HIGH SUMMER
it is high summer in europe. the northerners flock to the south, looking for saturation and slow days. the southerners stay in the south, looking for places the northerners haven’t found. it is the season of slowness, of deliberation. of pondering on dinner.
in puglia, the charms are not formal. Not elaborate. This is an earthbound, simple place, with dabs of strident baroque. the beaches are salted, the country thick with crickets, and the food is from just over there.
we were brought to puglia to make clothing - but this is italy, after all, and it doesn’t take long to feel at home. to feel part of it. so what follows is a short curation of the highlights of our travels through puglia (So far, at least). WITH EACH DEVELOPMENT CYCLE WE TRAVEL TO NEW PLACES, AND LOOK FORWARD TO BRINGING YOU MORE OF THOSE.
ALL IMAGERY SHOT ON A PENTAX ME, IN PORTRA 400.
the coast
puglia’s east (adriatic) coast is a shallow, salted, nibbled coast, and not always ravishing. but you can find good spots among the inlets around the old spanish guardtowers that dot the coastline (in their hundreds, by the way). We’ve enjoyed the spiaggi around the torre pozzelle; variegated, irreverant and full of puglians. you can even join the group exercises if you fancy it.
for something more manicured, try the lido bizzarro, a lovely throwback to nineties holidays of orange-creamsicle parasols and sand between your toes. it has a good restaurant where the wine is cold and the seafood is brisk.
the west - or ionian - coast is plainly more beautiful. the sea is settled and the land more luxuriant. you can dip off the corniche at taranto, where the water winks at you between the trees. it is a different blue; ionian blue, promising of hidden bronzes and amphorae waiting to be disturbed by IDLE swimmers.
the towns
As in other parts of italy, there are, in puglia, simply too many places to see. here is an extremely partial list.
martina franca. a lovely, civic little town in the valle d’itria (see a sud). stop at Caffe tripoli for coffee and a sweet (or the grand caffe on the piazza xx settembre, but that feels more appropriate for an after-dinner grappa). go to osteria origini for dinner, where the obsession is in hyper-local produce; a worthy strain of puglian food culture. angelo and his family run the place with obvious pride. alternatively, la tana is nearby, almost hidden in the cellars of the palazzo ducale; another fine welcome, another great dinner.
For culture (read: old buildings), the palazzo ducale is worth a look, and the main basilica is spectacular. but the town rewards a slow stroll, quietly disclosing its rococo palaces with a wink and a tap on the nose.
brindisi. brindisi is a surprise. an intriguing and well-kept town that deserves more visitors. it has a roman column marking the end of the appian way. they say virgil died here, in a house they can point to.
an easy afternoon could include the francesco ribezzo museum, which has a wonderful collection of grecianware and stunning roman bronzes; and then the temple of san giovanni al sepolcro, a church built by crusaders in imitation of the holy sepulchre at jerusalem. then take in the view of the smart, busying harbour with a drink.
taranto. worth visiting if only for “marta” (the main museum), but also for much more. taranto has a lick of naples about it, and bags of history. like brindisi, it deserves more visitors (and doesn’t deserve its rather delinquent reputation).
There is excellent seafood at taranto, fetched out of a LAPIS sea that circles the castle. there’s a whisper of le beau monde around the harbour, there in the grand hotels that have become middling; A SENSE OF A CITY THAT HAD ITS MOMENT, AND IS, PERHAPS, WAITING FOR ANOTHER ONE.
ostuni. Chalk-white, too-pretty and overbooked, ostuni doesn’t really need introducing. it is lovely for a short stroll but in the summer it is overrun. nearly everyone in ostuni seems to be attending a wedding.
there are at least two serious restaurants: Casa san giacomo, which is best for dinner. You should try the bombette and the gnocchettini (or anything, really); and osteria ricanatti, run by a very talented chef who serves a deft, modern STYLE of local cookery; all using vegetables from his own garden. to eat in puglia is to eat from puglia. virtually nothing is brought from elsewhere.
Villanova. a scratchy seaside town (technically the outport of ostuni). included only for fond memories of the tuna tartare and fritti at sorsi & morsea, and a salty dip off the mole, where the fisherman were about their nets. there are few things as good - as right - as a peeling white town by the sea.
Sud
