Highlights
Cuisine
Puglia produces silky olive oils, sun-dried tomatoes and plenty of pasta too – every Sunday, the ladies of Bari can be seen deftly making orecchiette (small, ear-shaped, pasta). Savour the local fish and seafood dishes, including oysters roasted in olive oil, lemon and garlic, as well as spit-roasted lamb with rosemary, all perfectly paired with wines such as Castel del Monte Rosso, Terra d'Otranto and Bianco di Train. In Cisternino, look out for butchers who offer appetising meat options, including parcels filled with mince, ham and cheese called 'bombette' – a local delicacy and great barbecue ingredient.
Sightseeing
Lecce is a Baroque gem, with a beautiful Old Town of golden-stone architecture overflowing with fancy churches, palazzi and piazzas. Highlights include a Roman amphitheatre, Piazza del Duomo, with its 70-metre-high bell tower, Basilica di Santa Croce with its intricate façade, Il Castello di Carlo V and the Church of Saints Niccolò and Cataldo. The pretty town of Ostuni, meanwhile, is a jumble of whitewashed buildings spread over a hillside, all overlooked by a stunning Gothic cathedral. Browse its narrow streets and stairways, taking in the views at every bend and calling into shops selling regional goodies and keepsakes.
Valle d'Itria
Discover this sweeping, picturesque area of vineyards and olive groves, punctuated by farmsteads, trulli and lovely old towns. Cisternino’s slender streets wend to elegant piazzas, edged with restaurants and beautiful old buildings, such as the 14th century Church of San Nicola – if you visit in August you’re likely to catch fantastic local festivals. Locorotondo is another pretty town, known for wine production and whitewashed 'cummerse' buildings, their pointed gable roofs more typical of the Baltic region. Alberobello is perhaps the most famous, its historic town centre filled with clusters of trulli – unique to the area, these conical-roofed houses are still inhabited today.
Beaches and Coastline
Ostuni has some protected coastal parks and – about eight kilometres away from the town – are some of Puglia’s best beaches. Other places of interest by the sea include the resort of Oranto with its Old Town area and Polignano a Mare with its cliffs and sea caves.