Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
comes a huge party, with
sagre
(festivals, usually involving food), concerts and events,
and thousands of Italian tourists heading down here for their annual break.
PUGLIA ON YOUR PLATE
Puglia is home to Italy's most uncorrupted, brawniest, least known vernacular cuisine. It has evolved from
cucina
povera
- literally 'cooking of the poor' or peasant cooking: think of pasta made without eggs and dishes prepared
with wild greens gathered from the fields.
Most of Italy's fish is caught off the Puglian coast, 80% of Europe's pasta is produced here and 80% of Italy's
olive oil originates in Puglia and Calabria. Tomatoes, broccoli, chicory, fennel, figs, melons, cherries and grapes
are all plentiful in season and taste better than anywhere else. Almonds, grown near Ruvo di Puglia, are packed
into many traditional cakes and pastries, which used to be eaten only by the privileged.
Like their Greek forebears, the Puglians eat
agnello
(lamb) and
capretto
(kid).
Cavallo
(horse) has only re-
cently galloped to the table while
trippa
(tripe) is another mainstay. Meat is usually roasted or grilled with aro-
matic herbs or served in tomato-based sauces.
Raw fish (such as anchovies or baby squid) are marinated in olive oil and lemon juice.
Cozze
(mussels) are pre-
pared in multitudinous ways, with garlic and breadcrumbs, or as
riso cozze patata,
baked with rice and potatoes -
every area has its variations on this dish.
Bread and pasta are close to the Puglian heart, with per-capita consumption at least double that of the USA.
You'll find
orecchiette
(small ear-shaped pasta, often accompanied by a small rod-shaped variety, called
stras-
cinati
or
cavatelli
), served with broccoli or
ragù
(meat sauce)
,
generally topped by the pungent local cheese
ricotta forte
.
Previously known for quantity rather than quality, Puglian wines are now developing apace. The best are pro-
duced in Salento (the Salice Salentino is one of the finest reds), in the
trulli
area around Locorotondo (famous for
its white wine), around Cisternino (home of the fashionable heavy red Primitivo) and in the plains around Foggia
and Lucera.
History
At times Puglia feels and looks Greek - and for good reason. This tangible legacy dates
from when the Greeks founded a string of settlements along the Ionian coast in the 8th
century BC. A form of Greek dialect (Griko) is still spoken in some towns southeast of
Lecce. Historically, the major city was Taras (Taranto), settled by Spartan exiles who
dominated until they were defeated by the Romans in 272 BC.
The long coastline made the region vulnerable to conquest. The Normans left their fine
Romanesque churches, the Swabians their fortifications and the Spanish their flamboyant
baroque buildings. No one, however, knows exactly the origins of the extraordinary 16th-
century conical-roofed stone houses, the
trulli,
unique to Puglia.
Apart from invaders and pirates, malaria was long the greatest scourge of the south, for-
cing many towns to build away from the coast and into the hills. After Mussolini's seizure
of power in 1922, the south became the frontline in his 'Battle for Wheat'. This initiative
