Culture and Cuisine in Puglia - A Scenic Road Trip from Fasano to Lecce

Nine days through Puglia and across into Basilicata, built around food rather than monuments, though it collects a fair number of those along the way.

Savelletri di Fasano gets three nights and the cooking course that sets the tone: it starts in the masseria’s own vegetable garden, picking what will be cooked, which is the right way round. Masserie are fortified farmhouses, built when this coast was raided regularly, and a good many have been converted into hotels without losing the thick walls and courtyards.

Ostuni follows with a private tour and an olive oil tasting. It is called the White City because the entire old town is lime-washed, stacked on a hill above olive groves that run to the sea. Puglia produces a substantial share of all Italian olive oil, so a tasting here is not a gimmick.

Matera then gets two nights, over the regional border. Its Sassi are cave dwellings cut into a ravine and lived in as family homes until the 1950s, when the government cleared them as slums; they have since been restored and listed, and the rock-cut churches inside them keep Byzantine frescoes. Lecce follows for the Baroque, with the facade of Santa Croce as its high point, then Gallipoli, a working fishing town, Santa Maria di Leuca at the very heel, and a final night in Otranto. Original Travel include the hire car, accommodation, the cooking course and private tours, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. Flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 2,900 to 3,950 pounds per person.