To enter Puglia’s culinary world is to walk into a combination of creativity and simplicity infused with fresh produce. For centuries, agriculture was the primary source of income, and you can taste the high standards of the local farmers who know just how a vegetable is supposed to taste. Chemicals have been introduced to the area, but even though most farmers use chemical fertilizers and ... Read Full Article
Visiting the Historical Trulli of Alberobello, Italy
Icons of the Puglia region of Italy, the conical huts known as trulli, poke out everywhere in the region, but nowhere are they as numerous as in the city of Alberobello. Demonstrating an architectural sense from another time (which sometimes seems like it comes from another world), trulli are made of hundreds of carefully placed stones. On top of their cone-shaped roofs are knob-like ... Read Full Article
Dining at Vini e Cucina Restaurant in Bari, Italy
Baresi cuisine focuses on vegetables, hearty pasta, and roasted meats and it is often served family-style. To get the full effect, my girlfriend and I ate lunch at Vini e Cucina, a restaurant that is popular among locals and known for serving traditional food. The restaurant does not offer menus but simply lists the dishes of the day when you sit down. If your Italian-language skills aren’t all ... Read Full Article
Visiting Bari, Italy: A Den of Fashionable Thieves?
Bari is the capital of the Puglia region in southern Italy, and boasts a population of half a million. As a coastal city, it has an old town that has seen more than its fair share of marauding pirates. Unfortunately, it seems that some of these pirates may have decided to become residents, because Bari’s reputation for being crime-ridden precedes it. In recent years, however, the city has shown ... Read Full Article
Puglia, Italy’s Summer Food and Wine Festivals
Each summer, Italy’s Salento peninsula is absolutely overrun with food festivals and wine tastings. A land known primarily for its stunning white-sand beaches, sea caves, and Baroque architecture, the Salento peninsula is also known as “the breadbasket of Italy,” and has some of the most fertile land in the country. Its summer festivals are a way of celebrating this fertility. Each ... Read Full Article