Unspoilt Italy: fall head over heel for Puglia's Salento region
Wild beaches, seriously tempting food and wine, affordable prices – and few tourists – await those who venture to Salento, the sun-kissed south of Puglia at the heel of Italy's boot
The beach at Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy. Photograph: Alamy
The tables are filling up fast tonight in Gustavo Braceria. Carmela moves between the groups of diners, greeting them like old friends. Her relaxed demeanour conceals a flurry of activity as she passes from one table to another, directing staff to bring forth bags of bread, bottles of wine and a succession of dishes concocted by her husband Gigi, the chef.
Word is spreading about Gustavo Braceria, with its cosy dining rooms and tables in the garden in summer, beneath trees laced with fairy lights. The restaurant opened three years ago on the edge of the small town of Galatone, in the Salento, the southern tip of Italy's Puglia region. The Salento draws its northern border from Taranto in the west to Brindisi in the east, and marks its southernmost point at Santa Maria de Leuca, the Land's End of south-east Italy, at the very bottom of the heel.
Gustavo Braceria has become a firm favourite with a cosmopolitan crowd from northern Italy and beyond, who are arriving in the region in increasing numbers. They've come to snap up palazzi and masserie(farmhouses) for a song in this slowly gentrifying rural outpost.
But locals like the restaurant, too: Puglia's gay, leftwing president, Nichi Vendola, is a regular. Vendola's victory in 2005 over the rightwinger Raffaele Fitto marked a sea-change in the politics of this traditionally conservative and Catholic region. It also provided a more liberal backdrop for incomers sniffing out salty-aired escapes from the human stew of Milan, Munich, Paris, Brussels and London.
For the Italians, Puglia is like Cornwall: they come here for sun, sea and seriously good food, fished from nearby waters and produced in the fertile pastures that supply much of the fresh contents of the country's larders, and to sup the increasingly admired local wines, negroamaro, primitivo di Manduria and Salice Salentino. But while many international visitors have been lured from the kempt pastures of Tuscany and Umbria to Puglia by its curious conical trulli and the sparkling white towns of the Valle d'Itria at the region's heart, or to walk in the ancient oak and beech forests of the mountainous Gargano peninsula at its northern edge, the southernmost reaches of the Salento flatlands are pioneer country.
The recent push south into Salento was inevitable. With characterful old buildings still available at rock-bottom prices, an eye-pleasing landscape of olive groves, wild beaches and clear seas, and old towns heaving with baroque buildings, Salento proved irresistible, in particular to an affluent European gay crowd who had also heard about the lively local gay scene. Across the peninsula, derelict buildings now echo to the sound of hammers and drills as they are transformed into holiday homes, self-catering apartments, guesthouses and hotels.
Despite the traditional mores of the Salentini, these incomers appear to have been easily accepted. But then they're used to strangers in these parts. Brindisi, the location of Salento's airport, has provided a gateway to the region for more than 2,000 years. The Adriatic port marked the southern end of the Romans' highway to the east, the Appian Way, and was the harbour from which the Crusaders set sail for the Holy Land.
The sanctuary at Santa Maria di Leuca, southernmost point of the Salento. Photograph: Corbis
This strategically important lump of limestone between the Adriatic and Ionian seas has been variously sacked by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Normans and Spaniards, all of whom left their mark in the shape of amphitheatres, palaces, castles and churches. In a cluster of villages between Lecce and Maglie, known as the Grecia Salentina, some residents still speak grico, the Italiot Greek dialect.
That said, the urban planners of the late 20th century did their best to deter newcomers to these flatlands, girdling every historic settlement with unsightly modern sprawl. But press on through these and there are rich baroque rewards to goggle at, carved from the buttery local tufa beloved by sculptors across Italy for its malleability.
The historic quarters of the main towns of Gallipoli, Nardò, Galatina, Maglie, Otranto and Tricase are all testimony to the craftsmanship of the local stonemasons. But none is lovelier than the city of Lecce, the Salentine capital, home to the florid Santa Croce basilica, with its menagerie of beasts cavorting around a huge rose window, and the vastPiazza del Duomo bounded by the cathedral, the bishop's palace, a seminary and a five-storey campanile – sunglasses are essential on a sunny day to protect against the dazzle of the white stone. Best of all, there are few tourists sharing these sights – the jostling hordes have yet to arrive from Florence and Rome. It can only be a matter of time.
WHERE TO STAY
Bella Vista, Tiggiano
Bella Vista top terrace
The clue is in the name. The main attraction of this two-level property sleeping five below the coast road from Otranto to Santa Maria di Leuca, is the unobstructed view across the Adriatic from the top terrace. The upper level has a master suite, a small lounge with sofabed, and kitchen area. The lower half is given over entirely to an en suite double bedroom. Both are functionally furnished, but in any case, you'll spend most of your time on the terrace – or in the hot tub – gazing at that view.
• +39 335 1412346, bellecasedipuglia.it, from €780 a week
• +39 335 1412346, bellecasedipuglia.it, from €780 a week
Tempietto and Angelo Custode, Nardò
The baroque quarter of Nardò is home to a new collection of restored houses and apartments, where the chic white decor and sparse elegant furnishings, antique and modern, focus the eye on the graceful original architecture. The first two of these properties, tucked behind the town's theatre, will be available from June. Tempietto is a studio apartment with a mezzanine sleeping area and access to a roof terrace; Angelo Custode is a two-bedroom apartment for four, with several roof terraces, one of which has an outdoor kitchen and dining space.
• Tempietto, from €60 a night, Angelo Custode from €150 a night, no phone, nardosalento.com
• Tempietto, from €60 a night, Angelo Custode from €150 a night, no phone, nardosalento.com
La Bella Lecce, Lecce
This comfortable guesthouse in a quiet street in the city's historic centre offers excellent value. Its four rooms are tastefully furnished, with a shot of history in the shape of star-vaulted ceilings and exposed limestone walls and columns. One suite is large enough to sleep three, another has a small patio, and all have private bathrooms. The entrance hall doubles as the breakfast room – outside those hours you're welcome to a slice of freshly baked cake from the generously stocked guest kitchen.
• +39 333 422 2610, labellalecce.it, doubles from €55 B&B
• +39 333 422 2610, labellalecce.it, doubles from €55 B&B
Casa Pacifico, Cursi
Cursi, a few miles inland from Otranto on the Adriatic coast, is the quiet location of this cosy one-bedroom apartment sleeping four and carved out of a 400-year-old stone dwelling. The double-height sitting room leads to a bedroom and en suite wet room, and there's a bath in the private open courtyard. The kitchen is on the first floor to allow easy access to the roof terrace for alfresco dining.
• +39 335 102 9023, pugliabydesign.com, from €60 a night (no under-12s), three-night minimum
• +39 335 102 9023, pugliabydesign.com, from €60 a night (no under-12s), three-night minimum
Palazzo Zacheo, Gallipoli
This 16th-century palazzo in Gallipoli's old town lost none of its beauty when it was converted to provide three guestrooms (a single and two doubles) and five apartments (sleeping two, four or six). The whitewashed walls, exposed stone and restored frescoes provide a backdrop for minimalist positioning of modish furnishings and huge works of art. While this isn't a hotel, breakfast on the terrace, maid service, and even the delivery of sushi mediterraneo appetisers from the fish market can be arranged.
• +39 0833 1824188, palazzozacheo.com, double rooms from €69, apartments from €89
• +39 0833 1824188, palazzozacheo.com, double rooms from €69, apartments from €89
WHERE TO EAT
Doppiozero, Lecce
Doppiozero resturant
This cafe-cum-deli in the heart of Lecce is a treat as much for the eyes as for the stomach. Its walls are an open larder of bottles, tins, pots and packets. But the real diversion is touches such as the lightshades made from bottles, and the bicycle parked on top of the porch in a tumble of wine boxes. Diners gather around communal tables in front of the long counter, where salads, sandwiches and hefty boards of salumi and cheeses are assembled.
• Via Paladini 2, +39 0832 521052, no website, dishes from €8
• Via Paladini 2, +39 0832 521052, no website, dishes from €8
Gustavo Braceria, Galatone
This is one of Salento's singular dining experiences. Carmela Luperto has no truck with menus; she prefers to surprise with a multi-course taste of Italy, starring Salento, as created by her husband, Gigi. The dishes come thick and fast: Sardinian cheese for dipping in grape must; mussels from Taranto in a broth of tiny Gargano beans; sweet black pork with radicchio, fennel and mash with a poppy-seed crust. The list – and the evening – goes on.
• Strada Statale Salentina Gallipoli, +39 345 615 5711, no website, from €25 with wine
• Strada Statale Salentina Gallipoli, +39 345 615 5711, no website, from €25 with wine
Antico Monastero, Felline
This family-run trattoria is worth seeking out not just for good Salentine food but for its setting on a pretty piazza in the shadow of a castle. An outside table at this former bishop's palace is a prime place to dine on rustic dishes such as polpo alla pignata (stewed octopus with tomatoes, celery and herbs). Sourdough pizzas are new to the menu this year.
• Via Chiesa 4, +39 0833 985105, anticomonastero.com, three courses from €25
• Via Chiesa 4, +39 0833 985105, anticomonastero.com, three courses from €25
Primo, Otranto
Primo restaurant
Primo is interesting for the progressive principles that inform its tasty dishes. One of the restaurants in the area's emerging "zero miles" scene, Primo sources its organic produce as locally as possible, and also offers vegan and wheat-free options. Chef Ross (Rossella Mantero) is imaginative in the kitchen, with surprising versions of conventional pasta, fish and meat choices, such as spelt fettucini with a pistachio pesto.
• Via delle Torri 5, +39 350 502 1356, primotranto.it, three courses from €20
• Via delle Torri 5, +39 350 502 1356, primotranto.it, three courses from €20
Scapricciatiello, near Gallipoli
Try not to let your eyes rule your belly here. Seafood lovers will swoon at the long list of fish, molluscs and crustacea to order at this fair-weather restaurant in a beach resort north of Gallipoli. The surroundings are basic, the service brisk and the food simple, but who cares with seafood this fresh, washed down with a plastic cup of cold white wine. The local ricci(sea urchins) are particularly good. Expect long queues in summer.
• Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, Lido Conchiglie, +39 0833 208601, no website, three courses from €20
• Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo, Lido Conchiglie, +39 0833 208601, no website, three courses from €20
Ryanair flies from Stansted to Brindisi from £68 return. Lecce station is the southern terminus of the Adriatic Railway, with direct trains to Milan (trenitalia.com). More information from (viaggiareinpuglia.it)
