PUGLIA


A


mouth-watering feast has been laid out before me. Each plate is a vision of deliciousness and my eyes quickly bounce from dish to dish – plump balls of juicy burrata that will ooze with goodness the second a knife


LÀi>à ÌÀÕ} ÌiÀ yiÃÞ ÃÆ ÀÌ Ûi}iÌ>Lià À>ÃÌi`  > `Ûi V> Ûi Æ }>Ì «i««iÀà Ì««i` ÜÌ


}>ÀV >` LÀi>`VÀÕLÃÆ >` v VÕÀÃi] > i>ÀÌÞ LÜ v pasta – we are in Italy after all.


In Puglia, the pasta of choice is the scrumptious ear-shaped orecchiette, served simply with turnip tops and washed down with a glass of primitivo, one of the region’s most popular exports. I’m not in a restaurant, but rather a traditional Puglian home – a whitewashed, dome-roofed trullo – tucked down a side street in the tiny town of Alberobello.


`


Our Italian hosts might not speak much }Ã] LÕÌ ÌiÞ½Ài `iwÌiÞ Ã«i>} Þ language with the food they’re serving.


I’m tucking into this amazing meal as part of a private dining experience organised by my Italian home-from- home – hot new high-end hotel Rocce Forte Masseria Torre Maizza – and this is Italian home cooking at its best. The property has partnered with local operator


Southern Visions to showcase all that is great and good about the lesser known Italian region of Puglia.


Our Italian hosts might not speak much English, but they’re definitely speaking my language with the food they’re serving


An undiscovered gem Trulli pepper the countryside here, but in the tiny ÌÜ v ƂLiÀLi ÞÕ½ w` > Ãi> v £]xää v ÌiÃi quintessentially Puglian homes, creating a scene you’d expect portrayed in an outlandish children’s fairytale. -i `>Ìi L>V Ì Ìi £{Ì ViÌÕÀÞ] >` Üi >Þ have been transformed into shops or restaurants, a handful are still used as homes. During a tour of this charming Unesco World Heritage Site, we stumble across a gentleman named Nicola who has lived in his immaculately presented trullo for 36 years. He welcomes us in and gives us a grand tour of his humble abode before disappearing out of sight. He soon returns with a bounty of treats – a handful of almonds, tomatoes and mint, all grown in the vegetable plot next to his trullo. With our guide acting as translator, Nicola explains his passion for using local ingredients in his cooking –


something that resonates throughout my visit as every dish I’m served includes produce grown in the fertile soil that makes Puglia such an agricultural gem. While the food is without doubt a huge draw, the best thing about visiting the heel of boot-shaped Italy is that it’s still relatively unknown as a tourist destination. Despite its rich culture and heritage, Puglia is one of Italy’s least explored regions, so unlike its famed sisters – Rome,


ª PREVIOUS PAGE: Alberobello OPPOSITE: FIRST ROW: orecchiette pasta; Ostuni; SECOND ROW: Rocco Forte Masseria Torre Maizza; Hollie in


Alberobello; a trulli in Alberobello; THIRD ROW: Polignano a Mare; FOURTH ROW: Olive trees in Rocco Forte Masseria Torre Maizza; Otranto Credits: Shutterstock


74 ASPIRE SEPTEMBER 2019 aspiretravelclub.co.uk


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