Italy’s “Heel of the Boot” part 2: Lecce and Southern Puglia

Posted On June 12, 2022

Since Puglia is a bit off the beaten path, it is best to plan to spend a full week or more. For the second half of our week, we chose Lecce as our home base for exploring southern Puglia. With more days – and we found ourselves needing more than 3 days in Lecce – we would have spent more time living la dolce vita in Lecce, but also exploring the other small towns in that area: Speccia, Corigliano d’Otranto, Gallipoli…there are plenty of day trip options!

As you know, I really, really don’t like to drive in Italy. Lecce itself is accessible by train, but a car or a driver is necessary for the many day trips in this area. I think I would survive driving in this region, but since we had wine tasting on our agenda, we hired a driver.

Please see the previous post for more information on planning a trip to Puglia.

Lecce

Lecce is known as the Florence of Southern Italy, and at first glimpse of the city, it is easy to see why. The city is a clean, walk-able, formerly walled city filled with beautiful Baroque architecture. Remnants of Lecce’s old Roman city peak through in places like piazza Sant’Oronzo where you will find a Roman amphitheater. There are churches and archaeological museums to see, but this is also just a wonderful city to meander, gelato in hand (for gelato connoisseurs, Pasticceria Natale is considered the city’s best – and we couldn’t find fault with their gelato). Or, a coffee – Lecce has a traditional Leccese iced coffee made with almond syrup and whipped cream, best obtained at the bar Avio. I highly recommend at least 1 full day to soak in all of Lecce, without an ambitious agenda.

In Lecce, we found probably our favorite hotel of the trip: the Mantatelure. This boutique hotel is located in a 16th century mansion and is small, just a few rooms, but with a wonderful patio to escape and relax. I could have spent a week on the patio! The hospitality at this hotel was outstanding, from the kind staff willing to be patient to allow me to practice my Italian and help us with reservations, to the complementary bottles of digestivo provided in the lobby. We were able to cover the cost of our hotel by booking on our Capitol One Spark business card and redeeming miles towards the cost of the hotel.

Near Lecce: Otranto

Otranto is less than an hour from Lecce, and a popular summer escape for Italians due to its beaches. it was tranquil in May, but I imagine it must be a frenzy of crowds come July and August. Otranto has a dark history, with its population being decimated by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s, but today is sparkling, with portions of the white washed city reminiscent of Greece amidst a backdrop of bright blue ocean. The castle and cathedral were well worth a visit. The moat, walls, and outer portions of the castle can be explored for free; there is also a museum that can be visited. The cathedral had some interesting features: gorgeous mosaic floors, and a crypt supported by about 70 different columns. Our itinerary this day had included stops at 2 other small towns in the area, but Otranto took up an entire afternoon in itself. It is certainly possible to make several days worth of day trips in this area!

Exploring the Food & Wine of Puglia

One of my favorite parts of Puglia (well, Italy in general) is the food. Driving around Puglia, there are farmlands abound as well as enormous olive tree groves sprawling as far as the eye can see. We were told Puglia supplies 75% of Italy’s olive oil. Some groves are newer, with more dense planting, while other groves contain thick wide trees that are hundreds of years old – and still producing.

A cooking class was a must – so we spent a morning with Gianna shopping at the local market for produce, and returning to her beautiful commercial kitchen to cook lunch. Gianna was an absolute hoot to cook with. We hand-made orecchiette (or at least, attempted to make what looked like orecchiette – the pasta grannies make it look so easy!) and foccacia bread, soaked in plenty of the local olive oil. I insisted on artichokes at the market, so we chose a few from the 5 available varieties and learned to clean, trim, and cook them – they are a labor of love as much as the pasta was, phew! Lastly, we made bombette – caciocavallo cheese and pork neck rolled up, dipped in bread crumbs, and baked. Five hours and 2, er, 3 bottles of wine later, we were having such a good time we almost missed our afternoon trip to Otranto!

Local cheeses are always worth finding, and we actually went beyond just tasting and took a private tour of a dairy farm in the Salento region. Querceta is a decently sized operation that hand makes fresh mozzarella, ricotta, burrata, and caciocavallo (an aged mozzarella that is hung by a string that resembles a noose, allowing the liquid to drain and the exterior to form a rind, the name literally means “cheese on horseback”). We were able to watch the fresh mozzarella being made, visit the cows, and of course – the best part – gorge ourselves on fresh cheese. As with many farms, a little of everything is grown from vegetables to olive trees, and nothing goes to waste. The variation in many of these fresh cheeses largely comes from the breed of cow and what they are fed (at this farm, very specific grasses as well as feed grown on the farm). Leftover whey is fed to pigs, which leads into some wonderful local charcuterie.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed the wines in Puglia. The higher quality of wine is coming from a huge upgrade in technique and technology. For example, the negroamaro grape is a very dark red, bitter grape that in the past was only used primarily as a blending grape due to its bitter amaro characteristics. With newer methods, such as machines that allow pressing of the grapes without crushing the bitter seeds, negroamaro joins primativo as a commonly found wine in the region – and who knew, it ended up being my favorite wine of the trip!

We visited two wonderful wineries near Lecce. First was Leone de Castris, a winery with a wonderful centuries-old history that spawned an entire museum on the second floor of the winery. The museum itself was quite interesting to visit, and the wine was quite good. If you really enjoy their wine, they also have a small hotel with a swimming pool next to the winery facility.

The next winery was Duca Carlo Gurini, founded in 1040 (!!). This winery has survived a lot. It is currently run by 2 brothers who are 25th generation family of the winery, if you can imagine. We were able to tour the new modern facilities, as well as the very old underground wine-making cellar (which included a small donkey stable for the donkey that turned the grape press). I will say, I think the wine quality has probably improved a bit since 1040 – the wines here (especially the negroamaro!) were delicious, and we brought some home. For locals, inexpensive table wine could be purchased in bulk through the tank shown below, for about €1.60-1.70 per liter.

Links:

• Lodging in Lecce: Hotel Mantatelure (highly recommended): www.mantatelure.it
• Driving service: www.servicepinto.it (Gianni: +39 347 6858440)
• Tours/Guides: Active Gourmet Holidays offers customizable tours within Puglia (www.activegourmetholidays.com). Expertise Apulia offers english-speaking private guides as well as tours within all of Puglia (www.expertiseapulia.com).
• Cooking class in Lecce with chef Gianna Greco: www.cookingexperience.it
• Recommended wineries: Duca Carlo Guarini (www.ducacarloguarini.it), Leone de Castris (https://www.leonedecastris.com)

All photos are copyright © Buona Forchetta.