creative flair and a strong environmental philosophy From humble trattorias helmed by tradition to Michelin-starred restaurants that push boundaries while prioritising locality and seasonality Taverna del Porto, TricaseDown south, along the coast of Salento, lies the Taverna del Porto, which effortlessly exceeds expectations. There are no unnecessary frills; rustic repurposed tables and chairs and paper placemats complete the rustic, beach-style interiors the setting is nothing short of charming; during the day an unbeatable backdrop for savouring fresh seafood (be sure to book a table on the first-floor terrace for the best views) Taverna del Porto is one of the first restaurants in Puglia to completely embrace contemporary style dishes from the home-baked bread basket through to the final mouthful of dessert (the lemon meringue tart is always a winner) including la Pizzetta del Marinaio (a puff-pastry pizzetta with Octopus) and Pane Pomodoro e Alici di Mario (toasted bread with tomato and anchovy) the daily specials are great but the Gran Fritto is one of the best in the region Address: Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, 121, 73039 Tricase Porto LEWebsite: tavernadelporto.com casareccio (home-style) restaurant located in the small town of Ceglie Messapica where Giuseppe and his team deliver an incredibly simple but authentic experience while the cuisine is no short of deliciousness come pouring out of the kitchen with a generous selection of antipasti such as meatballs (one of their signatures) all daily specials are scribbled up on the blackboard Favourites include the orecchiette with sugo di braciola (a slow-cooked meaty tomato sauce) and arrosto misto (a mixed grill of local meats) the stewed donkey offers a taste of Puglia’s rustic and historical culinary traditions end the evening with a shot of homemade liqueur Address: Via Malta, 12, 72013 Ceglie Messapica BRWebsite: osteriadagiuseppe.it Polignano a MarePerched on the limestone cliffs of Polignano a Mare this one-of-a-kind restaurant has entered a new era under the ownership of Modesto Scagliusi At the helm of the culinary experience is Apulian-born chef Martino Ruggieri who earned two Michelin stars in under two years for his Parisian restaurant The menu (or three tasting menus) celebrates the flavours of Puglia while injecting some international notes and sharp techniques Ingredients are sourced with meticulous care and from local producers The setting still remains as breathtaking as ever with elegant tables set in a cave carved into the cliffs that overlook the deep blue Tyrrhenian sea This dining experience truly deserves a place on your bucket list Address: Via Narciso, 59, 70044 Polignano a Mare BAWebsite: grottapalazzese.it Sophie KnightSophie KnightTrattoria delle Ruote Martina FrancaThis place has existed in a time warp for decades the menu is exactly the same as it was fifty years ago eating is a ritual not to be rushed; tables are limited and diners are encouraged to take as long as they need What makes this place special is the farmhouse setting it exists within; tables fit snugly into a small trulli decorated with ancient tools The food is rustic much like the surroundings; you’ll eat artisanal salumi and formaggi from local farmers that taste of the Pugliese land followed by perfectly dense orecchiette and buoyant balls of milky mozzarella even the herbal liquors that linger on the table alongside the modest cheque Address: Strada Monticello, 1, 74015 Martina Franca TA, ItalyWebsite: facebook.com don’t miss the carpaccio di cavallino at Pein Assutt order the orecchiette con salsiccia e fungi the region’s signature ear-shaped pasta with hand cut sausage sheep cooked with vegetables and wild herbs in a clay pot Ceglie MessapicaEzio Pietro Maria D'onghiaCibus Ceglie MessapicaLocated in the undulating alleys of Ceglie Messapica’s historic centre Cibus sits in an ancient 15th-century convent with stone walls and lime-painted arches The restaurant was brought to life by a husband and wife duo who consider food not only as a source of pleasure but as a way to understand the culture and history of a destination; every dish shows a dedication to exploring different pairing possibilities using the exceptional produce on offer Cibus has been practising hyper-locality long before the term “zero-mile produce” was coined Sit under the vines with a bottle of Primitivo and make your way through the antipasti and primi and finish with a very sticky almond cookie filled with jam known as biscotto cegliese — best paired with a glass of homemade dessert wine Address: Via Chianche di Scarano, 7, 72013 Ceglie Messapica BR, ItalyWebsite: ristorantecibus.it The outside of Il Cortiletto is the epitome of a traditional Italian restaurant with its bright green chain curtains complimenting the bold ‘trattoria’ sign above the entrance Step inside and make your way towards the internal courtyard where bunches of dried tomatoes and chili peppers hang from the walls while a tangy The restaurant is quaint: with whitewashed walls and simple wooden furnishings that create an inviting and rustic setting While this family-led eatery celebrates traditional Apulian flavours Il Cortiletto is also committed to locally sourced ingredients many of which come straight from the lands of the Itria Valley though timeless classics like Orecchiette al Ragù remain a comforting staple Desserts are always delicious and homemade and to be savoured with a glass of sweet wine Address: V. Lecce, 91, 72015 Speziale BRWebsite: trattoriailcortiletto.it Castellana GrotteIf you head to Castellana for the underground caverns make a stop at Osteria Caroseno for dinner The dining room is exactly what you might expect from a local eatery rustic wooden tables dressed with white linens and handmade ceramics flecked with colour in typical Pugliese style Chef and owner Giovanni Longo spent time travelling and working as a chef before settling back into the town he grew up in to realise his dream of opening a neighbourhood restaurant that is rooted in tradition but flirts with innovation Caroseno is very much a family affair and Nonna Rosetta still plays a part Address: Via Santomagno, 18, 70013 Castellana Grotte BA, ItalyWebsite: ilcaroseno.com Put your trust in Cante’s five-course tasting menu (sensibly priced at €65) which showcases the best ingredients available on the day and pair it with a bottle of locally produced white wine from their thoughtfully put-together cellar Address: Via Cenobio Basiliano, 23, 73028 Otranto LE, ItalyWebsite: laltrobaffo.com RuffanoLocated at the entrance to Ruffano surrounded by old palazzi this family-run restaurant is undergoing a gastronomical renaissance led by Valentina Rizzo Having worked in the kitchen alongside her mother from the age of 15 before cultivating her skills abroad bringing a new energy to the food offering the menu is firmly anchored to regional traditions punctuated with just the right amount of international influence Farmacia dei Sani is a modern iteration of the traditional family-run restaurant everyone wants from a trip to Italy and Valentina has carved out her place as an innovator while respecting the traditions that Pugliese cuisine was built upon Don’t miss the homemade pappardelle with rabbit broth and rosemary oil Before you dive into the wine list try the homemade liquors; their lip-licking negroni is made from direct maceration of botanicals Address: Piazza del Popolo, 14, 73049 Ruffano LE, ItalyWebsite: farmaciadeisani.eu Sophie KnightLe Zie Trattoria, LecceDubbed ‘The Florence of the South’, Lecce leans into tradition like no other region of Puglia Locals take pride in their home-style cooking using locally foraged ingredients and wear their allegiance to centuries-old recipes like a badge of honour Le Zie is what you might imagine eating in a nonna’s dining room to be like; the walls are filled with random paintings and photos of celebrities the floor is a mosaic of patterned tiles that must have seen decades' worth of patrons and the tables are covered with chequered tablecloths owner Anna Carmela Perrone and her all-female team roll thimbles of orecchiette every day her mother’s sun-dried tomatoes and her aunt’s olive oil go hungry and make your way through the menu of classics and don’t be surprised if you’re sandwiched between foodies from New York as well as locals Address: Via Colonnello Archimede Costadura FasanoWith a light to non-existent digital footprint Ristorante da Silve feels like a well-kept secret among those in the know With Silve on the floor and his mother Maria in the kitchen taking a seat at their table is like becoming an extension of the family for an evening The small but carefully considered menu is loyal to Fasano tradition while adding its own creative slant; think zucchini flowers and peppery rocket with burrata over cavatelli and gelato made with extra virgin olive oil and honey all rounded off with a chilled glass of Silve’s homemade digestivo made with chamomile and black pepper The restaurant interior adds to the feeling of dining with a family albeit one with a taste for nice interiors making Ristorante da Silve fit nicely into the design-conscious aesthetic Puglia is fast becoming known for The coastal towns of Puglia are all about seafood and where better to feast on the fruits of the sea than sitting at the edge of the Adriatic This no-frills joint is all about the food the plastic chairs wedged into rocks and paper table settings only add to its brilliance helping you to slide into summer-y oblivion Expect to join a queue during high season and spend half an hour watching trays piled high with spiny sea urchins being ferried from kitchen to table Order a bottle of local wine and everything crudo Address: Strada Provinciale TorreCanne - Savelletri 72015, Savelletri BR, ItalyWebsite: facebook.com No trip to Puglia is complete without visiting a no-nonsense rosticceria This classic Italian butcher shop specialises in bombette de cisternino – rolls of pork filled with local cheese – but just about everything is delicious Rosticceria Antico Borgo di Menga Piero has remained unchanged for years: diners still choose their meat at the butcher’s counter and take a seat in the rustic canteen-style restaurant while the meat is grilled in a wood-fired oven so skip lunch and be prepared to indulge your inner carnivore as this place is popular among locals and tourists; it’s the kind of place you visit once Address: Via Tarantini, 9, 72014 Cisternino BR, ItalyWebsite: rosticceria-lanticoborgo.it Masseria Moroseta, OstuniMasseria Moroseta represents the evolution of Puglia from a rural farming region to a design-conscious holiday hangout This farmhouse-turned-guest house sits against a backdrop of ancient olive trees on the outskirts of Ostuni The land was once occupied by three different families who lived and worked together producing olive oil and working the land; today the small six-bedroom masseria serves a similar purpose centred around connecting guests to the land through food and design It’s impossible to have a conversation about food in Puglia without Chef Giorgia Goggi’s name cropping up Her main intention is to showcase the incredible abundance of produce on offer using ingredients cultivated in the Moroseta gardens (with the help of fishermen and farmers where needed) The ever-changing menu is always served on large communal tables to encourage chat among guests and there’s plenty to talk about: Giorgia plates up six or seven courses using Italian traditions as a starting point before introducing culinary influences from further afield; highlights included handmade cappelletti with duck and kimchi filling and beetroot sorbet with whipped lemon ganache Arrive an hour before dinner to enjoy a glass of natural wine from the likes of Cantina Giardino while wandering around the organic gardens stay a couple of nights and indulge in Giorgia’s equally as delicious breakfast and delicious pastries made by a Michelin star chef Address: Contrada Lamacavallo, s/n, 72017 Ostuni BR, ItalyWebsite: masseriamoroseta.it Book a one o'clock table for lunch and watch the restaurant come to life stirring with a satisfying Italian hum and the clattering of empty plates You’ll be thankful for booking when you watch the waiter pacing the restaurant with a biblical-sized reservation book and a phone permanently cradled to his ear This is a destination for seafood: cornucopian plates of crudo under ice a bruschetta of scarlet prawns atop chicory and salty sun-dried tomato cream or pots of scorpion fish and seafood guazzetto There’s a smartness to the restaurant and a slickness to the service that allows you to sink into your chair and watch what’s happening around you smug with the knowledge that you’re probably the only non-Italian in the vicinity Address: Via Cristoforo Colombo, 10/11, 70043 Monopoli BA, ItalyWebsite: lalocandasulporto.it you’ll find a humble wooden kiosk surrounded by a few tables and chairs shaded under a canopy of trees You’ll also find Vito Dicecca and his partner Roberta a fourth-generation cheesemaker and the duo behind the cheese bar in the forest Vito will guide you through a menu entirely dedicated to what he knows best: cheese Favourite dishes included a creamy sphere of butter made from three different types of milk served with hunks of Pane di Altamura (which has DOP status) a tomato and olive focaccia finished with a twist of stracciatella bruschetta of blue goat cheese with pickled onion and capers and a blue pecorino aged in Primitivo grapes that looks more like a wedding cake than cheese Every dish is served with an anecdote that takes you back to Vito’s childhood in Altamura or tells of his travels across the globe to India Address: Foresta Mercadante, 70020 Cassano delle Murge BA, ItalyWebsite: vitodicecca.it sleek dining room in Lecce is the best place to experience the most exciting movements in Salento cuisine Chef Solaika Morocco – the region’s most revered upcoming chef – breathes new life into ancient recipes using the traditional flavours of her childhood as a starting point before intervening with intricate techniques and Solaika became the youngest Michelin-starred chef in Italy The ten-course tasting menu and wine pairing offer a strong sense of place a series of entrees each as tasty as the last Solaika’s signature Parmigiana which folds all the flavour of the cheese crust (everyone’s favourite) into a paper-thin veil of tomato then there’s the sweetbreads slicked with an orange glaze alongside raw shrimp Everything on the menu – including the wine – paints a picture of Salento while adding something fresh to the story and pushing Pugliese traditions into the future Primo is not the quaint nonna-helmed trattoria that many imagine when thinking of the South of Italy but to understand the region’s food properly you have to look to the future as well as the past Address: Via 47 Reggimento Fanteria, 7, 73100 Lecce LE, ItalyWebite: primorestaurant.it Andrea MaliziaLe StanzieIt’s difficult to put the magic of Le Stanzie into words It’s the kind of place that’s fit for folklore with row upon row of chillies hanging from the ceiling slow-burning fireplaces carved into stone walls and a labyrinth of dining rooms lit by candlelight The magic of Le Stanzie is so striking that everyone seems to talk in hushed voices so as to preserve the atmosphere – the occasional sound of a phone jolting you back to the 21st century After the fire next to your table has been lit and wine has been ordered what follows is a typical Masseria-style feast of vegetables cooked in clay pots followed by generous bowls of horse meat ragu Nearly everything that arrives on the table has been plucked from the farm surrounding the sixteenth-century farmhouse: its orchards Address: SP362 Km 32.900 Supersano - Cutrofiano, 73040 Supersano LE, ItalyWebsite: lestanzie.com Volume 7 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.602984 This article is part of the Research TopicMule and Donkey MedicineView all 11 articles The Martina Franca donkey (MFd) is one of the largest Italian donkey breeds knowledge about the physiologic hematological parameters of MFds is needed The aims of the study were to determine reference value for hematological and major serum parameters in a population of healthy MFds and to estimate the influence of age on these parameters Eighty-one clinically healthy MFds (17 males and 64 females) in different ages were enrolled: group A (foals animals < 1 year old) group B (young animals Red blood cell count (RBC); hematocrit value (HCT); hemoglobin concentration (HGB); mean corpuscular volume (MCV); mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH); hemoglobin concentration distribution width (HDW); RBC distribution width (RDW); total white blood cell (WBC); WBC differential count for neutrophils and platelets (PLT); mean platelet volume (MPV); platelet volume distribution width; and plateletcrit (PCT) were analyzed The biochemistry panel included aspartate aminotransferase (AST) The effect of age on hematological parameters was investigated using one-way ANOVA test Age of donkeys does not influence total WBC Some leukocyte populations such as eosinophils and basophils showed age-linked variations (P < 0.05) and HDW decrease with age whereas MCV and MCH increase and CHOL decrease with age (P < 0.05) while AST and TP showed an increase with aging (P < 0.05) ALB reaches the lowest values in young donkeys and returns to values of foals in older animals (P < 0.05) a difference among groups for BUN and TGL was not found (P < 0.05) The results suggest how even for the MFd breed age is a variable that affects different hematological and biochemical parameters the MFd breed showed some differences that clinicians involved during conservation strategies need to be consider In literature, little information is available about donkey hematological and biochemical parameters. Studies that involved donkeys of different breed as Pêga (7), Ragusana (4), Kirgyz (8), or Northwestern donkeys (9) highlighted breed-related differences in some blood parameters as lymphocytes and neutrophils that are higher in Ragusana (4) than in crossbred donkeys (10) In donkeys of the MFd breed, the reference ranges for main biochemical and hematological parameters are poor and limited to a specific physiological status such as pregnancy (5) or limited to a particular period such as the neonatal one (11) age represents an important variable that should be considered for the evaluation of the hematological and biochemical reference range; indeed it can influence the physiological and/or pathological status of the animal Sgorbini et al. (10) provided age-related changes in hematological and biochemical parameters of Amiata donkey foals from birth up to the second month of life The investigation of hematological and biochemical parameters in endangered Balkan donkey, autochthonous of the Serbian territory, revealed significant differences in some parameters (white blood cell, mid cell, and granulocyte counts and alkaline phosphatase) related to age (12) Another factor influencing biochemical parameters is gender. Girardi et al. (7) reported a highest total protein value in females attributing them to the physiological responses of females in puerperium and lactation. More recently, de Palo et al. (13) showed that a different breeding technique in the early life affects biochemical profiles and lipid peroxidation patterns in donkey foals Taking into account what has been said so far the construction of a reference range must necessarily include the effect of influenced factors as age or breed for the appropriate interpretation of serum biochemical results the instrument–instrument variation of analysis methods represents a significant influencing factor for the generation of a reference range; therefore it is also important that each laboratory develops its own normal range the determination of a normal range for the principal biochemistry and hematological parameters in an endangered donkey breed population such as those of Martina Franca is not easy due to the limited number of animals which makes it difficult to assess the effects of age the aim of this study was to contribute to increasing the knowledge of the physiology of the Martina Franca donkey breed using high-quality methods and taking into account different age groups proposing reference ranges for the main hematological and biochemical parameters in a general population of Martina Franca donkeys 81 clinically healthy Martina Franca donkeys (17 males and 64 females) from the same breeding farm located in Puglia (Italy) were enrolled Donkeys were divided into three groups according to their age [4]: group A (foals mean ± SD age: 5.6 ± 3.2 months) with age between 1 and 11 months Group B included 36 animals (12 males and 24 females mean ± SD age: 19.7 ± 7.2 months) from 12 to 36 months of age Group C included 29 jennies from 4 to 22 years (mean ± SD age: 8.5 ± 4.0 years) Regarding reproductive status and lactation number of donkeys 16 were pregnant and pluripara and 48 were non-pregnant Seven out of the 48 were pluripara and the remaining ones were nullipara Blood samples came from leftover samples of the previous routine clinical investigation and were collected from the jugular vein through an 18-gauge needle (Vacutest Kima srl Italy) into 9-ml blood vacuum tubes (Vacuette Austria) containing K3EDTA for the hematological exam and into 10-ml blood collection tubes containing activation clot for the biochemical profile Blood collection was taken during the spring season in the same day from 7.00 to 10.00 a.m to avoid the possible influence of different photoperiods on the studied parameters and then promptly transported in a cooler to the veterinary laboratory at the University of Magna Græcia (Catanzaro Hematological exam and serum separation were promptly performed whereas the biochemical profile and serum protein electrophoresis were performed within 24 h after blood sampling The serum was separated by centrifugation at 1,700 × g for 10 min at room temperature and was stored at +4°C until use The hematological parameters analyzed were red blood cell count (RBC); hematocrit value (HCT); hemoglobin concentration (HGB); mean corpuscular volume (MCV); mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH); hemoglobin concentration distribution width (HDW); RBC distribution width (RDW); total white blood cell (WBC); and WBC differential count for neutrophils (NEUT) and basophils (BASO) as percentage as absolute count (n° cell × 103/μL) Platelets and their indices were also analyzed and included platelet count (PLT) All hematological analyses were performed with an automatic cell counter equipped with software dedicated for veterinary blood analysis (ADVIA 2120 The biochemistry profile was performed on an automated biochemistry analyzer (Dimension EXL Germany) using commercial reagents (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Germany) for each parameter and dedicated standards (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics the biochemistry panel included the determination of the following parameters: aspartate aminotransferase (AST) One-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey–Kramer multiple-comparison posttest was used to determine the effect of age on biochemical and hematological parameters for normally distributed data and if data did not have Gaussian distribution one-way ANOVA on rank test followed by Dunn's multiple-comparison posttest was used The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05 Donkeys included in this study have a mean age of 4 years (± 4 years) and a range of age between 1 month and 22 years Reference ranges for hematological parameters were described in Table 2 Excluding lymphocytes (% and n° cell × 103/μL) and MCH all other cell populations were not normally distributed Age of donkeys did not influence the number of total WBC (P > 0.05; Table 1), but some leukocyte populations such as EOS, MONO, and BASO showed age-linked variations. EOS was the leukocyte population mainly affected by age (P < 0.05): it showed a strong increment over the years (group A vs. group C) as percentage as absolute value (n° cell × 103/μL) (Table 1) Variations of MONO (n° cell × 103/μL) and BASO (n° cell × 103/μL) were less pronounced: both tend to decrease in older (group C) than in young animals (group B) Reference range of Martina Franca donkeys were calculated by 2.5th−97.5th percentiles when values were not normally distributed or by mean ± 1.96 SD (§) when values were normally distributed Overall, RBC count decreased with age (P < 0.05) with simultaneous increases of MCV and MCH (P < 0.05) and decreases of RDW (P < 0.05) and HDW (P < 0.01). Age did not show any effect on HGB and HCT (P > 0.05). Platelet count and their associated parameters (MPV and PCT) were not influenced by age (P < 0.05) excepting PDW which results lower in older with respect to younger donkeys (P < 0.05) (Table 1) Mg2+ showed a weak increase with respect to young donkeys (P < 0.05) Donkeys under 1 year of age (group A) showed the highest ALP activity (P < 0.05) while ALT was not influenced by age AST activity was higher in older (group C) than in young (group B) donkeys (P < 0.05) and GGT activity was lower in older animals than in foals (P < 0.05) The serum TP showed an increase with aging (P < 0.01) while ALB reached the lowest values in young donkeys (group B) (P < 0.05) and returned to the values of foals (group A) in older animals (group C) (P < 0.05) Finally, the difference among groups for BUN and TGL (P > 0.05) was not found, as opposed to CREA, GLUC, and CHOL whose concentrations drastically decrease with aging (P < 0.05) (Table 2) Donkeys as horses belong to the Equidae family with which they share some physiological similarities but show also some species-specific differences. Some studies were carried out to establish in donkeys reference ranges of hematological and biochemical parameters, enrolling donkeys of different breeds as Pêga (7), Ragusana (4), Kirgyz (8), or Northwestern donkeys (9) The present study investigates for the first time the hematological and biochemical reference range of Martina Franca donkeys in a general population and then evaluates the eventual influence of age on these parameters we observed greater RBC counts in under 1-year-old than in oldest donkeys Since the HGB concentration values are constant over the life the contemporary reduction of RBC with aging explains the increment of MCH observed in older MF donkeys About the biochemical profile, our study showed that many analytes are age-influenced, warning about the importance in these cases to establish the appropriate reference ranges. The only two studies published on MF breed were aimed to provide biochemical blood analysis in foals immediately after parturition, from 12 h to 11 days (11), or in jennies during pregnancy (5) our biochemicals data are the first provided for a general population of MF donkeys The MF donkey population examined belongs to a unique farm and so makes it impossible to estimate the effects of the feeding management or environment. The lack of evaluation of the effects of sex on biochemical and hematological parameters in this study certainly represents a limit, especially for some hematological parameters such as RBC, HGB, and HCT which in other species, including humans, notoriously are higher in males than in females (17) Moreover, biochemical parameters as glucose or creatinine increase during the first weeks of pregnancy (5), and also RBC and HCT are higher in late pregnancy than at foaling (28) the number of pregnant and nonpregnant jennies was too different to correctly analyze the effects of pregnancy on biochemical and hematological parameters representing another limitation of this study The MF donkey is a breed considered endangered so knowledge about the normal values of hematological and biochemical parameters is essential to classifying animal as healthy or affected by a pathological condition This knowledge plays an important role in the strategies aimed at the conservation of endangered breeds as Martina Franca donkeys and more in general in the panorama of the biodiversity of equidae Further studies are needed to have more data including a wider population of MF donkeys to set a valid breed-based reference range the results suggest that for the Martina Franca donkey breed influencing different hematological and biochemical parameters needs to be better considered in order to obtain a correct clinical evaluation of the animals The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors Ethical review and approval was not required for the animal study because all analyses were performed in leftover blood samples from routinary investigations performed for clinical purposes and for the benefit of the patient and AD wrote the paper with input from all authors All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version The present study has been carried out in the framework of the Project Demetra (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018 – 2022 funded by the Italian Ministry for Education The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest 1. 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Antonio Di Loria, YWRpbG9yaWFAdW5pbmEuaXQ= Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish is the author of the memoir Playing Catch with Strangers: A Family Guy (Reluctantly) Comes Of Age. He contributes to The Washington Post The Wall Street Journal and The New York TImes Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content I never wanted to live anywhere but New York City I planned to always rent our apartment high above the ceaseless traffic on Queens Boulevard a short walk from all the fresh bagels anyone could ever want Yet last year I moved from New York City to Martina Franca with sheep and goats occasionally herded past our front gate An act of protest against the federal government A flight from taxation without representation A first step toward renouncing my citizenship I grew up pledging allegiance to the flag in school singing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium and proudly voting in every election since turning 18 My big move derived less from a plan than from the force of nature known as serendipity It's generally defined as a fortunate finding or event that arrives out of the blue Our daughter Caroline trained throughout her teens as an opera singer and went on to perform with opera companies all around New York City In the interest of pursuing career opportunities Caroline was smitten with Italy and everything Italian so much so that she stayed and bought herself a house with me to eventually join the festivities because family exerts a gravitational pull on us like nothing else known to physics I made the big transition and settled for good in southern Italy more than 4,000 miles and an ocean away from the Bronx I call myself an "accidental expat." Had Caroline never come to love opera I believe we would all still be back in Queens only to wind up jamming with Charlie Parker I kiss my wife good morning and good night a woman from our neighborhood pulls up to our entrance to deliver eggs freshly laid by chickens roosting down the street we go around the corner from our house to where our daughter lives for dinner with our son-in-law and mischievous 4-year-old grand-daughter This experience has made me realize that life is largely accidental realized its potential advantages and rolled the dice I recently learned about a concept known by the Latin phrase amor fati translated as "a love of one's fate." This mindset originated with the Greek Stoics and later gained prominence through philosopher Friedrich Nietzche we embrace whatever happens in our life as good and necessary this concept means I'm now better at letting nuisances I believe you can develop all the plans you want for 2023 we end up going wherever our lives take us And sometimes that's where we were meant to go anyway Bob Brody is a consultant and essayist based in Italy Playing Catch with Strangers: A Family Guy (Reluctantly) Comes of Age All views expressed in this article are the author's own Do you have a unique experience or personal story to share? Email the My Turn team at myturn@newsweek.com Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all By 2023-11-07T07:00:00+00:00 ITALY: Ferrovie del Sud Est has completed electrification of the 81 km line running from Bari through Casamassima and Putignano to Martina Franca This will save 1 900 tonnes of CO2 a year, FS Group subsidiary FSE said when the electrification was inaugurated on October 16. A new green livery for a Newag ETR322 electric multiple-unit was unveiled in Putignano on October 30 The electrification is to be extended a further 35 km from Martina Franca to Taranto by the end of 2024 when wiring of the 29 km from Noicàttaro to Putignano is scheduled to begin ITALY: Revenue passenger services on the newly-built Bari – Bitritto line began on January 9 following an inauguration ceremony the previous day The standard gauge electrified single-track line is 11·9 km long with 2·5 km running parallel to the existing Bari – Taranto main line and .. ITALY: Ferrovie del Sud Est and Ferrovie Nord Milano have placed orders for Alstom Coradia Stream H hydrogen multiple-units to replace diesel trainsets ITALY: Bari to Barletta local train operator Ferrotramviaria has unveiled the first of 11 Pop electric multiple-units being supplied by Alstom Ferrotramviaria has now taken delivery of five of the units with the remaining six to be delivered a rate of two per year in 2024-26 Site powered by Webvision Cloud Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker narrow roads in the centre are lined with trulli that have been made over as restaurants and sweet stores selling trinkets this town has winding streets leading to centuries-old churches and chalky houses covered with climbing vines and cacti clusters of buzzing aperitivo bars are packed with locals on their passeggiata Don’t miss the famous coffee from Bar Turismo easily identifiable thanks to the customers sitting on the steps outside with its signature pour: made with a shot of amaretto head into the old town and find La Balconata sul Mare The best beaches in Italy to visit this summer this hilltop town has olive groves stretching to the Adriatic Sea about 40 minutes down the coast from Polignano a Mare Get lost in the narrow streets that climb up to restaurant La Piazzetta Cattedrale before stopping in one of the bars serving perfect Negronis that line the cobbled alleys the quiet medieval port town of Monopoli has a sandy beach and plenty of authentic pizzerias There’s a promenade to stroll along while admiring the traditional blue fishing boats bobbing in the Porto Vecchio harbour laundry hangs from balconies and local nonnas handcraft regional orecchiette pasta on the doorsteps of family-run restaurants where yachts dock in the harbour and a beautiful Romanesque duomo is set right over the sea This little village is about an hour’s drive north of Bari with a web of streets that make up the old town and a thrumming Jewish quarter Nearly all of its many churches – there are more than 40 dotted across the city – were built in the 17th century which gives the place a real sense of architectural symmetry The relaxed feel stems from the fact that this is a university town and the surrounding area is greener and more wild than elsewhere in Puglia – the Parco Nazionale del Gargano is brilliant for hiking this is the biggest village in Valle d’Itria The pretty old town is separated from the new town by baroque gates which when Martina Franca was a completely walled fortress The piazzas are home to grand duomos and palazzos: don’t miss Basilica di San Martino Keep scrolling to see more photos of the prettiest towns in Puglia 104 beautiful pictures of Italy The prettiest small towns in Italy The best villages in and around Cinque Terre, Italy Volume 7 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.579371 Eight Martina Franca pregnant jennies were selected in order to evaluate the transfer of colostral antibodies against equine herpesvirus type 1 in their relative foals after immunization with a commercial inactivated vaccine Samples of serum and colostrums/milk were collected from jennies and foals under study starting from 10 min before and up to 21 days after the foaling Specific anti-EHV-1 antibody titers were evaluated by means of a serum neutralization test and the results obtained from both groups were analyzed The serological titers in the vaccinated jennies was significantly higher (p < 0.01) No significant differences were found in the specific time-point intervals in both groups examined (p > 0.05) The antibody titers in milk at the time of delivery and subsequent withdrawal (T0 and T1) were very high in both groups but no significant differences were found between the two groups (p > 0.05) a significant difference was found between foals in the vaccinated group compared with those in the unvaccinated group (p < 0.05) a significant correlation (p < 0.05) was observed between the antibody titers found in serum and colostrum of jennies and the foal titers in the first time-point sampling (up to 12 h after foaling) The results confirm a substantial homology in the antibody production compared with other most investigated equids highlighting the efficacy of the vaccination against EHV-1 of the jennies to ensure the protective immunity to their foals during the first weeks after delivery as reported by the FAO Domestic Animal Diversity Information System the asinine breed of Martina Franca has been identified as endangered any conservation strategies aimed to preserve the health status of the animals and to achieve increases in reproductive success should be carefully considered Even if the passive immunity transfer pattern in donkey foals appears to be similar to that reported for the equine foals the knowledge about the levels of EHV-1-specific antibodies induced by the vaccination in MF mares and the consequent transfer of them to the foals by colostrum are still lacking and additional studies could be useful to better characterize the physiology of passive immunity in MFD and to identify the more effective strategies to contrast the neonatal mortality in this threatened breed The aim of this study was to compare the titers of colostral antibodies against EHV-1 in serum and colostrums/milk samples collected from both vaccinated and unvaccinated MF mares and their foals starting from the day of the birth up to the 21st day after foaling in order to verify the kinetic of the passive immunity in both groups under field conditions and to obtain information about the effect of the vaccination on the antibody status of the animals n = 13 pregnant jennies of the Martina Franca breed (MF) and their respective foals belonging to the same farm within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Teramo The jennies were older than 4–5 years and their body weight was between 396 and 420 kg the animals were kept in external paddocks and exposed to natural atmospheric conditions the jennies received standard hay ad libitum and commercial horse fodder (2 kg) The Body Condition Score (BCS) of all donkeys was between 3/5 and 4/5 and remained constant for the entire duration of the monitoring n = 8 jennies were vaccinated against EHV-1 and EHV-4 using the inactivated Duvaxyn TM EHV-1,4 vaccine (Fort Dodge Animal Health SpA The vaccine administrations were carried out at the 5th while the remaining n = 5 jennies and all relative foals (belonging to both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups) were not subjected to any administration during the observation period The recruited jennies showed a regular gestation and the birth took place without the need for obstetric intervention; the foals appeared clinically healthy at foaling and they began to take the colostrum without any assistance within the first 2 hours (h) after the foaling Serum and colostrum/milk samples were collected from each jenny/foal pair 10 min before foaling up to 21 days postpartum (pp) according to the calendar reported in Table 1 for a total of n = 143 colostrum/milk samples and n = 286 serum samples Temporal intervals for sera and colostrum sampling from mares and foals under study All samples were frozen within 2 h of collection and stored at −20°C until laboratory investigations were performed the samples were preheated at 56°C for 30 min to inactivate complement and colostrum was centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 15 min to remove cellular debris and lipid layer and collect only the liquid portion All serum and colostrums/milk samples were tested for serum neutralization (SN) against EHV-1 using RK-13 cells for both viral culture and serum testing (13) 96-well SN plates were prepared with 50 μl of each sample diluted starting from the 1: 2 dilution up to a dilution of 1: 256 and an equal volume of 100 TCID50 of an EHV-1 vaccine strain propagated on RK13 cells (1 × 105 ml) After incubation of the plates for 45 min at 37°C and 5% CO2 generally with passage numbers between 85 and 100 were added in the amount of 100 μl (1 × 105/ml) for each well All plates were incubated at 37°C and 5% CO2 for 4 days all plates were examined to detect the cytopathic effect (CPE) of the virus The end-point antibody titer was expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution of each sample resulting in a complete neutralization of CPE in the cell monolayer while a sample was defined negative in the presence of viral replication starting from the first 1: 2 dilution Data were reported as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) Data distribution was tested using the Shapiro–Wilk test Since the data were not normally distributed the statistical evaluation was performed after logarithmic transformation The evaluation of the data was performed using a generalized linear model (GLM) and vaccination (vaccinated/unvaccinated) were considered as fixed factors a Scheffè test was performed for the post-hoc evaluation Any correlations between the SN values in the different biological matrices were tested by calculating the Pierson correlation coefficient differences with p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant The statistical evaluation was performed using the SPSS software version 17 (SPSS Inc. In the group of unvaccinated jennies, the serum antibody titers against EHV-1 were variable from 0 to 1:16; the latter value was obtained only for a serum sample 3 days after delivery (T6). In contrast, for 6 jennies out of 8 vaccinated and at different times of sampling, the antibody titers in the vaccinated group reached values above 1:16, up to 1:128 (Figure 1) Mean (bar—standard error of the mean) antibody titers against EHV-1 detected by SN test in maternal sera collected during the different time-points of sampling (T0 to T10) from both vaccinated (n = 8) and unvaccinated (n = 5) jennies under study the values of unvaccinated and vaccinated jennies marked with asterisk (*) differ significantly (p < 0.05) The titers were expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution whit a complete CPE of the cells Mean (bar—standard error of the mean) antibody titers against EHV-1 detected by SN test in maternal colostrum/milk samples collected during the different time-points of sampling (T0 to T10) from both vaccinated (n = 8) and unvaccinated (n = 5) jennies under study The titers were expressed as the reciprocal of the highest dilution with a complete CPE of the cells In the foal serum, antibody titration showed similar values in both vaccinated (1:8) and unvaccinated groups (1:4), until T2. Twelve hours after foaling, however, a significant increase in the serum titer in the vaccinated group, but not in the unvaccinated one, was found (Figure 3) Statistically significant differences were found between foals in the vaccinated group compared with those in the unvaccinated group (p < 0.05) over T3 until the end of the observational period Mean (bar—standard error of the mean) antibody titers against EHV-1 detected by SN test in serum samples collected from foals belonging to both vaccinated (n = 8) and unvaccinated (n = 5) jennies The values of the antibody titer found in the mothers were significantly correlated with the foal titer at T1 (R = 0.768 while it was significantly correlated with the milk titer at T2 (R = 0.729 p < 0.01) and with the foal titer (R = 0.674 p < 0.05) in the same sampling time A further significant correlation was found at T9 in which the titer present in the maternal serum was significantly correlated with the antibody titer in milk (R = 0.614 a significant correlation was found between the antibody titer in milk and foal (R = 0.889 the foal immunity appeared to be influenced by the vaccination of the mothers with particular emphasis for the samples collected starting from 12 h after foaling This aspect should be considered when choosing an appropriated vaccination program of the foals since the presence of high levels of maternal antibody may inhibit the response to the vaccine virus especially for inactivated virus The significant correlation observed at T9 when the transfer of antibodies by the colostrum can be considered completed a new introduction of the wild virus strain in both groups under study may have determined this trend or changes in management and environmental factors resulted in a reactivation of latent infection in stressed mares Since no movements of new animals or contacts of the foals with other horses were reported during the entire period of the study the role of stressor factors in the early infection of the foals despite the transfer of passive immunity from vaccinated/seropositive mares should not be ruled out In conclusion, this is a first attempt to study the antibody kinetic in MFD after vaccination against EHV-1. The results obtained confirm a substantial homology in the antibody production compared with other well-characterized equids, highlighting the efficacy of the vaccination of the jennies to ensure the protective immunity of the foals during the first weeks after delivery (11, 19) The control of pathogens potentially able to menace the conservation of threatened species such as MFD remains the main tool to preserve the population and periodic serological surveys of jennies and foals could be considered a useful diagnostic tool to verify the effective immunity reached by the animals after the vaccine administration Ethical review and approval was not required for the animal study because In this study the immunological status of donkeys was evaluated after immunization by using commercial vaccine The antibody titres were obtained from serum samples collected from the animals during the routine clinical investigations in respect of Italian Normative D.Lvo n ACa and CD substantially contributed to conception and design of the research and ID drafted and critically revised the manuscript All authors ensured that any part of the work is appropriately investigated and resolved and they gave the final approval of the manuscript The present study has been carried out in the framework of the Project Demetra (Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022 1. A.N.A.M.F. Associazione Nazionale Allevatori del Cavallo delle Murge e dell'Asino di Martina Franca. (2020). Available online at: https://www.anamf.it/ (accessed March 01 Morphological features of the placenta at term in the Martina Franca donkey A comparative stereological study of the term placenta in the donkey Factors affecting pregnancy length and phases of parturition in Martina Franca jennies and lysozyme in Martina Franca donkeyjennies and theirfoals Passive immunity in the foal: measurement of immunoglobulin classes and specific antibody PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar Anatomy of the placental barrier in the mare PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar Evaluation for immune system failures in horses and ponies PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar The incidence and consequences of failure of passive transfer of immunity on a Thoroughbred breeding farm Equine Herpes Virus 1 (EHV-1) and 4 (EHV-4) disease and immunoprophylaxis: a brief review The equine immune response to equine herpesvirus-1: the virus and its vaccines Seroprevalence of Equine herpesvirus 1 in mares and foals on a large Hunter Valley stud farm in years pre and postvaccination 13. OIE, Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals Terrestrial Manual. Equine Rhinopneumonitis (infection with equid herpesvirus-1 and−4 (Version adopted in May 2017). (2019). Available online at https://www.oie.int/standard-setting/terrestrial-manual/access-online/ (accessed March 01 Equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy: unravelling the enigma PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Serological responses of mares and weanlings following vaccination with an inactivated whole virus equine herpesvirus 1 and equine herpesvirus 4 vaccine Responses of ponies to equid herpesvirus-1 ISCOM vaccination and challenge with virus of the homologous strain PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Effect of withholding macromolecules on the duration of intestinal permeability to colostral IgG in foals Serological responses and clinical outcome after vaccination of mares and foals with equine herpesvirus type 1 and 4 (EHV-1 and EHV-4) vaccines Carluccio A and Contri A (2020) Evaluation of Colostral Immunity Against Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 (EHV-1) in Martina Franca's Foals Received: 02 July 2020; Accepted: 05 October 2020; Published: 23 November 2020 Copyright © 2020 Di Francesco, Smoglica, De Amicis, Cafini, Carluccio and Contri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Ippolito De Amicis, aWRlYW1pY2lzQHVuaXRlLml0 Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish. 2025A view of the Amalfi Coast.Photo: Getty ImagesSave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products featured on Vogue are independently selected by our editors we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links There are few destinations as universally obsessed over as this southern European jewel to sun-drenched sea villages dotted along wild coastlines the country’s intense diversity is one of its strongest selling points One could spend an entire lifetime exploring Italy and still have just scratched the surface Informed by its impassioned people, arresting landscapes, ancient history, and about a million other things, Italy is culture in living color Ernest Hemingway put it best when he wrote: “We only half live over here la dolce vita imbues just about everything in Italy why not adopt the Italian mindset and embrace a leisurely approach to traveling here this year Continue below for a guide to some of the best places to visit in Italy in 2025 with a wanderlust-inducing mix of both iconic and lesser-known locales ripe for discovery head further south to beaches like Torre Sant’Andrea and Baia Dei Turchi for turquoise-hued dips (the former is reached via a short hike through the woods) Stay Here: Two Italian university professors are the heart behind Don Totu a six-room Salento retreat set within a restored early-1800s country palace complete with a garden Especially enticing is the hotel’s spa (set within a transformed old barn) which features an atmospheric Turkish bath Photo: Getty ImagesBasilicata an oft-overlooked region bordering Puglia and Calabria an ancient city of caves with history dating back to the Paleolithic period (plus many a cinematic cameo including Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Bond film No Time to Die) Basilicata is also home to the medieval village of Bernalda where Francis Ford Coppola’s Palazzo Margherita lures travelers with its palatial interiors and fragrant courtyards which is set on a tranquil Tyrrhenian coastline and offers historic accommodations by way of Hotel Santavenere (Sophia Loren and Anita Ekberg both stayed here) No matter how you cobble your itinerary together a visit here will be imbued with la dolce vita “Dinner at Franceschetta 58 cooked by young chef Francesco Vincenzi or a modest bowl of tortellini in brodo at Aldina a tiny osteria on the first floor of a building overlooking the buzzing Mercato Albinelli which also has to be my favorite food market in all of Italy.” Set in a former 14th-century mansion and replete with historic finishes like original frescoes this boutique property is understated yet striking Stay Here: Casa D’Anna ai Cristallini is a bed and breakfast that sits within a lavish Baroque mansion from the early 1500s It’s located in the historic center of Sanità and each of the five rooms is named after islands in the Bay of Naples (Ischia Outdoor experiences are the cornerstone of a visit to any of the villages with common activities including via ferrata “German is spoken in some towns right alongside Italian and the food scene incorporates the same cultural mix with hearty dumpling pasta and fresh mountain food products,” Duray says Wine lovers should also take note of Trentodoc sparkling wines which are made in the picturesque vineyards of Trentino-Alto Adige Stay Here: Forestis is a luxury eco-friendly wellness resort enveloped by nature offering staggering views of the sawtoothed mountain peaks and forested valleys Photo: Getty ImagesIf you’re itching for an Amalfi Coast getaway but deterred by the crowds of Positano, head 20 minutes down the coast toward sleepy Praiano This ancient fishing village is full of whitewashed homes and plenty of beaches and seaside restaurants to set a leisurely tone for your holiday you like seafood—the freshly-caught fish here is to die for as is the local Ravello wine (best enjoyed together Praiano is also conveniently located near the Path of the Gods hike which is easily the most spectacular trail in the area Stay Here: Casa Angelina is a 44-room cliffside hotel in Praiano featuring modern minimalist design and an impressive contemporary art collection Take a private tour along the coast aboard the property’s Master Angelina boat or opt for a day at the beach club (accessed via the hotel’s elevator and a natural pathway) The sprawling property dates back several centuries and is surrounded by ancient olive groves and hilly vineyards Photo: Getty ImagesEscape the droves of tourists in Florence with a trip a couple of hours south to Umbria This underrated region in central Italy is peppered with countless small villages oozing with charm which makes both a road trip or train journey appealing modes of transit and Rome.) Similar to other picturesque Italian countrysides your days can be spent popping into old churches roaming around puzzle-like cobblestone streets and sampling local fare such as crostini with black truffles or fichi girotti (dried figs filled with flavors like toasted almonds or cocoa) Photo: Getty ImagesIf you fell hard for the “somewhere in northern Italy” aesthetic of Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name why not plan a trip to Lombardy to capture the spirit of the film’s dreamy countryside locale The small town of Crema is a scenic place to begin and has a historic center with a cathedral dating back to 1340 About an hour-and-a-half from Crema is Lake Garda where the archeological dig in the film takes place It’s surrounded by olive groves and vineyards and has several small villages you can reach by small boat which is home to the highest waterfall in the country and has several striking hiking trails Stay Here: Cape of Senses is an adults-only spa resort with views of Lake Garda and the surrounding mountains all of which feature floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a 21,000-square-foot spa with a garden full of centuries-old olive trees you’ll need to make your way to the Adriatic to see a trabucco; a large wooden fishing machine Some of these also function as restaurants Stay Here: Sextantio Santo Stefano di Sessanio is located in a restored fortified medieval village its rooms are spread across the village surrounded by local artisans in an effort to recreate what life was like here hundreds of years ago Photo: Getty ImagesSitting at the intersection of fashion it’s hard to deny the diverse appeal of Milan But if the highly-trafficked Duomo and industrialized districts leave you wanting for more charm plant yourself in the artists’ neighborhood of Brera This elegant area of Milan—though perhaps not as bohemian as it once was—remains one of the most beloved pockets of the city and savoring long meals in family-run trattorias who was a leader of the Spatialist movement Stay Here: Gallicantu Stazzo Retreat is a lovely farmhouse retreat in the countryside with five rooms and two suites that overlook an almond grove Take a dip in the pool beneath the shade of leafy trees and enjoy a wine tasting in the cavern with meats and cheeses from nearby farms Photo: Getty ImagesHalf the thrill of traveling to Italy is what ends up on your plate (or in your glass) which is why setting your sights on Piedmont—land of white truffles and Nebbiolo—is sure to please the palate where the famed towns of Alba and Barbaresco attract visitors for both their prestigious food and wine scene Come hungry: Alba and its surrounding territories are one of Italy’s highest concentrations of Michelin-starred restaurants and activities like wine tasting and truffle hunting tours can be enjoyed during certain times of the year Stay Here: Castello di Guarene is a 12-room Relais & Chateaux property in the Langhe hills that occupies a palace from the 18th century Guests are surrounded by history at every turn with period furniture and restored parquet floors setting a lavish tone for the interiors which has been carved into a rock and is reached at the end of a long brick-vaulted hallway Stay Here: Bulgari Hotel Roma is a visual feast with note-perfect interiors by the Milanese studio Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel Particularly special is the spa’s 20-meter indoor pool punctuated by eight arabesque marble columns Photo: Getty ImagesSandwiched between two continents and off the coast of both Sicily and Tunisia Pantelleria is one of Italy’s most enigmatic islands requiring several flights to reach its craggy shores Rent a small car or Vespa to zip around the narrow roads Pantelleria is also home to several hot springs where you can slather volcanic mud across your skin for a detoxifying holiday under the sun Stay Here: The Venice Venice Hotel sits within a 13th-century Byzantine-style palazzo that faces the Rialto Bridge along the Grand Canal The hotel is historic (the restoration of the property took five years) but the aesthetic leans avant-garde with works of art that feel as though they’ve been plucked straight from La Biennale di Venezia rather than a museum The Danish Home Lighting Trend That Can Improve Your Mental Health In America’s Cities, Saunas Are Becoming the Hottest Social Spot Millie Bobby Brown Shares Her Favorite Paella Recipe—and Details About Her Wedding to Jake Bongiovi A Day-by-Day Guide to Hiking the Legendary Nakasendo Trail in Japan Never miss a Vogue moment and get unlimited digital access for just $2 $1 per month Get quick access to your favorite articles Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers Make your voice heard with article commenting People like Antonio Giovinazzi don't really make it to Formula 1 nowadays A native of a small South Italian town Martina Franca he's one of the few of the series' debutants in recent years who don't fit the mould of what Lewis Hamilton famously described as a "billionaire boys' club" Forget buying his son an F1 team - Giovinazzi's father couldn't afford to pay for a season in Formula Abarth So did the now former Alfa Romeo driver believe 10 years ago that he would one day make it to F1 and spend three seasons on the grid Oleg was thrown out of his Moscow university for spending more time at the racetrack as a junior press officer for the national Lada racing series than attending lectures His first job as a journalist was at the Soviet Sport newspaper and in 2011 he moved to Berlin to pursue a freelance career in Formula 1 He joined Motorsport.com in 2015 and became a contributor to GP Racing magazine in 2021 he plays squash every Wednesday and Sunday and likes to procrastinate by playing chess with his Elo peaking at 2099 on one of the biggest online chess platforms From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport In order to keep delivering our expert journalism we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker in southern Italy8 December 2018Getty ImagesAll products are independently selected by our editors whose northern shore is on the same latitude as Rome left behind when two geological plates separated to form the Adriatic The Gargano is a world apart: a place of dark coastal watchtowers and intricate fishing villages The creation of the Parco Nazionale del Gargano in 1991 attracts some tourists BARI Explore the labyrinthine old town and the Basilica di San Nicola TRANI AND BARLETTAMolfetta is the first of a trio of port towns north of Bari whose present-day sprawl radiates from a tight a third-century bronze colossus stares into space with a stolid See the frescoes in the Palazzo Ducale and the baroque Chiesa di San Martino Martina FrancaGetty ImagesLOCOROTONDOThis circular whitewashed town has views over the trulli-peppered Valle d'Itria A limestone plateau scored by deep ravines (gravine) and sudden sinkholes (pule) Olives and vines on the lower slopes give way to scrubby Alta Murgia is the perfect setting for the castle of an enlightened philosopher-king Under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, between 1220 and 1250, the region became a crossroads between the Roman Catholic Byzantine and Arab worlds. The emperor himself was a poet, a philosopher, and the author of a treatise on falconry. During his reign, castles were built, or repaired, all over southern Italy to defend the Kingdom of Sicily from its many enemies Nobody ever lived here and there is no town or strategic crossroads nearby Castel del MonteGetty ImagesBASSA MURGIA AND THE VALLE D'ITRIAThe Trulli are strange cylindrical peasant houses with beehive roofs which are still in use today between the towns of Putignano and Martina Franca If there is no evidence of trulli older than the 16th century this may be because they are easier to rebuild than to restore the fanciful trullo served an eminently practical function: it was a way of using up all the stones that peasants cleared from their difficult It was easily made and easily knocked down again Only here have trulli strayed from country to town In the quartieri known as Monti and Aia Piccola there are whole streets of them The fabric of the trulli is now protected by UNESCO or they window-shop along corso Vittorio Emanuele LecceGetty ImagesTHE SALENTINE PENINSULASouth of Lecce, the landscape flattens and the sky opens out. Stony olive groves extend between dry-stone walls bordered with oleander. Around Capo d'Otranto, Italy's easternmost point, crumpled red cliffs fall to the sea from an upland plain. If it weren't for the blue-green sea and the view across to Albania, this could be Cornwall In the villages here you may witness a festa di paese a village festival where men with tambourines and accordions beat out a tarantella and women sing with a wonderful set of Renaissance frescoes in the 1392 church of Santa Caterina is also worth a visit The cathedral has a 12th-century mosaic floor of the 'tree of life', intertwining Norman, Greek and Byzantine ideas of fate OtrantoGetty ImagesGALATINAVisit Galatina for the frescoes in the Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria Italy-expert Lee Marshall on the best beaches in Puglia relaxed family resort with one super-cool beach bar veggie-friendly lunch menu and the sunset aperitivo scene when well-mixed Mojitos are served to a DJ set A map of PugliaHannah GeorgeHow to get to PugliaAIRPORTThere are airports in both Bari and Brindisi Bari's airport is about 9km west of the city at Palese Brindisi's Casale airport is 4km north of the city Search for shows online and experience them offline Il Tacco di Bacco is a tool designed to enhance the quality of our lives A fulfilling existence is built on authentic connections which we believe can only arise in the real world This is why we’ve created a guide to help you navigate We provide the means; you discover the purpose 17 Wins / 11 Draws / 6 Losses in the Last 34 fixtures *Martina Franca's stats from Serie D Group H 2024/25 Prediction Risk - UNLOCK This season in Serie D Group H, Martina Franca's form is Very Good overall with 17 wins, 11 draws, and 6 losses. This performance currently places Martina Franca at 0 out of 18 teams in the Serie D Group H Table Martina Franca's home form is very good with the following results : 0 wins And their away form is considered very good Martina Franca has scored a total of 48 goals this season in Serie D Group H More Over / Under / BTTS / Goals data are under the Goals tab More Martina Franca corner stats are available under the Corners tab * Average Goals Scored Per Match for Martina Franca in Serie D Group H 2024/25 • Martina Franca scores a goal every 0 minutes in Serie D Group H • Martina Franca scores an average of 0 goals every game * Average Goals Conceded Per Match for Martina Franca in Serie D Group H 2024/25 • Martina Franca has conceded a total of 28 goals this season in Serie D Group H • Martina Franca concedes a goal every 0 min • Martina Franca concedes an average of 0 goals every game Martina Franca's Over 2.5 percentage is 41 Over / Under Goals are calculated from total match goals for fixtures that Martina Franca has participated in Under 2.5 percentage is 59 for Martina Franca This is based on an average goal count of 2.24 from both teams This means that 20 of the 34 matches Martina Franca has played has had less than 2.5 goals in total Over / Under 1H/2H Goals are calculated from both team's goals in that half UNLOCKCorners / Match * Average Corner Kicks per match between Martina Franca and their opponents in a single match Match corners is the total corners between Martina Franca and their opponent in the match Corners Earned = Martina Franca's corner kicks UNLOCKCards / Match * Average Total Match Cards per match between Martina Franca and their opponents in a single match Match cards is the total cards between Martina Franca and their opponent in the match * Not all matches have goal timings recorded for Martina Franca Cards and Corners in these tables are total between both teams * Not all matches have goal/corner/card timings recorded for Martina Franca * Average Shots Per Match for Martina Franca in Serie D Group H 2024/25 Martina Franca this season is taking a total of 321 shots 4.65 shots per match are on target and 7.69 shots per match are off target xG For - Martina Franca's xG for the Serie D Group H 2024/2025 season is 1.46 xG Against - Martina Franca concedes an average of 1.20 xGA every match Most frequent scorelines for Martina Franca * Stats from 2024/25 season of Serie D Group H Most frequent total goals for Martina Franca *ASD Martina Franca player data are not yet recorded Average AttendanceNot recorded yet or may be affected by COVID-19 WebsiteASD Martina Franca Official website Follow FootyStats on the following channels to make sure you never miss a stat * Please be aware that unauthorized individuals may be falsely claiming affiliation with FootyStats on Social Media These individuals are not associated with our company in any capacity Please verify official representatives through our website or official communication channels is not responsible for any interactions or transactions with unauthorized persons misrepresenting our organization © FootyStats - Built with Love for The Beautiful Game From a biscotti-hued castello to a trulli-topped farmhouse we’ve picked our favourite hotels in Italy’s heel for a rural summer getaway Contrada Sarzano 12 Savelletri di Fasano 72015 Discover more Contrada Salinola Strada Provinciale 29 per San michele Salentino Get your weekly dose of armchair travelling and references are certainly not lacking in Martino Ruggieri's resume who worked at Martina Franca after hospitality school immediately ran into his two great masters."The first was Riccardo Camanini at Villa Fiordaliso It happened that halfway through the second one You have a great talent; you deserve to go to France.' And he proposed three maisons: Atelier Robuchon Alléno's Le Meurice and Pascal Barbot's L'Astrance And Riccardo even accompanied me for my first meeting After two years at Beck's and a year in Pescara at Les Paillotes I had the luxury of traveling from the Fiji Islands to New Zealand opening two Italian restaurants.” @Davide Dutto“Then I read on Facebook that Alléno had bought il Pavillon If Camanini was the first great chef I met Alléno was the one who really taught me the craft to leave trends aside to look for the good and concrete." Carlo Cracco with Martino Ruggieri at Bocuse D´Or 2019In the news Ruggieri had already leapt to fame for his victory at the Bocuse d'Or Italia in 2019 which he is repeating with the lightning success of his Maison Ruggieri with the following hyperbolic motivation: "In a brand new the former brilliant right-hand man of Yannick Alléno at Pavillon Ledoyen has named his restaurant 'Maison Ruggieri' to welcome us inside his home at its best He offers two menus and a particularly attractive à la carte proposal.”"Rejecting showy subtle cooking gets right down to business: exceptional ingredients in the service of superlative flavors sometimes baffling assemblages (such as a dish of spinach often enhanced by extracts (seasoned on a rib-eye steak for example) and mind-blowing sauces that are thoughtfully left on the table.""I would like to thank all the Italians who sent me messages We started with the idea that the experience at the table should not be a two-hour break during which maybe you remain unhappy with the products or the table but that it needed to be organized in advance we call those who have made reservations and ask if there are any preferences We like the idea of offering a personalized experience "I didn't think too much about it; it was a decision I had made a long time ago with the chef in the conviction that a small venue in Paris was the right solution for both of us so he checked that everything was okay; to this day I still call him often when I have a new dish in mind or have a special need." "To work hard and without rushing because you don't call yourself a chef at 20 five hundred meters from the Champs-Élysées The prices will also remain the same: 300 and 200 euros for long and short tasting." Do you want to discover the latest news and recipes of the most renowned chefs and restaurants in the world La nostra società utilizza inoltre cookie funzionali per registrare informazioni sulle scelte dell’utente e per consentire una personalizzazione del Sito; ad esempio Questi cookie possono essere installati dalla nostra società o da Terze parti In caso di disabilitazione di questi cookie la qualità e l’esperienza di navigazione potrebbe non essere soddisfacente Questi cookie sono installati da social media per consentire la condivisione dei contenuti del presente Sito Essi sono in grado di monitorare la navigazione compiuta anche in altri siti e creano un profilo dell’utente sulla base dei suoi interessi Ciò potrebbe avere un impatto sul contenuto e messaggi visualizzati sugli altri siti visitati non sarà possibile utilizzare o visualizzare questi strumenti di condivisione per l’installazione e l’uso di tali cookie occorre il consenso dell’utente Per maggiori informazioni consulta la pagna cookies policy medieval quarters and several hundred miles of coastline to enjoy not to mention the region’s star attraction: fantastic food Poor Puglia. For centuries rampaging armies used this heel of Italy as a convenient motorway en route to richer pickings further afield. Nowadays, tourists treat a large part of the region in much the same way – barely touching the ground at Brindisi or Bari before speeding south to newly trendy Salento, Puglia’s far southern tip (which we’ve covered in a separate guide). What they’re missing as they charge pell-mell for Lecce, Gallipoli et al is a profusion of medieval hilltop towns, olive groves, a coastline peppered with interesting towns, more olive groves, restaurant menus stuffed with local speciality dishes, two national parks, vineyards, yet more olive groves, and enough castelli, cattedrali and palazzi to keep even the most demanding of history buffs content. Oh, and Europe’s largest colony of pink flamingos. Read moreThe geography is fairly simple. The uplands are in the Gargano promontory in the north-east and the Alta Murgia national park in the west often pockmarked with small hills topped with a settlement of some sort There are several hundred miles of Adriatic coastline to the east wildlife-rich lakes in the north (Varano and Lesina) which are separated from the sea by low hills and sand dunes Since Puglia is basically the shape of an upturned hockey stick finding a way to see all this is an uncomplicated affair Hug the coast from Vieste in the north-east to Brindisi in the south before turning inland to take in the città bianche north to the mysterious hilltop Castel del Monte to experience one of its wonderful sunsets west to Foggia and then back into the Gargano to complete the loop take the train – the main line passes through Foggia before heading for the coast – to visit Trani The branch lines that crisscross the region are great for inexpensive day trips to places such as Altamura the local fish-based stew – but the port city is rather down at heel Broad thoroughfares of blanched stone flanked by tall palms brim with little shops and tempting places to eat The ancient settlement of Alberobello is so well preserved it’s been given Unesco World Heritage status Trulli scrumptious … Stone dwellings in Alberobello. Photograph: AlamyWhy Italians love Salento: great weather, beaches and party atmosphereRead moreAlmost as numerous as San Pio sightings are Puglia’s trulli these small beehive-like stone dwellings give the landscape the appearance of having been scattered with upturned ice-cream cones While most can be seen in the midst of plots of mature olive trees made square through decades of judicious pruning – the town of Alberobello boasts 1,400 trulli in a maze of narrow streets The ancient settlement is so well preserved it’s been given Unesco World Heritage status Just don’t mention hobbits – they’ve heard it before Alberobello is just one of Valle d’Itria’s string of città bianche or white towns each on their own little hilltop rising up from the plain and each staring out defiantly at the rest as if the days of petty fiefdoms were still with us Ostuni and Locorotondo are all worth a gander and are within easy striking distance of one another making a day’s medieval hilltop città tour pretty much obbligatorio if you’re in the neighbourhood are dwarfed by the northern stronghold of Foggia where ancient churches and palaces are so numerous it makes you wonder what the city’s inhabitants did beyond worshipping and living it up By the sea there’s a good mixture of wild coastline and more happening spots. Among the latter is Trani, a slow food city (do try a moscato di trani, the local dessert wine) whose pièce de résistance is a magnificent Swabian fortress and a Romanesque cathedral Polignano a Mare’s tiny cove. Photograph: Dixe Wills10 of the best country hotels in Italy with great foodRead moreHowever ask locals what their favourite seaside resort is and you’ll hear one name over and over again: Polignano a Mare Polignano has a compact medieval quarter that might have been designed expressly for lovers of indolent pre-prandial ambles The little town pushes itself right to the edge of limestone cliffs undercut by caves hewn by the ceaseless nibbling and gnawing of the Adriatic while its tiny and postcard-pretty beach could be a Cornish cove if it weren’t for the terrace of tall venerable buildings North up the coast is the Sentiero Airone nature reserve, home to those pink flamingos. The reserve is squeezed between the forest and peaks of the Gargano national park, which spreads over the eponymous northern peninsula, and the Alta Murgia national park are no fewer than 30,000 dinosaur footprints That’s not even the region’s most dramatic subterranean feature. Castellana Grotte (about 12 miles south-west from Polignano a Mare) is a two-mile-long labyrinth of passages and caverns – making a particularly welcome diversion on a hot summer day The Mint Cucina Fresca Polignano a MareThe region’s star attraction is the food Relatively impoverished though Puglia may be the Pugliese take their alimento very seriously indeed but there’s also a host of local specialities The inland town of Altamura produces bread prized all over Italy It’s baked in wooden ovens to a recipe unchanged since the Middle Ages with the u puène muedde loaf cheekily mimicking a priest’s hat Gioia del Colle is the place to go for mozzarella and burrata cheese; while in Murgia cardoncello mushrooms and lampascioni (wild onions) abound a traditional peasant dish consisting of a warm broad-bean pâté mixed with the local olive oil and served with bitter chicory Washed down with a carafe of an Apulian primitivo Rail tickets were supplied by Voyages-sncf, voyages-sncf.com, 0844 848 5848. Return fares from London to Brindisi start at £330 standard-class return per person, using the overnight service from Paris to Milan and a direct service from Milan to Brindisi Down in the heel of Italy's boot, Mark C O'Flaherty tucks into some of the country's best and least-pretentious cooking The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers When you purchase through links on our site Mark C O'Flaherty tucks into some of the country's best and least-pretentious cooking I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice who speaks as little English as I speak Italian Everyone at the table breathes a sigh of relief and tucks into the salumi and cheese and the first of what will be many €12 bottles of house red We are here in Martina Franca to eat whatever Puglia has to throw at us because magnitude is core to Pugliese dining It’s not that portions are necessarily excessive more that the amount of plates that hit the table – from crudités We’ve come – a group of six close friends incorporating a Londoner an Irishman and two Greek Cypriot sisters – to stay in whitewashed conical-roofed Hobbit-like trulli and ancient masseria but southern Italian food is our common denominator If we see some of the area’s Baroque splendour in between bites On our first night in residence at Trullo Rosmarino we decide that we’ll start to take turns with the cooking – tomorrow and eating lobster with spaghetti and absurdly beautiful plates of raw fish whilst being surrounded by absurdly beautiful people at the Coccaro Beach Club We sit at a concrete banquet table in the herb garden and dig into panzerotti Pugliese (miniature cheesy pastries) We stop the Annas from putting trays of white fish and olives into the oven because we can’t manage another mouthful drinking wine and watching the stars from the edge of the pool we shop – we head to Cisternino for the Monday market We stop for lunch on the way back – gorging on parcels of pasta stuffed with burrata and scallop ragu at Bell’Italia one of the most consistently excellent restaurants any of us have ever visited in Italy The prices are a fraction of what they would be in Tuscany “I’d just like to point out that the wine list is per bottle gearing up to brandish a few suggestions to accompany a saffron and vegetable dish Trullo Rosmarino is a dream project for its owner who brought it back from the brink of decrepitude to create a beautiful holiday home We arrived to our pre-ordered and ample €100 hamper of groceries and a wine cellar full of primitivo for €17 a bottle (for emergencies) albeit with an occasionally leaky roof in the oldest part of the trullo It takes two days before we realise that we aren’t doomed by this state of affairs – we are free giant tomatoes and braciole (rolls of meat stuffed with cheese and repeatedly fail to recreate an orecchiete dish with ham and figs that we had all loved so much at Coccaro We spend days swimming and going for long walks around the local farmland impoverished landscape compared to the soft but it’s got a character actor’s charm: olive trees abound far heavier in vermouth than they’d be in London in a variety of pretty town squares before various dinners The donkey dish at Taverna del Duca in Locorotondo turns out to be most adventurous thing we encounter over 10 days The tiramisu that we eat after Winnie the Pooh’s gloomy chum is the best ever: light on coffee Another night we order horsemeat involtini at Cibus where the restaurant’s own-brand olive oil comes in a fancy bottle that Chanel might get litigious over There’s piglet with onion and a pudding of walnut ice cream – a first for all of us On another night we have lush sourdough pizza at Doppio Zero with spicy salumi – straightforward and excellent almost every restaurant is overlit to provide all the ambience of a traffic accident The area around Martina Franca – between Bari and Brindisi airports – is full of restored pieces of rural architecture that you can self-cater in but it has an infinity pool that would be impressive for a resort with 20 rooms makes you want to get married beside it and it’s all ours Much peach nectar and prosecco is imbibed in the sunshine and in the evening we go to Taranto – a fantastically industrial counterpoint to the rest of Puglia and apparently one of the most polluted places in Europe Gatto Rosso is the reason we go: a landmark trattoria renowned for seafood risotto various other things freshly plucked from the Ionian Sea and one of my favourite things in the whole world: raw shrimp – like super sweet slivers of butter We round off our trip with a night at Masseria Torre Coccaro the hotel sibling to the beach club of the same name Torre Coccaro is another crumbling masseria that has been turned into something luxe Several Puglia regulars that we meet hail it as their favourite hotel in the country The breakfast buffet alone has about 20 different full-sized cakes on it while the cookery class offers a dummies’ guide to handmaking spaghetti (as well as orecchiete – shaped with a smudge of a knife and the dent of a thumb) We knead bread and bake fish as well as panzerotti with mozzarella and tomatoes but doesn’t do enough to build up the appetite to actually eat all of it a couple of hours later in the dining room we set off early from Torre Coccaro to go on a cycling tour of the local countryside stopping at a cheesemaker to see him making stracciatella Locals pop in every couple of minutes to make a purchase while the cheesemaker works the burrata by hand filling it with the creamy stracciatella into perfect It’s as pleasing to watch the process as it is to eat the result even though we’re all full of cake from the buffet we all get stuck in as if we haven’t eaten a thing in days The writer travelled with easyJet (0843 104 5000; easyjet.com) twice a week between Gatwick and Brindisi from 28 May to 29 October Ryanair flies from Stansted and Manchester Trullo Rosmarino sleeps up to 10 and rates start from €4,010 per week (for up to six people) Lo Iazzu sleeps up to 10 and rates start at €3,530 (for up to six people) Masseria Torre Coccaro, Savelletri di Fasano, Brindisi (00 39 080 482 9310; masseriatorrecoccaro.com) has doubles from £180 per night Coccaro Beach Club, Savelletri (00 39 080 412 3467; coccarobeachclub.it) Piazza Pellegrino Rossi (00 39 080 444 4151) Ristorante La Taverna Del Duca Scatigna Antonella, Locorontodo (00 39 080 431 3007; tavernadelducascatigna.it) Trattoria Gatto Rosso di Bartoli Alfieri, Taranto (00 39 099 452 9875; ristorantegattorosso.com) viaggiareinpuglia.it italiantouristboard.co.uk Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies On Monday, 16 September the first electric train shall debut on the completely restored tracks of the Bari-Putignano line (via Casamassima) of Ferrovie del Sud Est The new ETR train (with 3 modules and at 59 metres long) has been designed according to modern standards of safety of which two are for passengers with reduced mobility 1 toilet and a luggage rack for large suitcases Amongst the services aboard are internal LED information displays mobile platforms to facilitate access for people with reduced mobility All 5 trains purchased by Ferrovie del Sud Est will be operational by the end of October and will guarantee 70% of connections quality of the environment and comfort in travel Present this morning for the inaugural journey from Mungivacca to Adelfia were Giovanni Giannini—the Regional Councillor for Transport Luigi Lenci—Chairman of Ferrovie del Sud Est and Giorgio Botti—Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovie del Sud Est The radical renewal of 48 kilometres of line (tracks ballast and beams) and the restoration of electrification mean electric trains can circulate on the Bari-Putignano (via Casamassima) line the Bari-Putignano (via Casamassima) stretch will be also equipped with the Sistema di Controllo Marcia Treno (SCMT - the Train Speed Control System) and 17 level crossings that are currently managed manually shall be entirely automated The total investment for the renewal of the infrastructure and the modernisation of the train fleet is equal to 80 million euro and will permit—by the end of 2020—an increase in the commercial speed of trains from the current limit of 50 kilometres/hour reducing the travel time between Bari and Putignano to less than an hour The Adelfia station is confirmed as the hub of integrated train/bus transport for the Bari-Putignano line (via Casamassima) It is from here that the connections by bus to and from Cellamare Amongst the developments of the new timetable trains shall return to the Putignano-Martina Franca-Taranto line which will be reopened following the track restoration works There are thirty trains circulating daily between Putignano and Martina Franca (with a travel time of 55 minutes) 16 trains between Taranto and Martina Franca (with a travel time of 50 minutes) Finally comes Ferrovie del Sud Est’s 2019 scholastic offering thanks to the fruitful collaboration with the Puglia Region Municipal Institutions and Educational Institutes bus connections are more widespread and increasingly frequent based on the entry and exit times for the schools A dense network of connections connects the districts and smaller towns with the main school basins throughout the provinces of Bari We design and build infrastructure to move people and goods sustainably We’re shortening the distance for the development and growth of our country il catalogo è questo from Don Giovanni by Mozart I was born in Apulia and first trained as an actor in Rome I began my musical studies at the conservatory Tito Schipa in Lecce My training continues in the Young Artist Project at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino I won the International Competition Toti Dal Monte 2021 resulting in receiving the title role of Don Pasquale competition for the role of Leporello Don Giovanni My most recent engagements include Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Andrea Chénier) Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Oedipus Rex Palau de les Artes in Valencia (Don Giovanni) Lélio) and Salzburger Festspiele (Tosca) I have performed under the baton of conductors such as Daniel Oren Future plans include projects at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence Festival della Valle D'Itria in Martina Franca and Festival Donizetti in Bergamo having worked for several years in the restaurant world I also really enjoy travelling and discovering new places Cefais fy ngeni yn Apulia ac i ddechrau fe wnes i hyfforddi fel actor yn Rhufain dechreuais fy astudiaethau cerddorol yn y conservatoire Tito Schipa yn Lecce Mae fy hyfforddiant yn parhau yn y Prosiect Artistiaid Ifanc yn Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Enillais Gystadleuaeth Ryngwladol Toti Dal Monte yn 2021 a arweiniodd at gael y brif ran yn Don Pasquale yn 2022 ar gyfer rôl Leporello yn Don Giovanni Mae fy ymrwymiadau diweddaraf yn cynnwys Teatro alla Scala yn Milan (Andrea Chénier) Palau de les Artes yn Valencia (Don Giovanni) Lélio) a Salzburger Festspiele (Tosca) Rydw i wedi perfformio o dan arweiniad arweinwyr fel Daniel Oren Mae cynlluniau ar gyfer y dyfodol yn cynnwys prosiectau yn Opéra Royal de Wallonie Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino yn Florence Festival della Valle D'Itria yn Martina Franca a Festival Donizetti yn Bergamo ar ôl gweithio am sawl blwyddyn mewn bwytai Rydw i hefyd yn wirioneddol yn mwynhau teithio a darganfod lleoedd newydd The first village you absolutely must visit is Alberobello, a true Apulian jewel. Park your camper atCamper Parking Area In The Greenery This area offers complete services for campers you can easily explore the narrow streets of Alberobello and admire the unique trulli up close Ostuni will enchant you with its white houses that shine in the sun Park your camper atCamper Parking Area “Masseria Ferri” or the Camper Parking Area “Lido Morelli” Both areas offer essential services for campers and are an ideal starting point for exploring the historic center of Ostuni This circular village is one of Puglia's hidden treasures Park your camper atCamper Parking Area “Trulli Pietra Lecce” located a short distance from the center of Locorotondo This area offers basic services and allows you to immerse yourself in the suggestive atmosphere of this unique village The village of Cisternino will enchant you with its medieval charm Park your camper atCamper Parking Area “Cisternino Historic Center” This area offers basic services and allows you to easily explore the historic center of Cisternino with its cobbled streets and characteristic restaurants Located on a cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea Polignano a Mare offers breathtaking views and a romantic atmosphere Park your camper atCamper Parking Area “Polignano a Mare” located a few steps from the historic center This area offers complete services and allows you to comfortably explore the beauties of Polignano a Mare including the famous Lama Monachile beach and the restaurants along the coast Martina Franca is another enchanting village to visit in Puglia Park your camper atCamper Parking Area “Martina Franca Center” This area offers basic services and allows you to easily explore the center of Martina Franca with its baroque churches and charming squares Puglia is a region full of enchanting villages that deserve to be visited during a camper trip The villages to see in Puglia offer an authentic experience where you can immerse yourself in the local culture admire the characteristic architecture and savor the delicious Apulian cuisine and let yourself be fascinated by their unique beauty Park your camper at the recommended parking areas which offer the necessary services for a pleasant stop Enjoy the freedom of traveling by camper and discover Puglia in all its splendor ________________________________________________________ weekends and travel diaries on the digital magazine from smartphone For the registered with the PLEINAIRCLUB Access to the digital magazine is included With thesubscription to PleinAir (11 print issues) receive the magazine and special inserts comfortably at home and save Search other results... 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We may receive compensation if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you you can visit Puglia for 24 hours and experience Italy away from the more touristy cities up north How could a tourist visit the neighboring Basilicata region and not spend some spend time in this area rich with food but not American tourists you can take a day trip to visit Puglia and experience to make you want to come back again Many years ago, before the Food Network became a cavalcade of competition and reality shows and when Mario Batali had a dedicated cooking show, the chef predicted that the region of Puglia would be Italy’s next great food destination rivaling the culinary epicenters of Rome, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna time has passed since those halcyon Food Network days the masses have yet to explore this burgeoning gastronomic cornucopia at the heel of Italy’s boot sophisticated food culture that goes beyond the simple rustic food that most associate with southern Italy Popular Puglia destinations include resorts like Bari and more rural towns like Margherita di Savoia there’s still a piece of amusing provinciality that can be found in the towns we visited – Alberobello Driving a rental car gave us a perfect opportunity to explore Puglia’s varying charms including its hospitable people and its awesome gastronomic culture Although we couldn’t see all of Puglia in a day visiting three unique towns gave a taste that left us happily hungry for more Our Puglia day trip from Matera began on a road that weaves through jagged Lucanian cliffs and exits into vast Puglian fields dotted by the province’s signature residences: the round drywall constructed homes that date back centuries The initial purpose of this unique construction is debatable Some believe the construction was a convenient way to assemble and disassemble houses in order to avoid tax assessors Others note that the structures provide perfect insulation from the harsh southern Italian sun in the summer months the oddity of the fairytale structures defines the Puglian landscape we found other captivating attractions on our Sunday morning in Alberobello – open air markets an outdoor church mass and a festive bandstand where older residents of the town gather to hear traditional music in the southern Italian sun We adored the Sunday markets and olive vendors that are prevalent on the city streets It’s fair to say that eating olives in Puglia is akin to eating baguettes in Paris Puglian olives with their delicate nutty, salty flavor and thick meaty texture are incomparable to the olives in American cities like our home city of Philadelphia Pro TipOlives make wonderful snacks to enjoy during a Puglian day trip They also travel well and taste better than olives sold in the U.S and there are small towns like Cisternino atop hilltops where one can breeze in and enjoy a panini for lunch Such a break is even better when accompanied by an inordinately large Negroni cocktail and an expansive view of Puglia’s Itria Valley Pro TipMost businesses close for several hours each afternoon The stately yet compact town’s grand center affords an excellent opportunity to view the nightly stroll while hanging at a local cafe as even the town’s oldest citizens proudly struggle to walk through the medieval town center using rails and walls if necessary to keep their balance This is the Italy we’ve always read and heard about through Italian-American immigrant stories You can literally feel the heritage of the country behind every rustic door There aren’t a ton of resources on ‘where to eat’ in Martina-Franca We found a number of nondescript reviews in difficult to understand but there were a couple of good reviews that pointed us toward the southern border of the town’s center It was there that we found Osteria Coco Pazzo many restaurants open for dinner as late as 8 p.m Such was the case with this white-walled cantina which we found after a maze-like walk that left us along a two-way main drag located in a bi-level Italian strip mall and were quickly greeted by a food runner who treated us like long lost guests It was just then that we heard a familiar refrain “How did you find my restaurant?” who had just emerged from the kitchen door dressed in street clothes repeated the same humble greeting that we’ve received during pizza experiences in Naples We explained that our selection was purely by chance He was fascinated by our serendipitous arrival and proceeded to shower us with a stream of well-crafted yet traditional Puglian dishes The osteria’s menu offers a selection that embraces local ingredients that are abundantly available in Puglia We began the meal with a melange of antipasti and enjoyed treats like squash blossoms Although the fava bean dip is a Puglian staple our favorite starter was a plate of local meats and cheeses including bresaola tender cured pancetta and vaccherino – a local Other standouts included a pasta dish made with handmade orecchiette pasta and a flavorful tomato sugo a lamb roll made with organ meat and served with roasted potatoes and bay leaves To full for most Italian desserts, we ended the meal with after-dinner liqueurs and cookies The combination provided a sweet but not too sweet conclusion to the satisfying meal we enjoyed a bottle of wine made from indigenous susumaniello grapes the medium-bodied wine is one that we want to drink again Osteria del Coco Pazzo is located at Arco Mastrovito 18-19 74015 Martina Franca (TA) Our day trip to Puglia ended much like it started As we approached the ancient city of Matera we already missed Puglia but took comfort in the plastic bags of olives just waiting for us to enjoy for days to follow we tasted enough to know that we want to return for a proper trip to Puglia perhaps we will make time to explore the seaside towns near the Adriatic and Ionian seas we will eat and drink lots of local food and wine among olive tree-dotted fields and quaint towns that is the ultimate way to live like a local Puglia Check out our guide to eating in Italy as well as our picks for the best Italian foods and the best Italian desserts before your trip Article UpdatesWe update our articles regularly Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.FundingWe self-funded our trip to Puglia Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on their website 2foodtrippers they've traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers a unique taste of the world Looks like I need to put Puglia on my list Thank you so much for sharing your adventures We’re planning a trip to Puglia in May Can’t wait to visit some of the places you’ve mentioned document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "ab2c9a1d0cdf600f0130c4300134a48d" );document.getElementById("bafc9a4a92").setAttribute( "id" Buy us a coffee if you want to support our ongoing efforts you probably already noticed that we love coffee © 2012 - 2025 · 2FT Media LLC · 30 North Gould Street Last Updated on 16th September 2024 by Sophie Nadeau The ‘heel’ of the boot is the delightful region of Puglia which is known in English as ‘Apulia’ and in French as ‘Pouilles’ Home to stretches of azure-blue coastline and larger cacti than you’ve ever seen in your life and regions that Puglia has to offer are simply charming Here’s your guide to the best and most beautiful towns in Puglia it’s worth noting that many of the Puglian towns and cities share similar characteristics; a pedestrianised ‘centro storico’ (which you’ll likely get a large fine for if you drive through) a maze of local eateries serving traditional Apulia cuisine a central square known as a ‘Piazza’ and countless ecclesiastical buildings some notable exceptions to the rule and there are some towns in Puglia which are entirely different from anything else out there These towns also tend to be the most popular tourism destinations but you should still add them to your Puglia itinerary Town of note include the Baroque architecture of Lecce, the trulli of Alberobello, and the whitewashed houses of old town Ostuni. In short, there is no shortage of amazing things to do in Puglia. If you’re looking for even more inspiration about the boot-shaped country, then be sure to check out our best travel quotes about Italy. And if you need to know more information before heading to the South of Europe, check out our top Italy travel tips. Best-known for its breathtaking Baroque architecture the city of Lecce is one of the largest cities in the South of Puglia As it’s one of the only Puglian settlements for miles around people flock from far and wide on a nightly basis in order to dine in the maze that is the ‘centro storico’ (historic centre) Some of the best things to see and do in Lecce include the Duomo and dining in one of the restaurants and cafés in town of particular note are Pizza and Co (pizza slices as large as your head for around €4) and Osteria Degli Spiriti for well-cooked traditional dishes (just be sure to reserve several days ahead of time) A sunny city on Salento’s sunny coastline, the town of Otranto boasts a population of around 6000 residents Located along the Southern coastline of Apulia on the Eastern coast of the Solento peninsula Some of the most famed attractions that Otranto has to offer include the 15th-century Aragonese Castle (now a cultural centre and museum) there are plenty of breathtaking coastal walks to be taken Known as the ‘white city’ (città bianca in Italian) on account of its whitewashed old town which sits perched high above the rest of the city Ostuni is a must-visit on any trip to Puglia Constructed on a high hill so as to protect the city from invaders in centuries gone by today the magnificent Duomo (cathedral) can be found at the highest point in Ostuni One of the very best things to do in Ostuni is to simply allow yourself to get lost in the maze of streets which meander their way in higgeldy piggeldy patterns across the centro storico Other highlights of Ostuni include enjoying an ice cream at Cremeria La Scala and admiring Ostuni’s cathedral One of the most famous of all Puglian settlements is that of Alberobello which is iconic thanks to its old town which is formed of traditional trulli (trullo in the singular) countless visitors head to the town from all over Europe and beyond to catch a glimpse of the traditional houses By far this was the busiest place we visited during our road trip in Puglia and I highly recommend arriving in the town as early as possible so as to get there before the tour buses I would go so far as to say that I found the town of Alberobello to be even busier than Santorini and so be sure to visit as early in the day as possible so as to avoid disappointment (and having too many people in your photos!) Somewhat of a hidden gem of a town, the town of Specchia is a speck of a town in the province of Lecce we hadn’t seen this town recommended in many travel guides but after visiting it was clear that it should be A small settlement boasting a population of just around four and a half thousand residents much of the more interesting things to do in town are centred around the main piazza This is where you’ll find tourist information which serves up some of the freshest glasses of white wine I’ve ever enjoyed in my life As there is little by way of tourist attractions in Specchia you’ll need little more than a few hours to enjoy this tiny town in Puglia Less than a half hour drive away from Specchia the equally charming Puglian town of Presicce is centred around a Piazza that boasts one of the most beautiful Baroque churches I’ve been lucky enough to see The city is actually famous for its many underground mills though visitors to Presicce today should head there in order to see its traditional Puglia architecture and to enjoy Pressice’s laid back vibe this is another town in Puglia that you’ll only need a couple of hours to wander through Yet another tiny town that is worthy of a short stop off but has too few attractions to fill an entire day’s worth of exploring is that of San Vito dei Normanni the town is home to a handful of beautiful churches including the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria and the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista The sun-soaked town of Polignano a Mare clings to the cliff face above the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic sea The town dates back well over two thousand years and is characterised by its sheer cliff faces Some other highlights of Polignano a Mare include heading to the contemporary art museum of Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali and enjoying an Aperol Spritz or glass of local wine (the rosés are particularly lovely) on the main square While in Polignano, you must definitely head to Pescaria. This seafood restaurant has both dine in and takeaway options Consideringt the queue for dining in the Polignano eatery I personally got the vegetable tempura and fries The delightful town of Martina Franca is one of a trifecta of delightful towns in central Puglia; Martina Franca and Cisternino are all a stone’s throw away from one another (and are quite literally all within 10 km or one another) Martina Franca is the largest of the three towns and Pick up a tourist map for free from the tourist office (Piazza XX Settembre n 74015 Martina Franca Italy) and you’ll soon discover that there are several self-guided routes to follow When it comes to eating in the Puglia town We personally loved our meal at the well-reviewed La Tavernatta The dishes were well-cooked simple and local Italian cuisine such as pasta dishes served with local wine One of the more unexpected towns that we chanced upon during our stay in Puglia was the charming settlement of Mesagne This quaint town was a little less touristic than some of the other places we frequented and is most famous for its grape and olive production Highlights of Mesagne include a Norman castle and a maze of streets that form the ‘centro storico’ we reserved a table at Osteria Braceria Tigelleria Antico Forno There we ate exceptionally well-cooked traditional cuisine under the twinkling lights of a charming terrace Home to a population of around eleven and a half thousand residents Cisternino is a tiny Puglia settlement that offers unparalleled views over the Itria Valley visitors need simply to head to Cremeria History Vignola which serves light snacks If you are looking for a central location in which to base yourself for several nights during any stay in Puglia then you should consider making Locorotondo which is so beautiful that it is considered to be one of Italy’s most beautiful villages Trullo Marziolla (the oldest documented trullo in Italy) and relaxing with a view in the Locorotondo Lungomare Though somewhat of a tourist trap (and I highly recommend you don’t eat there) Gallipoli still merits a place on this guide to the best towns in Puglia on account of its charming old town The little streets are cobbled lanes of delightful shutters, wandering cats, and beautifully planted cacti. Gallipoli is also home to a sandy beach that’s particularly popular in the summer. For more inspiration, check out our guide to the best things to do in Gallipoli Truth be told, one of the more off the beaten path towns in Puglia that certainly doesn’t get as much press as it deserves is the charming settlement of Monopoli Located on the Adriatic coastline and just a half hour drive or so from Polignano this is one town you should most certainly add to your itinerary many visitors make the mistake of passing by Monopoli but on a Puglia trip this would be your first mistake As well as the traditional maze of streets and historic port you can swim in some of the clearest waters Puglia has to offer Conversano is a sleepy little Apulian town that is well worth a visit if only to taste a little of life in Puglia outside of the main tourist attractions One of the most striking places in town is the beautiful Monastero di San Benedetto San Vito is centred around a little fishing harbour (known in Italian as the porto antico) and the town itself remains somewhat of a hidden gem of the Puglian coastline Everything in town gives views onto the Torre de San Vito, which is featured in the Italian language movie Jumping From High Places Another highlights of San Vito is the abbey Enjoyed reading about the best towns in Puglia Sophie Nadeau is a full time travel writer and photographer focused on cultural experiences in Europe and beyond When she's not chasing after the sunset (or cute dogs she sees on her travels) she can be found reading and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I started this site back in 2015 with one mission in mind: I wanted to create useful travel guides with a historical and cultural focus Today it has blossomed into my full time job and together with a small team of writers (including my husband and sister) we craft articles to help you travel better throughout Europe © 2015- 2025 Sophie Nadeau. Nadeau Pasquier LTD. All Rights Reserved. solosophie participates in various affiliate marketing programs. solosophie is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Privacy Policy