Puglia

Puglia is a spot that has become more of a destination as major cities have become expensive to travel to, and other areas have begun to blossom. Puglia is spread out but we did hit the high notes, and will capture a little bit of each location in the post.

We stayed at Rocco Forte Masseria. I have always been a fan of the Rocco Forte hotels: lovely rooms and fantastic service. My breakfast was the same every day and definitely one of my fave meals on the trip. Soft scrambled eggs that I put over toast that I had lathered with ricotta, prosciutto, and insanely delicious sun-dried tomatoes soaked in olive oil.

All the towns feel very similar and old, filled with tourists. I can’t imagine what hell it must be there in the height of summer. The first day, we hit up Martina Franca, Alberoello, and Martera.

Martina Franca has been a commercial hub since the 1400s. The buildings have a baroque elegance with large plazas. This installation by Lorenzo Quinn, celebrating the six universal values of humanity —help, hope, friendship, faith, wisdom, and love —was a nice way to enter the city.

Alberoello is known for the conical roofs. It feels like the friar in The Lord of the Rings. In most of these towns, the key is reaching the highest peak to enjoy the beautiful vistas. At this time of the year, it is still filled with tourists all attempting to reach the same heights, but thankfully, not as bad as the summer months.

Our last stop that day was Martera – a city carved into a mountain. There are numerous cave dwellings. We made our way up to the top in search of lunch. Many of the spots don’t open until later, for the cocktail hour, when the sun sets and the sunsets are beautiful. We opted to go back to our hotel because it was 90 minutes away, and once you have walked the town, there’s nothing more to see.

We came back, had our evening cocktail hour, and had dinner at a local spot, Osteria del Porto. I got a kick out of the owner going through her accounting books. Very much defines Italy.