A masseria, new-harvest olive oil, and the long light of Puglia
Puglia is the Italy of white towns, silver olive groves and two seas. Here is what a stay in a masseria is really like, and when to taste the new oil.
Puglia occupies the heel of Italy, a long region of white towns, silver olive groves and coastline on two seas. It has become better known in recent years, but it still moves at its own unhurried pace, especially away from the peak summer weeks.
The characteristic place to stay is a masseria: a fortified farmhouse, often centuries old, set among the olive trees. Many have been restored as small hotels or let to a single party, with thick whitewashed walls, quiet courtyards and a pool cut into the stone. Staying in one, you are inside the working landscape rather than looking at it from a distance.
Olive oil is central to the region, and the most interesting time to visit for it is the autumn harvest, when the new oil — olio nuovo — is pressed. Tasted fresh at the frantoio where it is made, it is peppery and green and unlike anything sold in a supermarket months later. A visit at harvest time turns a simple ingredient into a highlight.
The towns are the other pleasure. Ostuni gleams white on its hill; Lecce is worked in soft golden stone into some of the most exuberant Baroque in Italy; the Valle d'Itria is dotted with trulli, the conical dry-stone houses found nowhere else. Distances are short, and the flat southern light is generous well into the evening.
If you would like to visit Puglia, consider the shoulder seasons and, if you can, the autumn harvest. A masseria among the groves is the natural base, and the region's mix of coast, food and architecture rewards a longer, slower stay.