia, Italy

Browse through our Europe travel tips to find the best places to visit in Europe. Content published on Europe a la Carte.

Otranto, the picturesque Adriatic town in Italy’s Salento region, is so beautiful and peaceful, that it seems hard to believe this was once the site of the gruesome “Sack of Otranto”.  Luckily for today’s tourists, Ottoman invasions are no longer a threat to this tranquil coastline.

Lovely Otranto – my European travel tip this week – with its whitewashed buildings, winding streets and sparkling blue water, today plays host to tourists seeking sun, sea, excellent food and wine and beautiful art and architecture.

Photo courtesy www.viaggioadriatico.it

Charming streets and piazze are abundant in this tiny town in Puglia and, while the most beautiful beaches lie just to the south of town, visitors can also swim in the crystal-clear waters right off the picturesque town walls.

The 12^th century cathedral is the top Otranto attractions. The cathedral’s simple exterior of local stone changes colour with the changing light throughout the day.

Not to be missed is the spectacular 12th century floor mosaic which occupies nearly the entire nave. Visitors should take their time to examine the lovely, intricate designs, including an image of  “Rex Arturis”.

Image courtesy V&A online journal (http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/62268-popup.html)

The cathedral also houses a gruesome reminder of the famous “Sack of Otranto” of 1480, back when the town was an important outpost in the Byzantine Empire. Modern Italy’s coastline once lived in constant fear of Ottoman invasions. Most of Otranto’s population died in the famous siege of  July 1480. To the 800 townspeople who survived, the Ottomans offered the option of conversion in exchange for their lives. Down to the last man, woman and child, they refused and the martyrs’ bones are still prominently displayed in cases in the cathedral.

Photo courtesty steynian.files.wordpress.com

Otranto is a fantastic European destination and should certainly be on your itinerary on any trip to the Salento.

Other beautiful, nearby destinations are Gallipoli and, if you are headed farther north, the town of Trani and Vieste .

You can find the lowest rates at Otranto hotels using the price comparison search box below.

Otranto, Puglia – The sleepy seaside town with a bloody past

Browse through our Europe travel tips to find the best places to visit in Europe. Content published on Europe a la Carte.

The beautiful Tremiti islands (Isole Tremiti) lay 22 kilometers off the Gargano peninsula of Puglia, in the Adriatic Sea. A visit to these lovely islands – offering history, nature, sunshine and sparkling blue waters, all within a national marine park – is my Europe travel tip this week.

San Nicola Island is the historic, religious and administrative center of the archipelago.  It is here that the spectacular abbey-fortress was built, in the 14^th century and expanded upon during its golden age in the 16^th century.

This island serves as the port for the archipelago and arrival by sea to San Nicola is dramatic, as its imposing fortress looms into view. In 1567, tiny San Nicola even managed to thwart an Ottoman attack on the island.

The island fortress passed to the Bourbons in 1737 and eventually became a penal colony.

Today, the San Nicola abbey-fortress attracts numerous visitors, eager to explore its ramparts and glimpse the dramatic views to the tempting turquoise waters below.

Taxi boats ferry visitor to the neighbouring San Domino island. San Domino is much larger (2600 meters long and 1100 meters wide) and lusher. The island is covered with beautiful Aleppo pine trees. Its rocky coastline is dotted with dramatic grottoes and beaches, some of which can be reached by steep paths and others only by boat.

The island has one sandy beach, located just opposite San Nicola island, with stunning views over the abbey-fortress from the crystal-clear waters. All hotels and tourist facilities are located on San Domino.

The uninhabited islands of Capraia and Cretaccio complete the archipelago.

The Tremiti islands can be reached by boat from the Gargano peninsula, including Vieste , or from Termoli, in Molise. There is also a helicopter connection from Foggia.

This is a wonderful destination for a daytrip, or – better yet- a relaxing extended holiday.

Get away from it all in the Tremiti Islands, Puglia, Italy

Browse through our Europe travel tips to find the best places to visit in Europe. Content published on Europe a la Carte.

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

Icons of the Puglia region of Italy, the conical huts known as trulli, poke out everywhere in the region, but nowhere are they as numerous as in the city of Alberobello. Demonstrating an architectural sense from another time (which sometimes seems like it comes from another world), trulli are made of hundreds of carefully placed stones. On top of their cone-shaped roofs are knob-like Pinnacoli, aka pinnacles. Alberobello is a great place for families who are traveling, and the city has more than 1500 trulli. The now world-famous city is one of Puglia’s most important tourist destinations. Everyone from celebrities to politicians has been buying up renovated trulli in the recent years.

It isn’t difficult to find trulli in Puglia, and any train ride in the region will take you past one or more. It is truly astounding to think that so many ancient buildings still dot the countryside. Sadly, in areas other than Alberobello, many trulli have fallen into disrepair. The difference between most of the trulli seen from trains and those found in Alberobello is that those in Alberobello are better cared for, are white washed, and have roofs adorned with the ancient symbols of their pagan inhabitants. The compromise you make is sharing them with hundreds of other travelers.

The history of the trullo-style architecture is at least half hearsay, but the earliest examples of trulli come from Greece during the Bronze Age. The Greeks controlled the lower portion of Italy for centuries and their presence is still felt in many ways, for example, some of the dialects in the Puglia region recorded around the turn of the 20th Century still contained many Greek words.

One of the more interesting stories that I’ve heard concerning the origin of the trulli is probably not true, however it’s worth mentioning. Back way before Italy was united, each region of Italy had it’s own lords who were subservient to more powerful kings in Naples or Florence. Supposedly, Puglia’s lords were crafty guys because they forced their subjects to live in trulli to evade taxes: when the king’s tax collectors came to collect property tax, the peasants were told to quickly dismantle their stone homes, thus saving their lords a few bucks. While comical, I have never heard this story officially validated. What is known about the original inhabitants is that they likely worshiped the sun because most of the homes’ entrances face east.

When visiting Alberobello there’s no better way to see the city than by strolling around Rione Monti. The twisting and turning streets are lined with trulli, many of which can be rented for a night or more. These rentals include kitchens and bedrooms. In summer, it is best to secure reservations in advance, but trulli can easily be rented without reservations during the months of October-April.

The streets are also filled with wine shops, artisanal shops, and shops selling all manner of souvenirs. Giuseppe Maffei is one local artisan famed for his miniature, ceramic trulli. When visiting Alberobello, don’t miss the Chiesa Sant’Antonio: a giant trullo church.

Getting to Alberobello can be a pain if you don’t have a car and you don’t plan on spending the night. It is best to be based out of either Taranto or Bari, where the travel time is around 1 ½ hours by train or bus. Buses and trains run much more regularly during the summer months. Check out the Trenitalia Web site or the FSE Bus Web site.

Written by Mattie Bamman for EuropeUpClose.com