On being lost & found

Special Apulian edition ;)

Dear wonderers,

Hello from 2025! Can’t seem to fully process that it’s already a new year, but here we are anyway.

I wanted to start with a Puglia-focused edition, as we’ve just got back from Ostuni, and I still feel lost in Italy in the best possible way.

[And to give you more time to contribute to the community-focused edition ;) ]

So I invite you to wander & wonder with me — through sites, sounds, and bites.

Let us begin!

#ToSee

In no particular order, here are the spots that will make you feel the local “heart” and make you feel at home:

• Monopoli — after 10+ towns explored, we still love it best for its quiet charm, warm light, and welcoming sea & people. My tried and tested recommendations: Cesare’s Carpe Diem B&B as he makes true on his promise of providing a “home away from home”; N24, bar a vin, the most atmospheric and intimate bar-restaurant in the coastal city; Caffè Letterario, for the best coffee we’ve had in all the region.

  

  Photo by my lovely half, Valentin

• Ostuni, la citta bianca indeed — get lost in the historical centre, grab a pinsa at Osteria Ostuni Bistrot or try authentic Apulian dishes at Osteria Da Nonna Ia. You won’t regret it.

• Matera and Alberobello — the two UNESCO sites, for the hype is real! There are no words to explain the feel of either of the two, just that humanity is ingenious when imagining housing systems: sassi (cave dwellings from the Paleolithic onwards, apparently) and trulli (dwarf houses with conical rooftops, sometimes found in groups).

  

  Photo by my lovely half again ;)

• Conversano — a hidden gem we stumbled upon while searching for this temporary exhibition of Antonio Ligabue (a weird, self-taught painter with a history of madness, fraud, and genius). We still dream of one day spending a month here, working remotely and enjoying the comforting slowness of living in this town.

  

  My clumsy photo of a Ligabue painting

• Locorotondo — another beautiful town, which was especially welcoming at Christmas time, with its quirky decorations.

  

  I have way too many photos of white stone corners filled with Christmassy “local touches”

• Valle d’Itria — just going off track on the rural roads, between masserie, olive trees, vineyards, and fields of green (lush even in winter), there’s nothing more meditative than that.

#ToRead

All the poetry & quotes on the walls of many, many towns in Puglia — a selection to inspire you to check the authors (I’ve added some of the quotes in English, but note that they were all in Italian):

• “Sometimes I think heaven must be one continuous unexhausted reading.” Virginia Woolf

• “You need a village, if only for the pleasure of leaving it. A village means that you are not alone, knowing that in the people, the trees, the earth, there is something that belongs to you, waiting for you when you are not there.” Cesare Pavese

• "But the sea is like the soul. And it is never silent. Not even when everything is silent." A. de Pascalis (*hope I got the right writer)

• “…life is like a mirror, it smiles at you if you look at it smiling” Jim Morrison

#ToListen

Although I haven’t uncovered any specific sounds while there, I was as curious as you are to check some traditional music (like tarantella & pizzica):

Complement it with this one and some whimsical local jazz. Actually, I’ve found a whole playlist if you want to give it a try.

#ToTry

This section is mostly dedicated to taste, because Puglia is a well-known producer of many beloved ingredients and because I am a foodie:

• The star of the show: olive oil. The best decision we’ve made? The olive oil tasting with the super knowledgeable Giacomo from Masseria Pezze Galere. What you need to know in a nutshell (in the photo below): a good olive oil doesn’t feel oily on the lips, smells of green (grass, green tomato, olive leaves), and tastes of aromatic bitterness and spiciness (mostly grass, arugula, tomato stems, etc.). The one I loved the most: Alba, made of picholine olives.

  

  Part of the olive oil tasting experience ;)

• The other star of the show: homemade pasta, especially orecchiette (yes, you should go check the nonnas of Bari vecchia). Some of the favourite local recipes: alla Pugliese, with polpette, or with pistachio pesto.

• Life is better with tagliere, Italian for charcuterie boards — the local cheeses you must try: caciocavallo, cacioricotta, burrata, and pecorino. The local cured meats you must try: capocollo of Martina Franca, soppressata, and salsiccia pugliese. Plus, the taralli: we have a soft spot for the ones made of grano tostato.

  

  Pay attention to the sizes! We were overwhelmed by the generous selections of taglieri at N24 - bar a vin. We managed in the end :))

• And, of course, life is better with wine: meet Fiano (our pick 9 out of 10 times), Falanghina, Negroamaro, and Primitivo.

• Unexpected discoveries from Matera (technically not Puglia, but Basilicata): a traditional bread shaped like a mountain and fermented with grapes and figs (pane di matera), cialledda - a bread and tomato salad packed with flavour, crapiata - a hearty soup made of beans, lentils, chickpeas.

• We can’t forget the sweets, because there are as many pasticcerie as there are streets ;) Definitely try: pasticciotto, all the varieties of almonds (mandorle) in chocolate, biscuits, etc., and many other biscotti, for that matter.

I’m sure there are many things that I’ve probably missed, but I hope I’ve made you dream a bit.

Thank you for reaching the end of this long post (which might get truncated by email clients) & please share your own Apulian discoveries (like so) with me ;)