DON'T FORGET YOUR SWIMSUIT |
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Southern Italy doesn't get better than Puglia. The heel (and spur) of Italy's boot, this is a varied region of fishing villages and hilltop towns, roller-coaster cliff roads and pretty inland valleys, and beach after beach -- whether that's sandy, rocky, cliff-cragged or turquoise-watered. This is sometimes called "the new Tuscany" because of its booming popularity, but in reality, the two regions couldn't be more different. Puglia isn't big-hitter museums or manicured countryside; it's more a state of mind. This is a region still living to a rhythm established pre air con: whitewashed villages sagging into afternoon siestas, harbors that hum with life as fishing boats draw up in the mornings, and restaurants serving ingredients scooped from the sea and pulled from Puglia's famous red earth just hours earlier. Start with the coast below Bari -- a Pugliese riviera, it's dotted with delectable fishing villages like Polignano a Mare, balancing on low cliffs, and Monopoli, where a 16th century castle wraps around the harborside. This is also where you'll find Puglia's famous masseria hotels: ancient farmhouses, fortified to repel Saracen raids, transformed into luxury retreats, all the way down to Santa Maria di Leuca, where the Adriatic and Ionian seas fuse together at Puglia's stiletto tip. That eastern side of the Salento peninsula (the southernmost part of Puglia) is an Amalfi-style coastline where the road is etched into the cliffs, while the western side south of Taranto has some of the Mediterranean's lushest sandy beaches. Higher up, on the Gargano peninsula -- that knobbly spur of the boot -- you'll find white-sand beaches huddled under mythical mountains. UNESCO-protected Monte Sant'Angelo has been a Catholic pilgrimage spot since the Middle Ages. Time slows down on the Salento peninsula -- a wild land of prehistoric standing stones aligned in wildflower-strewn fields, centuries-old olive groves and florid Baroque towns, like Lecce and Nardò. But it's not all about the coast. Inland, the Valle d'Itria sets sizzling white hilltowns and trulli -- round, conical-roofed, hobbit houses -- amid orchards and more olives (try the organic oil at Il Frantoio d'Amico). Further in are towns sculpted into the rock on canyon edges -- Matera, the best known, is just across the border in Basilicata, though nearby town Gravina in Puglia gives it a run for its money. Just as Puglia does to the rest of Italy. |
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Summer is the classic time to visit, with seasonal flights arriving from elsewhere in Europe from April to September. If you're not here for the beach, try March or October -- everything's open, but there are fewer crowds. Winter is a surprisingly good time to visit, too -- temperatures are relatively mild, cultural sites and local-geared restaurants are open, and you'll have the more touristy villages to yourself. Summer is festival time -- there's opera and classical music at the Festival della Valle d'Itria, held in Martina Franca every July and August, plus jazz at the Locus festival, held in and around Locorotondo the same time each year. |
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Valle d'Itria Lecce Polignano a Mare Alberobello Ostuni Vieste and Gargano peninsula |
| Otranto Gallipoli Nardò Gravina in Puglia Punta Prosciutto Egnazia ruins |
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Valle d'Itria Lecce Polignano a Mare Alberobello Ostuni Vieste and Gargano peninsula |
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Otranto Gallipoli Nardò Gravina in Puglia Punta Prosciutto Egnazia ruins |
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Domenico Schingaro chef at Michelin-starred Due Camini |
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| "Puglia is a vast region with a varied territory and climate. Our biodiversity is incredible -- we have over 25 tomato varieties. One of the best dishes is fave e cicorie, fava beans and chicory. It's traditionally eaten during winter, but you can modify it: fava beans with fried zucchini in spring, with peppers and cherry tomatoes during summer, and with fried olives and grapes in fall. There are a lot of restaurants in Puglia. Two of my favorites are Pietro Zito's famous Antichi Sapori in Andria, and Mezza Pagnotta in Ruvo di Puglia -- it's new, serves vegetarian and vegan tasting menus, and is doing incredible work for plant-based food." |
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This family-owned hotel, stuffed with modern art, brings the masseria feel to the center of luscious Lecce. An 18th century mansion with an olive-strewn garden and jewel-like pool around the back, it's high-end but simple, with vaulted rooms made from creamy local stone. |
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Seafood is netted from the rocks below and brought straight up to this ancient watchtower near Monopoli. Expect a thoroughly modern take on traditional coastal recipes, and don't skip the raw seafood platters -- piled high with everything from mussels and giant shrimp to entire fish. |
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Orecchiette con cime di rapa |
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| Cooking is hyper-local in Puglia -- every town has its own specialties and way of cooking. One dish that you'll find throughout the region, though, is this: "little ears" of pasta with broccoli or friarielli leaves and anchovies on top. It's an icon of Pugliese cucina povera -- the "poor cuisine," making full use of scraps, which most people were reduced to in the past. Mixed with garlic and chile, it has a spicy kick. |
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Watch "No Time to Die" -- Gravina in Puglia was one of the locations for Daniel Craig's Bond swan song, along with Matera. Or read what's considered the first Gothic work of literature, "The Castle of Otranto." There is indeed a wonderful castle at Otranto, but Horace Walpole -- who wrote the novel in 1764 -- never saw it. |
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Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and anchovies |
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