Puglia Tasty 8 days

Arrival at Bari Palese airport and transfer to a wonderful 4 * hotel in Valle d’Itria, where an exquisite dinner awaits us. The hotel offers the extraordinary opportunity to live an experience that will make you enjoy timeless hospitality. Staying in the countryside of the trulli will be like waking up in the morning in a fairy tale. The enogastronomy of Puglia is one of the great riches of this ancient land, made of scents and flavors to be discovered along paths that link food and wine to the tradition and culture of the area.

A region characterized by typical products and recipes, many of which have been recognized as PDO, PGI or DOC, including extra-virgin olive oil and bread from Altamura.

Breakfast and departure for the Adriatic coast north of Bari. We will start our tour tasting the most representative product of Puglia, the oil. Puglia is famous for its extra virgin olive oil, made from the imposing ancient olive trees of this land, and is the region with the largest production of extra virgin olive oil in the world. We will visit an ancient and renowned oil mill to watch live the production of oil. Light lunch and tasting of Apulian olives, oil and typical local products.

In the afternoon we will pass to dessert, with another fascinating visit to the Museum of Confetto. This is an ancient tradition respectful of the original recipes and the high artisan confectionery. Authentic small masterpieces of confectionery art, confetti are produced with the use of very fine ingredients that guarantee high quality and unparalleled taste. Confectionery tasting. Dinner in Trani at an elegant tavern and a walk through the maritime and port city.

Today our journey takes us directly to the sea. Apulian enogastronomy boasts among its products anchovies and marinated anchovies, salted sardines, mussels tarantine, clams. One thing is eating fish, another is knowing how to prepare.

This morning we will participate in a cooking course based on fish and seafood, at an old fishmonger and restaurant that offers all the richness and the scent of the sea and its products, respecting tradition. Lunch with the dishes prepared together with a breathtaking view of the sea.

In the afternoon we will visit the city of Bari and the evocative via delle orecchiette. The homemade pasta like cavatelli and orecchiette are excellent and the people of Bari love to dress them with cauliflower or turnip greens. Located on the Adriatic Sea, Bari is the second economic center of southern Italy, known for its port and its university, and for being the city of San Nicola, the patron saint to whom it is dedicated
the famous Basilica. Bari has the longest seafront in Italy, and its historic center called “Bari Vecchia” is a combination of streets and alleys, cut between the two modern ports.

Dinner by the sea, by night excursion to Polignano a Mare and artisan gelato tasting. Polignano a Mare is the birthplace of the first modern singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno, who became famous for his now internationally known song “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare).” The historic city center overlooks cliffs overlooking the sea, where balconies and flowery streets offer a truly unique and exciting scene.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for the fairytale Valle d’Itria. To make our own the delicious Apulian gastronomy, we will give it to the cooking class at Masseria 5 * Torre Coccaro. Here we can rediscover the essence of simple flavors in authentic hospitality, together with the exclusivity of an experience in a place with refined charm. Lunch based on dishes prepared during
the course.

In the afternoon guided tour of Alberobello, a characteristic hill village. UNESCO site, is the world capital of the “trulli”, traditional Apulian houses built in dry stone and with a conical dome. These singular constructions were built as temporary rural shelters, deposits, or real houses by small landowners or agricultural laborers, and today they punctuate the whole territory of the Murgia, in the heart of the region.

Tasting of typical local liqueurs. Leisure and shopping. Dinner at a famous restaurant and walk in the beautiful baroque city of Martina Franca.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for Alto Salento.
Puglia’s food and wine owes a lot to its wine: Puglia boasts a great production of high quality wines including Aleatico, Locorotondo, Primitivo di Manduria and Gioia del Colle, and Negroamaro, which represent the spearhead of a rich wine production known throughout the world.

We will visit the Cellars Al Bano Carrisi, now entering the Gotha of wine. Al Bano, a citizen of the world, has always remained tied to his origins in Brindisi and the estate of his family. The characteristics of the soil and the strict respect of local traditions guarantee the excellent level of the grapes according to the rules of organic farming. In the afternoon we will visit a sausage factory that produces traditional salami in the heart of Valle D’Itria and we will taste the
capocollo, Slow Food Presidium. This area has always been voted, by tradition and ideal climate, to the production of high quality salami because the taste of the cured meats in the aging phase takes shape thanks to the air, which blows from the Adriatic
or from the Ionian according to the winds. Typical dinner of meat at the stove and walk through the village in the beautiful Cisternino.

Breakfast and departure for the Bassa Murgia, home of mozzarella and primitive wine. Putignano is a thriving town in the center of Puglia. We will visit a farmhouse with animals, we will witness a demonstration of the processing of mozzarella and taste high quality salami and cheeses, healthy and natural in the beautiful and uncontaminated countryside of Puglia.

The farm has for years been engaged in the production and sale of local organic products, both in awareness of healthy eating in full respect of the environment. The excellent quality / price ratio and the choice of the short supply chain from the producer directly to the consumer allows everyone to buy authentic, genuine and very good products.

Following, visit a renowned winery with tasting of Primitivo wine
Gioia del Colle. The Murgia is a karst territory and very generous in terms of quality: here at an altitude ranging from 300 to 450 meters, the grape has been meeting its optimal habitat for centuries. This winery has enhanced the Primitivo wine and other native vines for wines of international excellence. Wine tasting and typical Murgiano light lunch.

In the afternoon, free time. Relax in the hotel or walk and shopping for Putignano. Dinner in Putignano at the best inn of Puglia. Also this tavern believes in the kilometer zero and in the Slow Food, that is in the respect of the food, of its times, of its seasonality, of its origin, and, above all, of the relationship between consumer and product itself. The tavern is characterized by the open kitchen, you will find a traditional cuisine, strongly linked to the territory, to the memory and the origins of a people.
He has received many prestigious national and international awards.

Breakfast and departure for Alta Murgia, home of durum wheat semolina bread. In the morning, visit to the bakery of Altamura with tasting of the delicious bread of Altamura, focaccia and baked goods.
We will be able to taste the taste of good soft bread, unique and inimitable, the result of the typical craftsmanship handed down by the ancient tradition, and the specific climatic conditions in which it is produced.

We will then head to Matera for a deluxe lunch at a renowned Michelin restaurant. In the afternoon guided tour of Matera. Matera, a UNESCO site, is well known for its Sassi: extraordinary cavities dug into the rock, urban agglomerations used as houses up to 50 years ago. Matera has become even more famous as many directors have used its natural scenography in their films, including “The Passion” by Mel Gibson.
Return to the hotel and dinner with musical show of live folk dances and demonstration of ancient crafts with original tools. This festival will make you relive the ancient traditions of Puglia: work in the fields, the party and the ancient work of typical artifacts. It is a tribute to the land of Puglia and its typical products such as wheat, grapes, almonds and olives.

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for Bari Palese airport.