Beautiful beaches, azure blue sea, pretty towns, spectacular nature - the heel of the boot offers variety and a summer feeling in the fall. Here are the best tips for your vacation in Puglia!
"Azzurro" - the oldie by Adriano Celentano haunts my head as I blink lazily from the beach lounger. Was it this incredibly intense blue sea that inspired the Italo bard's unforgettable rendition? Dive into myself, it seems to whisper to me. And so I stroll through the butter-soft, fine sand into the water, which is still at a wonderful temperature even now in September, and let myself drift with a view of the wild, rugged cliffs of the Adriatic. A vacation in Puglia really does offer pure relaxation!
Sandy beaches on every corner
A vacation in Puglia offers fantastic views: Over 700 kilometers of coastline on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas surround Puglia at the very bottom of southern Italy. And sandy beaches without end - sometimes kilometers long with a Caribbean feeling, sometimes in small and large bays in front of rocky cliffs, even almost every coastal town has its own beach right by the center for a little refreshment in between. This can be quite necessary in the oven-hot summers. Autumn is a pleasant time for a vacation in Puglia - still warm enough for a relaxing swim, but also mild enough for exploring.
The original trulli roundhouses
No vacation in Puglia is complete without the famous trulli, the whitewashed round houses with a "pointed roof". Even on the way to Alberobello, we notice some of the little houses that look like white Smurfs. But above all, we are captivated by the vast olive groves. Gnarled old trees that tell of their long life and still provide the fruit for what is said to be Italy's best olive oil.
We make a spontaneous stopover in Fasano at the "Masseria Maccarone" estate. We are a little too early for the November harvest, but we get to taste the delicious cold-pressed extra virgin oil from the previous year and learn that there are at least 70 million olive trees in Puglia.
We admire a few more of them on the onward journey to Alberobello. The trulli have been spruced up to perfection, gleaming white and densely packed along the alleyways. Many of them are now interconnected and house souvenir stores, galleries and cafés. We like to treat ourselves to another specialty of the region here: delicate, creamy almond ice cream.
Puglia: Holidays in the "white city" of Ostuni
What a contrast to the trulli is Ostuni, which we visit the next day. We spot the "white town" from afar. Like little white Lego houses close together, it spills out onto a hill a little inland. In the narrow streets and stepped alleyways that lead to larger squares, we are soon immersed in typical southern Italian everyday life: elderly gentlemen chatting on the steps, housewives haggling at the window displays of small stores, children running through the alleyways, the cozy aroma of espresso wafting from the bars and trattoria tables in the squares being prepared for the evening rush...
The baroque town of Lecce
A similar hustle and bustle awaits us in Lecce - albeit against an opulent Baroque backdrop. Countless flower tendrils and figures adorn the city palaces, church façades and the towering Basilica of Santa Croce. We soon no longer know where to look first amidst all the splendor.
Gallipoli and Otranto
There are two more towns to visit on a vacation in Puglia: The picturesque Gallipoli, which is surrounded by thick city walls on an island directly off the coast of the Ionian Sea, also invites you to take a stroll. A bridge leads to the city. And Otranto with its cathedral, where you can admire a mosaic covering almost 1,600 square meters. Let's do it all next time - the beach beckons: "Azzurro..."