Puglia & Basilicata: Lecce, Alberobello & Matera

Arrive at the airport for your flight. On arrival, we transfer by coach to the four-star Hilton Garden Inn in Lecce for three nights. This fine modern hotel is a short walk from the Old Town and features a restaurant, bar, outside terrace and spa. Its elegant rooftop swimming pool (open in the summer months, weather permitting) has panoramic views over Lecce. 

Lecce is known as the ‘Florence of the South’ for good reason – its architecture is outstanding and around every corner are buildings of beauty and interest waiting to be discovered.

Our walking tour will begin at the imposing Porta Napoli gate, where we’ll meet our local guide. From there we’ll explore the vibrant Jewish quarter before taking in the Basilica di Santa Croce. A remarkable example of creativity, this Baroque church has an intricate facade, and there are so many beautiful details in the stonework you could lose hours gazing at them.

The tour continues through the Old Town, rich with history, and we’ll pause at a bank that has more to its history than money – it was once used to store olive oil. Another surprise awaits at the picturesque Piazza Sant’Oronzo, a bustling square set on the site of a partially exposed Roman amphitheatre. Built in the 2nd century, the amphitheatre seated over 25,000 people and it’s possible, looking down across the sweeping bleached stone seating, to envisage crowds gathering two millennia ago to enjoy all sorts of entertainment.

We’ll then amble down shop-lined streets to the elegant Piazza Duomo, where Lecce’s cathedral awaits. Built in 1144, its imposing exterior is only matched by its breath-taking interior featuring 12 side chapels containing paintings by a variety of artists. 

This afternoon you are free to explore. Lecce hums with life with a distinctly southern Italian feel, so soak up the ambience of its streets, relaxed cafés and refined boutiques while taking in all its baroque magnificence. In the evening, we’ll dine in an excellent restaurant, once a Roman granary, where you can enjoy the local cuisine.

Today we’ll head further south to Gallipoli, known as 'Città Bella' or 'beautiful city' thanks to its striking beauty. It has twin souls: part fun, coastal town with sandy beaches, part historic centre with a quaint old town encased in defensive walls, with a robust 13th-century fortress on its eastern edge that's protected the lovely little town for centuries.

With free time to explore you could wander the labyrinthine streets stumbling on impressive Baroque churches and aristocratic palazzi - a testament to the wealth of its Golden Age as a trading port. Perhaps you'll stroll along the sea-front promenade with wonderful views out to the Ionian Sea. Or, you could simply soak up the atmosphere whilst enjoying a refreshing beverage or local fish dish. 

Later, we’ll leave Gallipoli, heading back towards Lecce, stopping at a local winery. Italy is known as the ‘Land of Wine’ - with over 4,000 years of winemaking experience it’s ingrained within the culture – and our visit is the perfect place to find out why. We’ll learn about the importance and precision of winemaking in this region and, of course, enjoy tasting of some local wines whilst reflecting on your time in Puglia so far. 

Puglia is renowned for its olive oil production and, as we travel this morning, we’ll see olive trees everywhere in the region. Olive oil is known as the ‘liquid gold’ in Puglia, and the region has been producing high-quality, extra virgin olive oil - known for its fruity flavour and vibrant green colour - for thousands of years. So, of course, we’ll stop to visit a small, family run olive oil mill and find out more about olive oil production and enjoy a tasting. 

Continuing our journey, we’ll arrive in Alberobello. This entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is known as the capital of trulli - whitewashed stone huts with conical roofs, Puglia’s signature dwellings. Remarkably, some parts of Alberobello are almost exclusively composed of these historic structures, creating an otherworldly feel – no wonder some compare it to a ‘hobbit’ town. For many, this is a highlight of the tour, and we’ll have time to explore, discovering how trulli were built, their intriguing origins and why many are adorned with Christian, pagan or celestial symbols.  

We’ll then continue to Matera, where we stay four nights at the four-star UnaHotel MH Matera. 

This morning, we’ll take a guided tour of Matera, home to one of the first permanently inhabited places in Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage site: the Sassi Cave Houses. These troglodyte cave dwellings, dating back over 9,000 years, are located at the heart of Matera - astonishingly, people still live in them today. Matera also has everything you would expect in a conventional town, including churches, shops and artisan workshops all hewn from the naked rock. There aren’t many places on earth where you can walk along a street that is the roof of the house below? 

This afternoon you can return to the hotel to relax – the perfect opportunity to sun yourself by the pool. Or if you wish you can explore Matera further. This gives you more time to visit its many fascinating buildings – the 13th-century Romanesque cathedral is well worth your time.  

Nestling on the Adriatic, Bari was a thriving walled port even before the Romans arrived and was briefly the capital of Byzantine Italy. During Norman times it was thought to be as significant as Venice.

This morning, we’ll have a guided tour of the Old Town where there is so much to discover, such as the imposing medieval fortress and the massive Romanesque cathedral with its 11th-century frescoes, while opera lovers may know that Bari is home to the magnificent Teatro Petruzzelli.

For many, though, the focal point is the Basilica di San Nicola, whose 900-year-old vaulted crypt is the final resting place of Saint Nicholas, Patron Saint of Russia – better known to us as Father Christmas. 

This afternoon is free for you to explore Bari at your leisure. As you wander the city’s tightly knit streets, look down its side streets to take in other aspects of traditional life, from shops displaying freshly caught sea bass, cuttlefish or lobster to stalls creaking under the weight of locally grown olives, tomatoes and peppers, and families eating meals with their windows and doors open. Here and there, you may come across chattering matriarchs sitting outside their doorsteps making, hand-rolling and cutting different types of pasta, a practice unchanged through time.

Leaving Bari, we’ll head back to Matera. 

The entire day is at leisure to continue your discovery of magnificent Matera. Stroll along the streets of the Sassi of Matera taking in the views and the history of this UNESCO World Heritage town, sit and enjoy a coffee whilst soaking up the ambience, visit the underground of Matera or perhaps spend the day making the most of the hotel’s facilities before returning home tomorrow.

This evening, we’ll dine at a local restaurant in the centre of Matera where you can reminisce about your holiday in Puglia with your fellow explorers - the perfect way to end what we hope has been a wonderful week.