Highlights of Puglia

(9 Days - Departs Daily on a Private Basis)
Otranto, Lecce, Savelletri di Fasano

Puglia—the boot heel of Italy—is one of the country’s best-kept travel secrets. On this leisurely tour, stay at stylish resorts inside masserie (ancient fortified farmhouses) and experience Puglia’s rich cultural heritage of undiscovered towns, white sand beaches and wonderful food and wine. Begin in Otranto, an ancient port, former Greek colony and Italy’s easternmost town. Stay two nights at the Masseria Montelauro, a cozy, converted farmhouse. You might like to visit Otranto’s Byzantine church, 11th century cathedral, and 15th century castle, browse the shops along the cobblestone streets of the old town, or stroll along quiet beaches.

Next, drive to Lecce, Puglia’s cultural capital, and stay two nights at the Patria Palace Hotel. Visit the town’s most famous landmarks—a Roman amphitheater, and Baroque churches and palaces built of ornately carved limestone. Taste local wines such as Primitivo (a Zinfandel relative) and Negroamaro at an enoteca (wine store). Shop for locally produced wrought iron goods, or relax at chic cafes and watch the town’s beautiful youth on their daily passeggiata (stroll).

Continue to Savelletri di Fasano to stay four nights at lavish Masseria San Domenico, a whitewashed 14th century watchtower set amid olive groves and orchards on the edge of the blue Adriatic Sea. En route, visit the “White City” of Ostuni, a tumble of whitewashed buildings. Enjoy day trip through countryside scented with Mediterranean pines to explore interesting towns and historical sites nearby. In Alberobello, walk among hundreds of limestone trulli—beehive-shaped dwellings—stopping inside to shop for locally produced handicrafts. Visit the archaeological ruins at Egnazia—an ancient Roman site with stone roads, mosaic floors and an early-Christian church. Visit Locorotondo, a hilltop town encircled by tall white houses with peaked roofs, and the Baroque town of Martina Franca, the “City of Wine.” Further afield are the forests of the Gargano Peninsula and the troglodyte dwellings of I Sassi di Matera (in the neighboring region of Basilicata). During leisure time, opt to have a treatment at the hotel’s thalassotherapy spa, or lounge in the seawater swimming pool or at the private beach.