By Ashley Casorio
There are trips you take to see a place and then there are trips that become part of your family story. Our recent trip to Puglia was the latter.
To celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, they took my husband and me along with my brother, his wife and their two children to spend a week together in southern Italy. We rented a house in the countryside near Ostuni surrounded by olive trees and within easy reach of some of Puglia’s most beautiful towns. Having a home base gave us something I think we all appreciated: plenty of space and time to simply be together.
We explored Ostuni, the famous “White City,” wandered the seaside streets of Monopoli and visited Polignano a Mare where limestone cliffs drop dramatically into the brilliant blue Adriatic.
One of the things I loved most about Puglia was that even in the height of summer, it never felt overwhelmingly crowded. The towns were lively and restaurants were busy but this was not Amalfi Coast-style tourism where you can find yourself shoulder to shoulder with other visitors. We always managed to find a parking spot when we drove into town for dinner and we heard surprisingly few American accents. Puglia is certainly no secret, but it still feels like a place to visit now before American travelers truly discover it.
In Bari, we ate our way through the city on a food tour, sampling local specialties like panzerotti, those delicious fried pockets filled with tomato and mozzarella. But the runaway winner was spaghetti all’assassina, a unique Bari dish where spaghetti is cooked directly in a spicy tomato sauce until parts become crispy and charred. It was outrageous in the best possible way and easily one of my favorite things I ate all week.
We switched things up one day and headed to Puglia’s Ionian coast for a private boat charter from Porto Cesareo. We spent the day swimming in turquoise water and cruising along the coastline with a stop near the wonderfully named Punta Prosciutto.
Another day brought us to Lecce, where we wandered through winding pedestrian streets lined with elaborate Baroque architecture, little shops and lively piazzas. It was one of those places where the best plan is really no plan at all. Just walk and see where you end up.
Some of our best meals were the ones we didn’t have to leave home for. One evening a local pizzaiolo took over our outdoor wood-burning oven. He turned out what felt like an endless parade of pizzas, nearly 20 in all, each one somehow better than the last.
But when I think back on Puglia, what stays with me most isn’t any one town, meal or beautiful stretch of coastline.
It’s sitting around the table at our house. Long dinners, glasses of wine and everyone recounting the day before heading to bed under the same roof.
Time passes far more quickly than we think it will. So, when you get the chance to go somewhere together, take the trip.
