Benvenuti in Puglia – Welcome to Puglia!

… and welcome to the Puglia home page.  Here are the pages for this unique zone in Southern Italy, closer to Greece than to Rome.

• Arriving in Puglia – On the whole, modern travel is very uneventful, bordering on the boring. But there is still something special about arriving in a new destination.  If you fly to Bari and want to go down to the Salento peninsula, you could take the motorway. Or of course, you could take the old road by the sea and find some lunch … read more
• Eating and drinking in Puglia – Like all Italian regions, Puglia is intensely proud of its local produce, from land and sea, and of its own dishes. Whether you eat in a friend’s home, in a famous restaurant or a newcomer, the food is wonderful – simple, fresh, healthy and, at times, beautiful to look at one.  Read more
• The Salento Peninsula – Literally a hot-bed of winemaking from the local varieties, Primitivo and Negroamaro, among others, in the heel of Italy.  A land with an ancient viticultural tradition, great estates, modern co-operatives and exciting new ventures. The featured wineries include Leone de Castris, Due Palme, Racemi, Cantele, Morella and Li Veli.  Read more

• Racemi – the colours of soil: The Primitivo grape has made it home on the Salento peninsula, close to the sea and on semi-barren land in which only olives, vines and Mediterranean scrub thrive. Racemi has perfectly understood the difference that the varying soil types make to Primitivo and produce fine contrasting wines from Puglia’s best-known grape variety: read more

• Valle d’Itria – an island of whites in a sea of reds: When you visit quality-minded wineries in Puglia you might get the impression that the whites are third-class citizens, after the reds and the rosés.  But there are interesting whites to be found from local varieties, Verdeca, Bianco d’Alessano and more, Fiano and Greco from neighbouring Campania, not mention Chardonnay of course.  Amid the great red zones, the Valle d’Itria, between the Salento peninsula and the Murgia, is the only region with a special vocation for whites – and some of the finest olive trees in Puglia.  Read more

• Murgia – making wine on the low limestone hills: This area of central Puglia is less well known than the Salento but perhaps even more exciting, led by the emerging Primitivo of Gioia del Colle (where the grape variety was first selected) and especially Nero di Troia, Puglia’s most underrated red star.  Featured wineries include Polvanera, A Mano, Torrevento, Rivera and Rasciatano.  Read more

• Daunia – quality on the northern plain: The flat plans of northern Puglia are chiefly known for providing bulk wine at low prices. But, just to prove that quality can be achieved even in this situation, Alberto Longo has demonstrated that if you work hard in the vineyard and in the winery, you can produce consistently excellent wines across a large range. Plus features on D’Araprì, Puglia’s leading classical method sparkling winemaker and on Teanum, producers of typical wines of the Foggia province and of Puglia, in general, Read more
• Wild flowers in the Puglian spring: Puglia has so much to offer in the spring – great architecture, empty spaces and quiet inland roads, and of course Mediterranean spring flowers. We stopped for about 20 minutes on a journey across the low hills of the Murgia and were rewarded with a visual feast. Read more, or rather, see the photos