Flavours of Apulia - 8 days Food&Wine tour

Eno-Gastronomic wonders of Apulia - English only 8 days tour

It is said that Apulia region is the house of the fine living.
A land sun-blessed and lapped by crystal clear waters.
A red earth, scattered with centuries-old olive trees and dry-stone walls.
Authentic, outgoing and hospitable.
Here the past is everywhere: it emerges in its own identity, in its culture, in its flavours.
It actually seems it’s impossible to wave goodbye to Apulia region once you’ve eaten at its table. 

This travel program is a hymn to the Apulian enogastronomic culture, an itinerary developed between iconic symbols and Michelin-starred restaurants, breathtaking scenarios and excellences of the tradition. 

In Apulia region food narrates, connects and build: it is never a bracket, never a side-dish, never excessive: it’s something that completes.

 Here we’re offering an exclusive and sophisticated experience, 8 days between Starred dinners, tasting and typical flavours.

Small Group Tour - English Only 

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrival in Apulia Region,Polignano a Mare 

Arriving in Apulia region. Private transfer from Bari Airport,  our guests will be welcomed in a typical Apulian Masseter, a charming place with an unique and sophisticated style. Our first stop will let you discover the home-town of Domenico Modugno, Polignano a Mare, well known for its cliffs overlooking the sea and for its charming old town.
A journey between an historical architecture, balconies dropping sheer to the blue and poems written on stone-walls, finishing with the well-known “chaff speciale “, an excellent invention made in Polignano : a ritual greeting made of coffee, sugar, lemon peel, cream and Amaretto of Saronno. We will then come back to our Masseria for our dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2 - Alberobello, lunch at EVO Restaurant, Wine Tour 

A breakfast in our Masseria with zero-km local products opens our day-2 of this tour. Our first destination is Alberobello, part of the UNESCO’s World Human Heritage thanks to its millenary history. Wandering through its Trulli, extraordinary examples of dry-stones dwellings, will give the opportunity to our guests to dive into the magical atmosphere of a unique town. Lunch-time: tradition, experimentation, study and attention to the details. In one word : EVO. Winner of “ 4 Ristoranti “ ( an Italian TV cooking show ), it’s the perfect place where you can taste the essence of the South of Italy : the raw materials of this territory, the restaurant kitchen garden
and apulian wines coming from small local producers make this restaurant an unquestionable yet unforgettable stop.
In the afternoon our guests will discover an historic apulian winery. A family history who started in 1882, surrounded by oak barrels and hectares of vineyards. With an oenologist, after visiting the vineyard, we will see the old barrels area, a charming underground cellar where you can discover the various phases of the vinification.
At the end of the visit we will taste 3 different wines : Primitivo, Negroamaro and Malvasia.

Day 3 - Cooking Class in Masseria,Dinner overlooking the Sea 

It’s time to get your hands in the dough, for real ! Our guests will reach a charming Rural Masseria surrounded by centuries-old olive trees
where, with a pastry board, an apron and a rolling pin they will challenge themselves to make orecchiette and cavatelli pasta, thanks to the expert hands of the Chef. This pasta, flavoured with traditional sauces, will be served to our guests as long as a variety of excellences from our territory. In the afternoon: free time in our resort.
OPTIONAL: our guests could book an equipped beach close to Monopoli / Capitolo . Our day ends in Monopoli, a maze of narrow alleys smelling of the sea, with votive shrines, fishing nets laying under the sun, flower-filled balconies and a blinding whiteness. Our dinner will take place in Lido Bianco restaurant: pottery from Grottaglie and large glass surfaces overlooking the sea welcome us in this microcosm of beauty where you could entirely live, breathe and taste the sea. The Bini family offers an all-embracing experience, supported since ages from Giovanni, who sorts the fish catch, and from Florinda, irreplaceable landlady always cared even in the smallest details

Day 4 - Matera city tour, Dinner in Polignano a mare 

 Breakfast in our Masseria and departure for Matera, discovering the town of the “ Sassi” on a “ Calessino “. European Capital of Culture in 2019 and part of the UNESCO’s Human World Heritage, Matera jealously guards its past hollowed out in the rock, made of natural caves once called home.
Fragrant, scented and genuine: it’s the bread from Matera, PGI symbol of the town. After a tasting in a well-known bakery our guests will reach the famous restaurant of the Starred chef Vitoantonio Lombardi in a cave of the “Sassi“ district where you can live an experience out oftime, exclusive and unforgettable.
Free time in the afternoon. Our day ends in Polignano a Mare with a dinner suspended between sky and sea. Nestled in one of the most evocative and attractive places in Polignano, Terrazza Monachile restaurant is an exclusive unconventional location where a good cooking and a fantastic panorama are perfectly blended.

Day 5 - Bari, street food and starred dinner in Putignano

Bari, the land of the street food. Our fifth day lead our guests discovering a city who is both elegant and popular : its soul is divided between the exquisite streets of the Murat district and the narrowed streets of the old town. The Petruzzelli Theatre, the Saint Nicolas Basilica and the Norman-Swabian castle are only some of the unmissable stops in “ Bari Vecchia “ before diving into the well-known “ orecchiette street “ and tasting “ sgagliozze, focaccia and panzerotti “, as long as very famous beer here for the “ Baresi “.
In the afternoon we will go back to our Masseria. In the evening our guests will reach Putignano for a dinner in the restaurant of Angelo Sabatelli, Michelin-starred Chef. Talented and brilliant, Sabatelli will welcome us with his technical cuisine which enhances our territory also with a great choice of Spumante wine and Champagne

Day 6 - Ceglie Messapica, Lecce dinner on a roof garden 

Breakfast in our Masseria and departure for Ceglie Messapica, town of art and land of gastronomy. After the visit of its wonderful old town, full of buildings of the 18th century, our guests will taste the well-known biscuit of Ceglie, an almond-paste pastry stuffed with cherry or grape jam. For their lunch our guests will reach one of the most famous restaurants of Ceglie, Cibus, located in an old convent of the 15th century. Its stone-walls rooms, with their white-washed arcades, houses the kingdom of Lillino Silibello, a kind and genuine person with a thorough knowledge of the cuisine and the enogastronomic traditions of his own territory. Cibus is not only a restaurant but also a place for knowledge : Lillino has always seen his work like this, considering the food not just a source of pleasure but also a key to understand the culture and the history of a place. In the afternoon we will reach Lecce with its wonderful baroque architecture made of local stone.
In the afternoon our guests will take time to discover the city and do some shopping before reaching the Roof Garden of The Risorgimento Hotel for our dinner. That’ s a 5 star hotel from where you can let yourself go to the gourmet selection created by the Chefs Mario Carlino and Alessandro Cisternino, who reinterpreted the culinary specialities and the flavours of the Salento area with typical zero-km products.
The location is an ideal place for a wonderful view above the old town, its buildings and the bell-tower of the Cathedral. 

Day 7 - Otranto, tasting in Lecce, Dinner in a Medieval tower

Breakfast in our hotel and discover of Otranto, the eastern town in Italy. Our visit starts in its old town, paved with stone, part of UNESCO’s Culture of Peace Heritage, deeply immersing ourselves in the absolute beauty of the mosaic made by Pantaleone in the Cathedral, in the byzantine Saint Peter church and in the Aragonese castle. Back to Lecce, after a guided tour of the city, our guests will reach a well-known bakery in the city centre for a tasting of the “ pasticciotto leccese ”, a shortcrust pastry filled with cream baked in a hoven.
The dinner of our last evening is located in a medieval tower : Torre del Parco, built in 1419, is one of the most important and rare buildings of the late-medieval era in Lecce. The beauty of its rooms and the preciousness of the gastronomic offer lend to conclude in the best way this exclusive trip discovering Apulia region and its flavours

Day 8 - Departure 

Breakfast in our hotel and departure.Transfer to Bari Airport  Depending on the time of your flight, visit of Brindisi or Ostuni

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• Private bus for all the duration of your trip 

• Transfer In/out 

• 5 nights in Masseria Borgobianco ( or similar ) 

• 2 nights in Risorgimento Hotel ( or similar ) in Lecce 

• Daily Breakfasts 

• 2 dinners in Masseria Borgobianco ( or similar ) close to Polignano a Mare 

• 1 dinner in Risorgimento Hotel Roof Garden 

• English speaking tour guide for the whole tour 

• Tasting of Caffè Speciale / ice-cream / granita ( slush ) in Polignano a Mare  

• Lunch in a restaurant in Alberobello
  

• Visit of a winery: its production area, its new cellar, its ancient barrels area, and tasting with 3
  wines 

• Cooking class with, an english and italian speaking Chef, lunch 

• 3 Dinners at local restaurants 

• Visit of a cave-church in Matera 

• Visit of a bakery in Matera and Tasting of PGI bread 

• Lunch in a Starred-restaurant in the Sassi of Matera 

• Dinner in a Starred-restaurant in Putignano

• Street food in Bari 

• Lunch in Ceglie Messapica 

• Lecce city tour and Tasting of the “ pasticciotto leccese “ 

• Farewell Dinner in a medieval tower 

• A present for each guest

Not Included : 

Drinks at meals 

Visitors city taxes 

Anything not mentioned in “ The fare includes “ 

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Notes: 

- Small group tour max 14 guests 

. Minimum group size 8 

- Monolingual Tour English only