Tuesday, 10 September 2013

September in Puglia: 5 things you shouldn’t miss!



Puglia is always marvellous, but in September milder temperatures make visiting the region even more pleasant. Joining Flavours cooking holidays will give you the chance to explore the region, watch the real ongoing Apulian life, and make eating al fresco even more relaxing. Here are 5 things you should not miss in September in Puglia, and remember that Flavours always has a cooking holiday ready for you to go on!

1) Admire The Tree of Life in Otranto’s Cathedral: the so called Albero della Vita is a beautiful 12th century mosaic that stretches 16 meters, one of the largest in Europe. The Tree of Life shows human experience from the Fall to Salvation, and the scenes depicted come from various backgrounds: scenes and characters from the Old Testament but also from medieval chivalry, without excluding figures from medieval bestiaries and characters from pagan myths. The ambiguous symbolism of the mosaic fascinates and divides scholars (and non-scholars)… and we are sure it won’t fail in fascinating you too!

2) Take the Apulian habits! Start at the beginning of the day and have breakfast with a strong espresso or a good cappuccino with a delicious pasticciotto pastry! What is a pasticciotto? Check out its story and recipe here! Treat your self with a real Apulian breakfast, you know how it works… in Puglia do as the Pugliesi do!
 
3) Visit the distinctive Apulian buildings Trulli! Trulli are dry stone cone-roofed little buildings that were first constructed as storehouses, temporary field shelters or also as permanent dwelling by rural people and agricultural workers. These peculiar buildings can be found all over Salento. In the cone you can often find symbols painted (manly religious ones). Legends say that one of the reasons for having dry stone trulli was to have a trick ready in case of emergency…
Why? Because by taking just one stone from building the trullo collapsed and the landlords, who demanded people to pay for dwelling in his properties, would think that it was just a simple heap of stones! We don’t know if this is true, but we do know that the trulli really are worth visiting!
 
4) Puglia is famous for pottery. The handmade ceramic production is original and sometimes unusual: lamps, platters, candlesticks, bowls, ornamental pieces and lots of traditional objects are some of the many unique pieces that Apulian artisans meticulously work over with passion. Go to visit one of the botteghe to see how they make all these distinctive objects!


5) Last but not least… try homemade Orecchiette pasta: YUMMY! This ear-shaped pasta is probably the most well-known dish from Puglia and an all time favourite of many guests on our cooking holidays. Orecchiette are a great classic that cannot be missing from your personal cooking notebook nor in your belly (two things that Flavours cooking holidays always fill!)

So this September enjoy Puglia with Flavours Cooking holidays!




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