The Towns of Puglia

By on February 11, 2010 at 1:20 PM

While the great guide books and travel writers of the world can offer you details on history and what “must” be seen in Puglia, we prefer to provide you with a snippet of what we think and why we love our region. Here are some notes on cities we visit in almost all of our programs and what these cities mean to us and we hope will mean to you.

Bari

The capital of the region and a major university city which is coming into a cultural renaissance with the re-opening of the opera house and a wave of young entrepreneurs opening wine bars, restaurants, and businesses in the ancient city. Bari is truly one of the most underrated cities in Italy and is not the derelict ferry port of early 90s guide books. Bari is cool again!

Lecce

Often spoken of as the Florence of the south. We disagree! Lecce is easily its own unique city with the ever apparent Baroque architecture keeping watch over the skies above while the culminating energy of the entire heel funnels down into a city with a nightlife more akin to Barcelona than Florence. Lecce is the usual ending point for most of our departures and a world class point of discovery and respite for the culturally curious.

The Itria Valley

The most fertile and verdant of Pugliese landscape, this gorgeous valley is the home of Puglia’s most picturesque residence: the trullo. This conical roofed house with mythological overtones has been the symbol of Puglia for several hundred years and now is blended with the modern to make up the picturesque villas dotting the landscape of the valley. Like points on a crown, the hilltop towns of the Itria Valley, Ostuni, Cisternino, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, and Alberobello, offer stunning views of the valley floor and are each unique for what they offer the curious traveler. We can show you all of them!

Monopoli

Home of Southern Visions in Puglia and perhaps the most untouristed town of its size in Puglia. Monopoli is a stunning seaside village of 50,000 inhabitants. Monopoli offers a glimpse into Italy as it was 50 years ago with people still conducting the rituals of family and friends; the evening passegiata on the weekends, laundry hanging from the balconies of the ancient dwellings in the city center, the 3+ hours in the middle of the day when all business stops and the silence is only disturbed by the sounds of clinking forks from the lengthy lunches created daily from scractch echoing through the town. In Monopoli, life is slow and and food is way more than sustenance; it is ritual. In the warm months the sea is transparent and the beautiful locals parade on the beaches from young to the very old, and all with ”la bella figura” in mind. If you want real southern Italy, you have it here.

Otranto

 The jewel of the Salentinie peninsula and the gateway to the Ionian, Otranto is a brilliant shining town along the crystalline waters of the Adriatic. From here the coastline becomes wild and craggy and time is more like Greece than Italy. Otranto and the way of life here as in many of the towns of the deep south is steeped in culture that is a mixture of Greek, Spanish, North African, and Italian. The cities here and in the north of Puglia all speak Italian, but each region and often each individual village has their own dialect, esoteric and often cryptic. There is beautiful mystery in the south and you will see it fully on your first walk along the sea in Otranto.

Matera (Basilicata)

While actually part of neighboring Basilicata, Matera is the jumping off point for our 7-10 day casual biking and our 7 day casual walking itineraries. Nowhere is the profound growth in the Italian economy over the past 60 years more apparent than Matera. Matera is home to the Sassi, caves that were dug into the limestone and used for human dwellings from the middle ages to the 1950s. This stunning portrait of the destitute past juxtaposed with the welcome economic fortunes of the 21st century is apparent in the reinvention of the Sassi from dilapidated caves to Matera’s most interesting shops and hotels.  Make no mistake, there is a human spirit occupying this amazing town and it simply embodies the overall sense of warmth and community generated by the entirety of Southern Italy.

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