Food & wine

Puglia's cuisine is deeply rooted in the region's agricultural tradition and sums up all that is best about Mediterranean cuisine. Many of the most representative dishes have their origins in "cucina povera", making use of whatever is at hand or that can be picked from the garden or even grows spontaneously. Top-quality local produce, including olives, tomatoes, artichokes, fava beans, chickpeas, courgettes, aubergines, fennel, peppers, onions, pork and lamb and some of Italy's best cheeses and a succulent range of fruits (Puglia is also a land of cherries, almonds, clementines, grapes and white honey melons) are combined and prepared in the simplest of ways, yet most delicious.

Freshness of ingredients is all-important as is the their provenance. A classic example of this is Puglia's most distinctive dish, orecchiette con le cime di rapa, little ear-shaped home-made pasta cooked with turnip greens. The pasta itself is made rigorously from durum wheat flour, water and salt. Eggs, once considered a luxury, are not used in traditional Puglian pasta-making. Simple in the extreme but absolutely yummy!

As with pasta, the local durum wheat is also used in Puglia's delicious bread. In more remote villages, communal wood-burning ovens still exist where local housewives can bake their own bread. Altamura, a small town in the north-west of Puglia was the first town in Europe to receive a DOP classification (Denomination of Origin of Production) for its bread.

For millennia Puglia has been predominantly an agricultural region, producing around 40% of Italy's olive oil and a large proportion of its wine (note: Primitivo and Aleatico). Vast tracts of the region's territory are given over to farming, whether it be crops or livestock, and many inhabitants continue to grow their own produce.

Puglia's rocky interior is ideal for sheep-farming and, in terms of meat, lamb reigns supreme! Feast days are characterised by the fragrances of roasting lamb wafting through the streets and most restaurant menus will feature at least a couple of lamb dishes. Horse meat is also very popular.

Puglia's pecorinos and ricottas are excellent as most dairy products. A must try: the burrata di Andria, a mozzarella like cheese, with a soft creamy stuffing, that has to be eaten within 24 hours of production - absolutely delicious!

Puglia's long coastline and fishing tradition bring large amounts of seafood to the table: red mullet, anchovies, gilt-head bream, mussels, sea bass and cuttlefish are featured in many recipes.

If you still have room after the main courses, Puglia's desserts will certainly tempt you. Many are almond based (the region produces vast quantities of almonds), often combined with honey or vin cotto di fichi (a kind of fig concentrate), while sweetened ricotta cheese sweets are also a local favourite.

Our country farmhouses are also a special treat when it come to scents and flavors: surrounded by fruit orchards, olive groves and vineyards, they will tempt your palate and quench your senses with the best home-made cuisine featuring only genuine regional products.

Apulia, just like Sicily, is the land of oil and wine.
   
With more than 80.000 hectares and a production of about 7 million hectoliters: Sangiovese, Primitivo, Negramaro, Bianco di Locorotondo and Verdeca are Apulia’s most iconic wines.
400.000 hectares of cultivated land are devoted to olive groves with a production of 150.000 tons: Coratina, Ogliarola, Perenzana and Cellina are the olive varieties of the most famous apulian extra virgin olive oils.
   
Our suggestions include a careful selection of properties, often with own winery and/or oil mill.
In addition to this, we have a choice of mid-size wineries as well as small wine producers for unique wine and food tasting experiences.

Let Italia Solaris lead you through the best of Apulia!

Food & wine itinerary example in Apulia:
a 7 days tour through art, culture, food & wine

Criteria:
7 days
From Trani to Santa Maria di Leuca
Arrival and departure: Bari / Brindisi
Transportation: car, motocycle
     
NOTE: the following itinerary is to be considered as a mere proposal and is obviously subject to changes as per client’s request (e.g. number of days and of hotel accommodations can be reduced or the tour may just focus on a specific area in Apulia)
 
Day 1: Arrival at B&B Bari Airport. Visit of Bari. Dinner in the old town of Bari at a traditional trattoria selected by Italia Solaris
 
Day 2: Visit of Trani and Castel del Monte. Olive oil tasting and light lunch at Galantino in Bisceglie. Wine tasting at the winery Rivera or at the winery Torre Vento. Typical dinner at a Trattoria in Ruvo di Puglia (selected by Italia Solaris)
 
Day 3: Transfer to the Itria Valley (Country Stay Alberobello, Country Stay Ostuni, Resort Trulli di Fasano, Trulli Luxury Resort Locorotondo). Visit of Alberobello and the Castellana caves. Olive oil tasting and visit of the underground oil mill at Brancati in Ostuni. Dinner at a traditional trattoria in Ostuni (selected by Italia Solaris)
 
Day 4: Visit of the safari zoo and Torre Guaceto. Wine tasting at the winery Colucci or at the Manduria consortium, with possibility to join a cheese tasting. Possible visit (with or without guide) to Matera. Traditional dinner with tasting at guest house
 
Day 5: Transfer at the Wine Country Stay. Own wine production tasting. Excursion to Porto Selvaggio and to the old town of Gallipoli. Traditional dinner at guest house
 
Day 6: Transfer to Otranto (Country Hotel Otranto or Sea View Country Resort Otranto). Wine tasting at the property.  Oil tasting at the underground oil mill Negro Valiani. Visit of Otranto and of the Zinzulusa sea cave. Traditional dinner at guest house or, alternatively, at a typical trattoria selected by Italia Solaris
  
Day 7: Transfer to Lecce (Country House Brindisi-Lecce or Country Luxury Resort Lecce). Wine tasting at the property. Visit (with or without guide) of Lecce, capital of the Apulian baroque. Visit to the ateliers where papier-machè masterpieces are created. Traditional dinner with tasting at guest house or at a typical restaurant selected by Italia Solaris
 
Day 8: Transfer to the airport