Lecce & Puglia

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Italy | Puglia

Lecce & Puglia

Puglia, on Italy’s heel, has ‘Le Murge’ and in the south the

Gargano Promontory coastlines along the Adriatic dry Salentine peninsula.

Barletta Trani Molfetta PUGLIA and Ionian Seas. The landscape Steeped in myths and legends, Puglia’s Bari Polignano a Mare Andria Egnazia history dates back to the civilisation of the Alberobello Fasano varies dramatically from scenic Brindisi Magna Grecia. The region has many splendid Locorotondo Ostuni Cerrate Taranto Lecce mountains, oak and beech BASILICATA Martano cathedrals and ancient sites including the Porto Cesareo Otranto Castel del Monte in Andria – the most Giurdignano forests and unspoilt beaches Gallipoli extraordinary of all Puglia’s castles; The Greek in the north to the fertile and Roman ruins of Egnasia; The Norman Tavoliere plain. The centre gives Cathedral in Trani and the Baroque buildings and Roman amphitheatre of Lecce, dubbed way to an undulating plateau ‘Florence of the South’.

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Molfetta

Alberobello Castel del Monte Otranto Molfetta, Trani This UNESCO World Heritage site is Located in Andria, this 13th Visit the 11th century Cathedral and Barletta home to a dense concentration of century citadel and castle was with its mosaic floor of the ‘tree of Molfetta, the first of a trio of port trulli cottages with cone-shaped roofs constructed for Emperor Frederick life’, intertwining Norman, Greek and towns north of Bari, has a walled (dating from 15th-18th centuries) and II although no-one actually lived Byzantine ideas of fate. The Chapel medieval centre; Trani is dominated one of the best preserved urban areas in it. This fascinating hexagonal- of the Dead displays skulls and by a grand Romanesque cathedral; of its type in Europe. shaped castle is protected as a bones of local martyrs. and Barletta has a third-century UNESCO World Heritage site. bronze colossus.

34 | Sunvil 020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Main image: Ostuni Italy | Puglia Pugliese Cuisine Puglia has an excellent cuisine and is an important producer of olive oil, olives and almonds. Bread comes in hundreds of varieties including taralli - a kind of Italian pretzel, softened with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped tomatoes.

Marè Resort, Trani This charming hotel is set in the historic Accommodation: 13 rooms including centre of Trani just opposite the port classic rooms and junior suites. with its colourful fishing boats and • Airports: 42km Bari / 180km Brindisi seaside promenade. The Marè Resort, • 4-star hotel housed within the Palazzo Telesio - a • Bed & Breakfast grand 18th century building, has a • Coastal town location rooftop terrace with panoramic views • Complimentary WiFi where guests can dine on the local • Restaurant cuisine at the Terrazza restaurant. The hotel also has a fascinating collection of Guide price from £979 per person* coaches belonging to the Telesio family since 1956. Guests can walk or cycle to the nearby beaches.

Borgo San Marco, Fasano Borgo San Marco, a fortified masseria Accommodation: 19 air-conditioned set within 450 acres of cultivated land rooms including standard rooms, and olive groves, is the family home of a junior suite and suites. Alessandro Amati, a major producer • Airports: 60km Bari / 50km Brindisi of extra virgin olive oil. The owner has • Agriturismo retained many of the features of the • Bed & Breakfast original buildings, including vaulted • Complimentary WiFi ceilings, arches and the original, local • Restaurant stone ‘Pietra di Lecce’ flooring. This • Rural location charming property offers intimate • Swimming pool guestrooms, simply furnished and • Spa decorated with antique pieces, in quiet and refined surroundings. The sandy Guide price from £1,057 per person* beaches are within a 2km drive.

Covo dei Saraceni Hotel, Polignano a Mare The Covo dei Saraceni occupies Accommodation: 32 air-conditioned a dramatic, cliff-top location on a rooms, in the main hotel, including promontory above a sandy cove across classic rooms, superior rooms and suites. which on another rocky promontory is • Airports: 55km Bari / 79km Brindisi the whitewashed town of Polignano a • 4-star hotel Mare. The historical centre of Polignano • Bed & Breakfast Suite spans the period from the Middle Ages • Complimentary WiFi to the Baroque. Views from terraces and • Restaurant the restaurant are spectacular. This is a • Sea front location very friendly hotel in an ideal location from which to visit the baroque town of Guide price from £905 per person* Lecce, the trulli of Alberobello and Matera and the Castellana caves.

* Guide prices based on 2-sharing a leading room type (7 nights), flights from London Gatwick to Bari (other airports on request) and car hire. Note: We cannot guarantee that any of our featured properties are suitable for all levels of disability so please ask if you have specific issues. Please visit our website for further information on these and other featured properties.

020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Italy | 35 Italy | Puglia Ostuni Ostuni is a melee of white-washed buildings perched strategically on top of a hillside with panoramic views of endless olive trees in the Valle d’Itria countryside.

Ostuni Palace Hotel, Ostuni The Ostuni Palace, a recently Accommodation: 34 air-conditioned, renovated building, is set in a quiet traditionally furnished, elegant rooms location but only a 10 minute walk including standard rooms, romantic from the historic centre of the town. rooms and junior suites. This is a very friendly, comfortable and • Airport: 44km Brindisi / 100km Bari traditional hotel and a perfect base • 4-star hotel from which to view the many palaces, • Bed & Breakfast and churches within the town and to • Complimentary WiFi relax in the cafes and eat in the many • City location restaurants. At 207 metres above sea • Restaurant (Bistro) level and 8km from the coast, Ostuni • Spa commands a dominant position over the surrounding countryside and sea. Guide price from £1,046 per person*

Deluxe Room Naturalis Bio Resort & Spa, Martano Naturalis Bio Resort & Spa is situated Accommodation: 8 air-conditioned in the Salento peninsula between rooms including deluxe rooms, junior Lecce (25-minutes drive) and Otranto suites and a junior suite superior. (20-minutes). This fabulous organic • Airports: 75km Brindisi / 195km Bari farmstead has an old Masseria that has • Agriturismo been beautifully restored to provide • Bed & Breakfast a high standard of accommodation. • Complimentary WiFi The rooms are large and impeccably • Restaurant decorated with a distinct country • Rural location feel. It is surrounded by several citrus • Swimming pool orchards (oranges, clementines and • Spa lemons), olive groves, herb gardens, wheat fields and a small vineyard Guide price from £1,063 per person* where they produce their own Negroamaro wine.

Tenuta Monacelli & Masseria Giampaolo, Cerrate Set within 835 acres of ancient, for relaxing, hiking, walking and timeless olive groves, bordering the horseback riding along Natural Park of Bosco e Paludi di sandy beaches. Rauccio and 2.5km from the white Accommodation: 24 air-conditioned sand beaches of Casalabate and rooms including standard rooms, Torre Rinalda (8km), are the twin, superior rooms, junior suites and suites. 15th century, fortified farmhouses of Monacelli and Giampaolo. Separated • Airports: 29km Brindisi / 145km Bari by a three minute walk and set in • Agriturismo pretty gardens, the farmhouses • Bed & Breakfast feature high vaulted ceilings, ancient • Complimentary WiFi artefacts, comfortable rooms and an • Rural location excellent restaurant. Personally and • Swimming pool passionately run by its owners, this Guide price from £1,142 per person* is a wonderful setting and perfect Junior Suite

* Guide prices based on 2-sharing a leading room type (7 nights), flights from London Gatwick to Brindisi (other airports on request) and car hire. Note: We cannot guarantee that any of our featured properties are suitable for all levels of disability so please ask if you have specific issues. Please visit our website for further information on these and other featured properties.

1036 | Sunvil 020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Italy | Puglia Glorious Beaches Some of the finest stretches of beach curl around the southernmost tip of Puglia between the charming towns of Otranto and Gallipoli.

Il Palmento Hotel, Locorotondo Located in the heart of Valle d’Itria, Accommodation: 26 rooms including Il Palmento is surrounded by a a standard room (in the Masseria), trullo picturesque, rural landscape brimming classico suites and trullo storico suites. with colourful wild flowers, weathered • Airport: 75km Brindisi / 80km Bari olive trees and rolling hills covered • 5-star superior hotel with impressive vineyards. The • Bed & Breakfast property is made up of traditional • Complimentary WiFi trulli houses with thick, white stone • Restaurant walls and characterful conical roofs. • Rural location Each unit is tastefully furnished with • Swimming pool modern facilities and offers a high • Spa standard of accommodation. Guests can explore the area with its many Guide price from £1,156 per person* interesting historic towns or sunbathe on golden sandy beaches. Trullo Classico

Patria Palace Hotel, Lecce The Patria Palace is a prestigious Accommodation: 67 air-conditioned hotel housed in a fabulous 17th rooms including standard rooms, century palazzo in the heart of deluxe rooms, a superior room and Lecce. This historical building, junior suites. overlooking the fabulously ornate • Airports: 45km Brindisi / 163km Bari Baroque façade of the Basilica of • 5-star deluxe hotel Santa Croce, is located in a small • Bed & Breakfast square close to all the important • City centre location monuments of the city. The hotel • Complimentary WiFi still retains some of its original • Restaurant features including vaulted ceilings and carved balconies. The bedrooms, Guide price from £1,196 per person* each with original decorative paintings, offer comfortable lodgings with modern facilities.

Tenuta Centoporte Resort, Giurdignano (Otranto) Tenuta Centoporte is an attractive Accommodation: 37 air-conditioned resort, surrounded by century-old rooms including standard rooms, classic olive groves typical of the Salento rooms, superior rooms, superior deluxe countryside, and located between rooms and a suite. the coastal town of Otranto and • Airports: 93.7km Brindisi Giurdignano, an attractive town / 209km Bari Classic Room known for its dolmens and menhirs. • 4-star hotel This modern and elegantly styled • Bed & Breakfast hotel offers spacious guestrooms, • Complimentary WiFi fine dining amongst the olive trees • Restaurant and provides a glorious base from • Rural location which to explore the bucolic south • Swimming pool with its pristine sea hugging the • Spa nearby coastline. Guide price from £1,249 per person*

020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Italy | 37 Italy | Itinerary

*Guide price based on 2-sharing includes: • Flights from London Gatwick to Bari Departures (other airports on request) Daily • 10-days car hire Duration • 3-nights Marè Resort, Trani BB 9 nights • 3-nights Borgo San Marco, Fasano BB Guide price from • 3-nights Patria Palace, Lecce BB £1,301 per person*

Otranto

Alberobello Alluring Puglia Itinerary: 10 days / 9 nights

Puglia, which forms the heel of Italy’s boot, the Adriatic Sea. The park offers good walking trails on the southwest coast of Puglia. This seaside resort is the long, narrow region of southern Italy and cycle routes; a glimpse of hundreds of species is famous for its 17km of golden sand beaches. of animals including deer, foxes and birds; and the bordering the Adriatic Sea and the regions Day Nine: Day at leisure. Drive to Otranto (48km) majestic beaches at Peschici and Vieste. of Basilicata, Campania and Molise. Beautiful on the east coast of the Salento peninsula. It has beaches, secluded coves, fields of olive and Day Four: After breakfast, drive south to Fasano a bustling seafront and many architectural gems citrus groves, Baroque towns, whitewashed (106km) and the Borgo San Marco. This fortified including the 15th century Castello Aragonese villages and fascinating conical-shaped trulli masseria is set within 450 acres of cultivated land and the Cathedral. and olive groves – the owners are major producers houses are just some of the many attractions Day Ten: Drive to Bari airport (163km) for your flight of extra virgin olive oil. to be discovered in the region. home. Day Five: Day at leisure – visit Alberobello (17km), Day One: Arrive at Bari airport, collect your hire car inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Home to and drive to your hotel in Trani (41km). more than a thousand trulli houses – whitewashed, conical shaped buildings built centuries ago as homes Day Two: Day at leisure. Explore the historic city and tool stores, and typical to this region. of Trani. Formerly a prosperous trading centre with a large mercantile and Jewish community, Day Six: Day at leisure – spend time bathing on the Trani was important enough to compete with the Adriatic coast (2km). Mile upon mile of wide sandy domineering Venetians in the 14th century. beaches are within easy striking distance. Day Three: Day at leisure – Head north to the Days Seven & Eight: Days at leisure. Spend a day Gargano National Park (207km / 2 hours 20-minutes) exploring Lecce. Affectionately known as the ‘Florence which contains several protected areas such as the of the South’ due to its many Baroque buildings, Lecce Marine Reserve of the Tremiti Islands. The Gargano has a Roman amphitheatre, more than a hundred promontory consists of a wide mountain massif made churches and palaces and several designer boutiques. up of highlands and several peaks, projecting into Spend the next day at Porto Cesareo (65km), located

Lecce

1038 | Sunvil 020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Italy | Itinerary A Taste of Apulia (Guided Tour)

Itinerary: 5 days / 4 nights

Take a chauffeur driven tour of Puglia and below the town were dug out to create caves, many Baroque buildings, Lecce has a Roman Basilicata, steeped in Etruscan and Greek used for housing, storage and stabling. These cave amphitheatre, more than a hundred churches and sites. You will have the expert guidance areas, where the poorest local peasants lived, fill a palaces and several designer boutiques. The city’s of official guides in Lecce and Matera narrow valley and run along the side of the gorge heyday was when it was part of Spain in the 17th (nominated as the European Capital of itself. Matera was used as a film location for Mel century and the noblemen, merchants and religious Gibson’s ‘The Passion of Christ’. Afternoon at leisure. orders of the city competed with each other as to Culture for 2019) and experience some of Overnight stay at Grand Hotel Olimpo, Alberobello. who could build the most palaces. Carved from the the most interesting historic towns and local golden sandstone, the exuberant architecture Day Three - Itria Valley (Full Day): After breakfast, villages in Puglia including Alberobello looks like a sumptuous theatrical set. Lunch you will be chauffer driven through the Itria Valley, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Ostuni and Lecce. included. Afternoon at leisure. Overnight stay at to the picturesque Locorotondo – known as one Patria Palace Hotel, Lecce. of the most beautiful villages in Italy; Cisternino, Day One - Alberobello: Arrive at Bari airport, meet a medieval walled city where you can stroll back Day Five: Transfer to Bari airport for your flight back and greet by your personal driver and transfer to through time on worn, stone-paved lanes between to the UK. your hotel in Alberobello. ancient palaces, towers, shops and homes that are Alberobello is a UNESCO World Heritage site and mostly still in use today; Ostuni, the old citadel is home to a dense concentration of Trulli limestone built on top of a hill surrounded by ancient walls Martina Franca cottages with cone-shaped roofs built between the and is commonly referred to as the White Town mid 15th and late 18th centuries. It is one of the (Città Bianca) for its white walls and white-painted best preserved urban areas of its type in Europe. architecture; and the baroque Martina Franca, Overnight stay at Grand Hotel Olimpo, Alberobello. the pearl of Valle d’Itria, a hilltop town whose historical centre is surrounded by stone walls, with Day Two - Matera (Half Day): After breakfast, pick prominent baroque gates that lead to piazzas and up from your hotel and depart for Matera (c.70 narrow medieval streets. Lunch (included) will be minutes’ drive / 70.3km), a UNESCO World Heritage at a farmhouse where the region’s celebrated olive Site. The town centre, the oldest part of town, was oil and wine will accompany your meal. Overnight built on the edge of a bare plateau where a high stay at Patria Palace Hotel, Lecce. rocky mount looms over the spot where a valley descends to the long deep river-ravine. This is where Day Four - Lecce (Half Day): Today you will have a you will find the cathedral and the typical Italian half day guided walking tour of Lecce. Affectionately town centre. As time passed, the rocky valley slopes known as the ‘Florence of the South’ due to its

*Guide price based on 2-sharing includes:

• Flights from London Gatwick to Bari (other airports on request) • 2-nights Grand Hotel Olimpo, Alberobello BB • 2-nights Patria Palace Hotel, Lecce BB • Private transfer on arrival (Day 1) • Matera half day (3 hours) guided tour (Day 2) • Valley d’Itria full day (8 hours) guided tour (Day 3) • Lunch in a Masseria – excluding drinks (Day 3) • Lecce half day (3 hours) guided walking tour including a light lunch (Day 4) • Private transfer on departure (Day 5) • Note: Entrance fees to local sites are not included • Prices for larger groups on request

Departures Daily (Mar-Oct)

Duration 4 nights Guide price from £1,376 per person* Itria Valley 020 8758 4722 www.sunvil.co.uk Italy | 39