Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Porta Nova
( 0831 33 89 83;
www.ristoranteportanova.com
;
Via G Petrarolo 38; meals €45)
This restaurant has
a wonderful location on the old city wall. Revel in the rolling views from the terrace or re-
lax in the elegant interior while you feast on top-notch local cuisine, with fish and seafood
the speciality.
MODERN ITALIAN
$$
Information
Tourist Office
( 0831 30 12 68; Corso Mazzini 8; 9am-1pm & 5-9pm Mon-Fri, 5.30-8.30pm Sat &
Sun)
Located off Piazza della Libertà; can organise guided visits of the town in summer
and bike rental.
Getting There & Around
STP buses run to Brindisi (€2.30, 50 minutes, six daily) and to Martina Franca (€2.30, 45
minutes, three daily), leaving from Piazza Italia in the newer part of Ostuni.
Trains run frequently to Brindisi (€4, 25 minutes) and Bari (€9, 50 minutes). A half-
hourly local bus covers the 2.5km between the station and town.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Lecce
POP 95,000
Historic Lecce is a beautiful baroque town; it's a glorious architectural confection of
palaces and churches intricately sculpted from the soft local sandstone. It is a city full of
surprises: one minute you are perusing sleek designer fashions from Milan, the next you
are faced with a church - dizzyingly decorated with asparagus column tops, decorative
dodos and cavorting gremlins. Swooning 18th-century traveller Thomas Ashe thought it
'the most beautiful city in Italy', but the less-impressed Marchese Grimaldi said the
facade of Santa Croce made him think a lunatic was having a nightmare.
Either way, it's a lively, graceful but relaxed university town packed with upmarket
boutiques, antique shops, restaurants and bars. Both the Adriatic and Ionian Seas are with-
in easy access and it's a great base from which to explore the Salento.
