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Do look out for the cultural events organised by the Masseria Murgia Albanese. Based on local tradition and folklore, many of the audience are people who return once a year to their roots in the south of Italy. Expect lights, fireworks and local typical food: focaccie, taralli, calzoni alle pizza and much more.
You'll enjoy exploring Puglia, the 400km long strip that makes up the heel of Italy. Invaded and colonised over the centuries by a succession of cultures, including the Greeks, the Normans, the Spanish and of course the Romans, its reliable sunshine and clean seas today make it very popular with holidaymakers, especially from Italy itself.
Taranto is a fascinating town to explore. This was once the first city of Greater Greece (Magna Graecia) and renowned for its oysters and mussels, its wools and its dyes: Greece's Imperial purple was ground from the shells of Tarentine molluscs. It was home to an immense bronze of the god Poseidon and numerous pagan temples.
Head into Puglia and you find much peculiar to this part of
Italy. Trulli abound: round, whitewashed homes with tapering conical roofs,
and extraordinary to the first-time visitor. Visit the town of Alberobello
where you'll see thousands of these extraordinary buildings. Puglia is also
dotted with grand Swabian castles, legacy of 13th century engineers, and with
impressive examples at Castel del Monte and Lucera.
Near Murgia Albanese, the town of Martina Franca is a lovely place to visit, with a Moorish atmosphere that recalls its ancient past. With its Piazza Roma dominated by the huge Palazzo Ducale, now the town hall, and with the huge Baroque façade of the Chiesa di San Martino, there is interesting architecture to see here too.
[Region map] [View on Google Map]
There is terrific cuisine also, with pasta at the heart of the menu - the region produces eighty per cent of Europe's pasta, as well as most of Italy's fish. Orecchiette (pasta shaped into little ears) is the regional favourite, and is likely to come with wild or cultivated greens and plenty of olive oil (Puglia is home to much of Italy's oil production). Lamb baked with bitter onions over rosemary, raw sea urchins, fava beans and sharp sheep's milk cheese all crop up on the menu, as do excellent pastries flavoured with honey, nuts and dried fruits - a nod back to Ancient Greece.
We offer following cooking courses: learn how to do handmade orecchiette; caciotta cheese and ricotta making; rosoli and traditional elixir making. Every course is EURO 25 per person.
Courses last about 3 hours plus dinner of whatever has been prepared during the lesson EURO 65 euro per person. The lesson comprises 4 recipies. You can book up to 4 different courses - all traditional Pugliese cuisine.
Find out more about this vacation in the unspoiled heart of
the Puglia countryside - just click below.
