Paradise in the heel of Italy for when the pandemic is over
Somewhere abroad and a villa with lots of rooms are the main prerequisites for holidays with the pals but Puglia has raised the bar, writes Eleanor Goggin
FOR the last few years, myself and a gang of friends — nine of us in total — get together and book a villa holiday. Somewhere abroad and plenty of space are among the main prerequisites.
Our needs are simple. Three couples and three singles. So we need six bedrooms. No sharing of couples with singles. We’re too old for that sort of thing. We all tend to do our own thing. Some go for long walks. Some go for long lunches. I come into the latter category.
Generally speaking, there’s no friction. We all pull our weight. Some cooking. Some washing up. Some doing local research. Sometimes we cook in the villa and sometimes we create a lot of noise in a local restaurant.
We change destinations every year — so when we heard that Puglia is the most undiscovered and unspoilt area of Italy (and that the wine is very cheap), it seemed the ideal place.
Reader, it was among the best. I’ve been thinking about it a lot during lockdown.
Our villa was just outside San Vito dei Normanni, a very local town where tourists were somewhat of a rarity, but it proved to be a great base for discovering what Puglia has to offer. We got lost driving around there so often that I think we now know every inch of the town. And every choice profanity there is.
Puglia is on the ‘heel’ of the boot of Italy and renowned for its cute villages, olive oil and local produce. Oleander is everywhere. Pink, white and red varieties adorn the sides of the roads. A sign welcomes you ‘to this very stylish land’.
Our villa had its own olive trees, lemon trees and fig and apricot trees. As if that wasn’t enough, an almond tree and a walnut tree were also discovered later in our stay. Pure heaven.
Lecce is a city known for its Baroque buildings and has earned itself the title ‘Florence of the South’. A stroll around the winding streets of the town with its quirky shops will bring you past multitudinous churches in Baroque style. Completed in 1695, the Basilica di Santa Croce is a great example of Baroque. Building began in 1549, the lower facade was completed in 1582, the dome in 1590 and the portals were later added. The interior comprises 17 altars. In total, it took two centuries to complete. And I thought construction workers in Ireland were laid back.
The Church of San Giovanni Battista is also outstanding. The richly patterned pulpit is impressive and extremely valuable. Piazza del Duomo, or Cathedral Square, is home to the cathedral, the bell tower, the seminary and the bishop’s residence. The seminary used to supply the Vatican with castrato singers. Ouch.
In 1938, during the construction of a bank, a
2nd century amphitheatre was discovered and it is now partially exposed in the centre of the city.
A spot of shopping is a must. Unusual and individual shops abound and I spent hours browsing in offbeat jewellery boutiques. Neckpiece purchased and a glass of wine consumed in a cool courtyard, it was time to put sightseeing on hold and discover some of the area’s culinary delights.
Our first dining experience was in our local town of San Vito dei Normanni at Xfood where the concept was admirable and the food sublime. The introduction on the menu is ‘Today you are in a special place, not a restaurant like the others. You are in the first social restaurant in Puglia’. Housed in a beautiful lofty building, the vision is to include people with varying disabilities on the staff. A huge shared starter and Cavatelli (a kind of pasta) with Taranto’s mussels, followed up by millefoglie with chocolate and whipped cream, all washed down with a very palatable and reasonably priced white wine, was a great introduction to the local cuisine.
Ostuni is another wonderful town. Known as the white city, it is picturesque and quirky.
The medieval walls were destroyed in an earthquake in 1743 but two of the old doors remain — Porta Nova to the west and Porta San Demetrio to the east.
The historical centre is a hilly labyrinth of whitewashed houses. Steps, laneways, arches and little squares criss-cross, with hanging baskets, painted doors and shutters all adding to the picture postcard feel. At the top of the town is the cathedral. Dedicated to St Mary of the Assumption, the facade is dominated by the central rose window. I wandered into a shop selling olive oil and the elderly couple running it made me taste every single flavour they had. Not many people in Puglia speak English, so there was a lot of hand waving and gesticulating — and I emerged with mintflavoured oil which I have yet to use.
Freedom Square is where it’s happening. Lots of outdoor restaurants and cafes and peoplewatching. The patron saint of the city is Saint Oronzo and an obelisk dedicated to him dominates the square. It is believed that he saved the people of
Ostuni from the plague and a commemoration in his honour is celebrated in August every year.
Within the maze of whitewashed alleyways and archways is the
Bella Vista restaurant.
The outside terrace area enjoys a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside, but when the heavens opened in a rare thunderstorm, we were obliged to move inside and were delighted to be escorted to an underground cave in which to enjoy our repast of copious and wonderful shared appetisers and a main of tempura prawns.
Now, myself and my friends are not in the first flush of youth but we are game for a laugh so when it came to visiting the town of Alberobello, we hired Segways. To the uninitiated, a Segway is a balancing act on two wheels with perpendicular handlebars. You lean forward to propel yourself and you lean backwards to slow down. Lean backwards too much and you’re on your ass.
After a rather unnerving few minutes where Francesco, our Segway man, explained that anyone over a certain weight would be precluded from using the Segway — and after a paranoid moment on my part when I thought that he was referring to me and me alone, we set off with an exhortation from Francesco of ‘Andiamo Irlanda’.
To say it was like an excursion from the day room in the nursing home would be an understatement. And then we became proficient and found it in ourselves to wave at all and sundry.
Lots of ciaos. Alberobello isa trulli village. Trullis are sweet little houses built with overlapping stones, a whitewashed base and conical shaped roofs. They were thought to have been originally built in order to avoid tax. The roofs were easy to dismantle when tax inspectors were in the area and the houses were rendered invisible.
The village became a Unesco World Heritage site in 1996. And then Francesco, who was by now our best friend, brought us to the home of Maria and Nikola, one of the last eight families still living in a trullo, who taught us how to make
orecchiette, an ear-shaped pasta, and fed us homely local fare of pasta and pastry at their dining room table.
Bueno.
Eating out in Italy has to be the highlight of any trip. Pizzas don’t taste remotely like pizzas here. Cucina povera is the ethos here. Food of the peasants with a new twist. Frisella, a dry bread baked in a stone oven and dipped in olive oil, and
taralli, a pretzel-like cracker, are often served before your meal in a paper bag in the centre of the table. Frittura mista di pesce — a selection of fried fish — is divine.
Hiring a car is advisable in order to get around. There’s so much to see. The speed limit is very low but by all accounts Italians regard that as the minimum. That said, we found it easy enough to drive there and when the heat became too much around our villa pool, we made our way to the coastline.
Morgicchio is a stretch of beach, north of the coastal resort of Specchiolla. There are areas where you don’t have to hire a bed and pay but we chose to have the comfort of a bed and a beach bar where, after a few days, we built up quite a relationship with the diminutive older man who ran the show.
I have to say Italian men have no shame. Tiny little Speedos painted on to their booty. Very little of my book read.
I’m not sure if there will be a get-together next year or where it will bring us but I can safely say that Puglia created lovely memories and when I want to evoke them, there’s always my mint olive oil.
‘The historical centre is a hilly labyrinth of whitewashed houses, painted doors and shutters adding to the picture postcard feel...’