The tires of our e-bikes rested on the cobbles of what we imagined was an old imperial road. Our early morning cycle had wound up through the meadows and canopies of a nature reserve carved out along the banks of the Tiber River in central Italy. A long stretch of road opened revealing veils of mist rising above the bends of water below.

As the road turned steeper still and narrowed, a 13^th century castle with hill towns in view just behind it hinted at the medieval history around us, of struggles between barons and popes.

This is Lazio, a slice of Italy with all the archaeological, culinary, natural and romantic trappings you might expect but, for now at least, without the crowds.

Lazio, Italy: Wide Open

“Where is Lazio?” a friend asked when we first spoke of setting off on this trip.

Despite having visited Italy well over a dozen times since we married (in Tuscany), we knew little about Lazio prior to this project, one initiated by Thybris River Experience and funded by Lazio Region, one intended to craft new guided e-bike itineraries in the region.

If you felt the need to place yourself in the geographic center of Italy, you might not imagine Lazio, the regional home to Italy’s capital Rome. But it’s about where you’d be.

As our guide Giorgia unspooled her stories, she hinted that Lazio was pressed between the ritualized Etruscans to the north in Tuscany and the free-wheeling Bourbon-influenced provinces of southern Italy. In all ways, Lazio seems to teeter in between these worlds.

She also explained the word Lazio was derived from the Latin word latus meaning “wide.” While this referred to the low-lying areas around Rome, the idea of Lazio as “wide open”, including for exploration, grew on us as we spent more time. Much of what we experienced felt relatively undiscovered from a tourism perspective.

From the well-preserved ancient echoes of Ostia Antica to the modern psychic imprint of Italian film greats and philosopher-poets like Pier Paolo Pasolini, this part of northern Lazio might bear a label that reads “greater Rome.” Yet our daily experience was more expansive. It featured hill town espresso breaks, hidden sculpture gardens, migratory bird hides, and overnights in restored villas, all punctuated with random encounters and mid-afternoon noshes on pastas turned in local products and paired with local wines.

Developing guided e-bike itineraries in Lazio

Our journey through Lazio included ten days' worth of e-bike rides in three distinct areas, each within about an hour's train ride from Rome. The goal of these three itineraries, which our involvement and feedback will help refine, is to enable travelers to engage with lesser-known hill towns, protected areas, cultural curiosities and historical sites in Lazio Region along the Tiber River as it winds its way from north of Rome, through the city and out to the Tyrrhenian Sea on Italy's west coast.⁠

The two- and three-day customizable trips connect travelers to still relatively unknown areas near Rome in a way that celebrates local communities, artisans and experiences.

Core to these guided tours are the concepts of sustainability, community, and a focus on all things local, including accommodation, guides, food, transport and providers. Although all destinations noted here can be accessed via other methods of transport, e-bikes featured as our primary mode of transport together with an occasional regional train. The aim: to maximize local benefit and minimize environmental impact.

Across three multi-day itineraries in Lazio, here are just some of the people and places you might encounter.

A big thanks goes to Giorgia Cadinu, a dynamic professional guide in Rome and cycling enthusiast. She initiated this project and shared her curiosity and passion for the Tiber River and Lazio Region with us all along the way. If you wish to book or customize any of the following guided itineraries, contact Thybris River Experience. Note that the website may refer to the tours as Pomona (Tuscia and Teverina), Bona Dea (Tevere Farfa Reserve and Nazzano), and Leucotea and Egeria (Ostia Antica, Fiumicino, and Isola Sacra into Rome) lands respectively.

1. Tuscia and Teverina: hill town and villa life

Just an hour outside Rome by train are the Tuscia and Teverina districts of northern Lazio on the border of Italy's Umbria and Tuscany regions. Despite the accessibility of these districts to the capital city, you'll find what feels like a completely different world — one defined by rolling landscapes, wine farms, and a spread of palazzi and manor houses which harken back to barons whose designs for power may have conflicted with a pope or two.

Explore the hill towns of Tuscia in Lazio by e-bike

While Tuscany and Umbria are famous for their hill towns, you’ll find the beauty of medieval hill towns with melodic names like Civitella d'Agliano, Celleno, Roccalvecce, Sippiciano and Vitorchiano perched high above the Tiber River valley in Lazio.

But these destinations come without the crowds, for now at least.

One of the benefits of traveling by e-bike from hill town to hill town around the region is the opportunity to appreciate the contours and changes in landscape, as well as the subtle shifts in character of the towns and townspeople along the way.

From forest to rolling hill to volcanic farm, our cycling journey from one destination to another delivered some of the most memorable and most photogenic experiences of the day.

Trebotti Wine Farm: Taste volcanic wines from a fully sustainable winery

While many wineries today have only just begun to focus on sustainability, Trebotti winery in the hills of Tuscia has made sustainability core to its family-run operations for over 20 years. During a tour, you'll see this considered in every detail: the (re)use of an ancient Etruscan cellar to store its sparkling wines, the choice to grow only indigenous grapes on its volcanic soils, the use of lightweight glass bottles, and an elaborate self-regulating air circulation system to reduce energy consumption. The goal of all this is to operate sustainably, to live up to the wine's organic label, to manage environmental impact and to find balance with nature.

If anyone wished to understand what sustainability looks like in detailed operation, this wine farm would be a great place to start.

Federico, our host, summed it up well: “To be sustainable is to respect the land.”

Our wine tasting featured five wines paired with homegrown produce and homemade bites, enjoyed overlooking the Trebotti vineyards below.⁠ Sample the local Grechetto, a white wine varietal you'll likely become familiar with on your visit to the Lazio region. We sampled a rose and orange wine, both of which paired nicely with semi-dried tomato confit, crostini and local cured sausage.

Finally, we tasted two red wines, including our favorite Gocce Rosso made from Violone, the local Lazio name for the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo varietal. This paired with a 72-month aged caciocavallo cheese and homemade salted chocolate nocciola red wine crema proved an astonishing way to conclude a tasting.

La Serpara: Find the hidden sculpture garden

For over 25 years the artist Paul Wiedmer and his wife Jacqueline have invited artists to find inspiration in nature and to harness the creative spirit at their home-atelier tucked in the hills near the town of Civitella d'Agliano. Today, La Serpara is open for private visits.

You can enjoy a guided walk around sculpture gardens and bamboo forests dotted with modern art installations and take in the story of the site and the works that various artists-in-residence have created over the years.

Civitella d'Agliano: craftsmen bicycles and castles

There seems to be no trade or service that couldn't be delivered on the back of a bicycle in early- to mid-20th century Italy. Knife sharpener, priest, portrait photographer, mattress cleaner, hairdresser, obstetrician. These are just a few of the professions, together with their customized, elaborately outfitted bicycles, that form the private collection at Il Mulino dei Mestieri (The Mill of Craftsmen) in Civitella d'Agliano.

Alessia and her husband Daniele have spent over ten years collecting, repairing and lovingly restoring their collection of antique craftsmen bicycles. This snapshot of 20th century village trade history is now on display in a local mill. As Alessia showed us around and demonstrated kits of each bicycle, it was remarkable to see how every step, tool and feature of each service or trade was carefully integrated into bicycle construction.

If you are a bicycle-bound obstetrician, a baby's life depends on it!

Delivery services today seem to have nothing on the early 20th century blend of ingenuity and efficiency. And certainly nothing of the personality.

Celleno: Il Borgo Fantasma

The town of Celleno, known today as Il Borgo Fantasma (the “Ghost Town”), had been a vibrant, living hill town for over 1000 years until the mid-20th century when a string of earthquakes and landslides rendered it a dangerous place to live. However, each time the authorities tried to clear inhabitants from their homes and move them elsewhere, they returned. It was their home after all.

Eventually, in the 1950s, the authorities demolished most of the old town buildings. Hence, Celleno became a ghost town where only the ruins of buildings remain.

Some of the surviving medieval structures have recently been transformed into an open air museum and a series of historical exhibitions. One features a collection of 20th century sound and recording devices, while another antique and artifact exhibition is built around a multi-story medieval trash tunnel dating back 800 years. These “medieval trash heaps” as they are called are fascinating, not least of all because they give pause and make one wonder what story will one day be drawn from all the trash we currently generate.

Celleno, beautiful and intriguing, offers a fascinating story of of rescued history.

A taste of Tuscia, with a view at San Rocco Restaurant

San Rocco Restaurant, in the inhabited “new town” of Celleno, lies just outside the rampart walls of the ghost town and focuses on local Tuscian fare. Note that's not Tuscan fare, but Tuscian fare from the local region including hill towns like Celleno and the nearby city of Viterbo.

We were fortunate since our visit coincided with the porcini harvest. In-season porcini mushrooms were picked fresh from the forest off in the distance below our lunch terrace. Lunch also included rabbit stew, gnocchi in cime di rapa (broccoli greens) and a plate of stewed fagioli (beans). We opted to pair it all with a local Lazio Pinot Grigio called Satres from Le Lase vineyards. The orange hue in the glass? From 24 to 48 hours of contact with the skin of the grape.

Stay in the restored 18th century Villa Lais

One of the most memorable highlights of this itinerary was our 3-night stay at Villa Lais just outside the town of Sipicciano. Maddalena, the artist proprietor of Villa Lais, purchased this 18th century compound almost ten years ago and has lovingly renovated it over the ensuing years.

Ceilings and walls of inlaid wood illustrated in muted yet dazzling color mesmerize with detail, line and story. The tableau is rich yet not gratuitously busy or overdone. Maddalena's careful eye for design shows in everything, from the furniture to the wine glasses used at dinner, to create a feeling of living history and continuity to the villa's past that feels in no way contrived.

Another characteristic that makes this place feel like home are the four dogs and ten cats who are always ready to greet you when you return from a day of countryside exploration.

Sacro Bosco, the 16th Century “Park of the Monsters”

Sacro Bosco (“Sacred Forest”), also affectionately known as Park of the Monsters, is more firmly on the tourist path than most other destinations we visited in Lazio. But we kind of understand why. The park and its sculptures were commissioned in the mid-16th century by Prince Pier Francesco Orsini as a way to express his grief due both to the untimely death of his wife and the weight of the brutality he had witnessed in war.

Featuring a collection of large stone sculptures depicting fantastic and often disturbing creatures all scattered about in a forest just outside the hill town of Bomarzo, the park was a bit ahead of its time in its vision and anticipation of the need for exhausting one's grief. Despite the fairly steep price of individual admission (13€) and the park's undeniable commercial feel, it might still be worth a look.

2. Tevere-Farfa Reserve and Nazzano: nature, hill towns and art

Our exploration of Lazio continued further along the Tiber River in and around the Tevere-Farfa Natural Reserve. This is the place where the Tiber River environment takes center stage in the experience. Landscapes are green and the pace is reflective, despite the area only being an hour northeast of Rome by train.

Hill towns feature again, but they serve as the backdrop for natural surroundings like swimming wild boars, as well as moments of contemporary culture and artistic flourish, and a surprising lesson in modern history.

Canoeing the Tiber River

The bends of the Tiber River in open green space define the Tevere-Farfa Natural Reserve. Landscape is defined by texture, including hillsides of exposed volcanic tufa rock. Castles seem to keep watch atop the nearby hills overlooking the river valley. Wildlife make their way about. For the first time, we encountered wild boars swimming, making their way from one side of the river to the other.

When we did our paddle, we encountered grey herons and egrets, and various birds pausing as they make their way southward.

Eat farm-to-table at La Fattoria Campo di Contra

As we lounged and noshed farm-to-table with Mauro, founder of La Fattoria Didattica Campo di Contra, we found our table refreshed multiple times with simple dishes fashioned from produce fresh from his organic garden and goods sourced from nearby farms and producers.

Over conversation about life in the region, we enjoyed a range of small plate treats like zucchini flower fritters sided with honey made by bees who snack on local resin, antipasto locale, grilled melanzane (eggplant) and peppers, and fresh bean salad. And Mauro served all of it with his rather quaffable homemade wine.

With our meal as the object lesson, we could feel the vision Mauro has for his land and for helping to connect visitors to nature.

Medieval hill towns and castles to explore

Hill towns featured again in our travels across the Tiber River valley, including one of our visual favorites, Nazzano. It's the one you'll see from below in the Tevere-Farfa Nature Reserve. Historically, we imagined it high up and cliffside in order for its minders to eye the Tiber River below as it flowed with goods into Rome.

As we dreamily perused listings posted inside windows of real estate agents in Nazzano we wondered what it would be like to set up shop, restore one of these buildings and actually live here.

In other hill town stops, we enjoyed beer and snacks in a piazza (and got invited to lunch), took espresso breaks with locals enjoying the morning sun and did things like snack-slurp suppli di telefono, a warm croquette so-called because its mozzarella is so oozy it stretches like telephone wire.

Hike and cycle the trails of Tevere-Farfa Natural Reserve

Tevere-Farfa Natural Reserve is the first protected area in Lazio Region.  When we first entered the park, we found ourselves clearly in the thick of nature. The sun was low and peeked through the trees, casting light and shadows on the more curious members of the local boar families lurking about.  

Between boat rides and canoe trips, we took gentle strolls and and cycled much of the trail that winds itself around and through the bends in the Tiber.

Ecoturismo Tevere Farfa, built on the site of the old organic farm cooperative, is the only accommodation in the park itself and served as our base. Home to a curious cast of characters including a donkey and a sheep who enjoys giving head butts, it functions also as an educational and community gathering center.

Ponzano Romano: Enjoy a conversation with a local artist

Though most of Michele Longo's working years were spent in Rome directing films and mixing it up in cafes with the likes of Pasolini, he now focuses his time painting and creating mixed media art in his apartment studio in the hill town of Ponzano Romano. Surrounded by plants and fruit trees on his sunny veranda, we enjoyed a conversation with him over Cornettino di Ponzano Romano (a savory crisp croissant twist dashed with anise, extra virgin olive oil and glazed just slightly sweet) and demi-tasses of espresso.

Longo's passion is palpable, as is his concern for what he sees as the deterioration of societal elements that support the development of creativity. We appreciated his pithy wisdom and spirit at 82-years young. We also discovered his secret to “creative fermentation” along the way. Hint: it's not about virtual interaction.

Ponzano Romano is also known for its contemporary art museum, which was unfortunately closed at the time of our visit due to a change in exhibitions. However, if you take note of Longo's observation that Ponzano Romano is a more creative city than Rome, the museum is likely worth a look.

Bunker Soratte: Go deep in the WWII and Cold War tunnels

Just when you think you've seen it all in terms of WWII and 20th century military history, you walk into this place and one jaw-drop follows another as history bends the mind again.

Marvel at the scale of Bunker Soratte, Mussolini’s mega-bunker tunnel complex atop Mount Soratte and near the town of Sant'Oreste. Apparently sensing the winds of war, Mussolini ordered it carved into the mountains by Italian engineers. After its construction from 1937 to 1939, and due to Il Duce’s loose hubristic lips, the bunker was squatted by Nazi Germany thereafter and run by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring as the Supreme Command of the South.

Later during the Cold War, the four kilometer tunnel network would become a nuclear fallout shelter for officials in the Italian government.

Site lore makes the place even more intriguing. One story tells of the allied bombing of the bunker (that deliberately spared the nearby town) with the help of a local engineer who communicated intelligence and guidance signals via a transmitter hidden in a birdcage. (Does that make him “the bird man” of Sant'Oreste?) And the lost, stolen Nazi gold? That one begs a miniseries.

The whole thing is pretty sobering too, once you overcome the fascination. Some reflective time out for an espresso or the drink of your choice should follow in the friendly little town of Sant'Oreste nearby.

Fondazione Serpone: art, nature and a surprising chapel

The sculpture garden and outdoor art installations at Fondazione Serpone in Torrita Tiberina are made available by way of a private family collection open to the public (by appointment). Each of its artist-donated pieces is carefully considered and positioned throughout the grounds of the hillside property.

Together, the pieces delight in playful, subtle ways. The subtlety ends, rather deliberately, upon opening the door to the chapel installation executed by Austrian philosopher-artist Hermann Nitsch. What might be considered the centerpiece of the property and its installations, the chapel's interior offers a surprising and challenging interpretation of the spiritual. And the chapel is blessed by the local bishop!

Ecofattorie Sabine: terrace lunch on an organic farm

After all that movement and cycling, uphill and down, a bit of restoration and stock-taking is required.

Ecofattorie Sabine in Poggio Mirteto offers an ideal location for a meal before catching the train to Rome. The farm is right there, so everything is fresh, but so is the train station, so you can roll onto the train after your meal.

For lunch, we shared honey-bathed ricotta; gnocchi with pumpkin cream, sheep cheese, sage and crouton crumble; pici pasta with walnut pesto and stracciatella; cicory greens ripassta and an autumn salad. With our meal, we enjoyed a Lazio Tragugnano Orvieto DOC from Sergio Mottura vineyard, an organic white wine blend featuring, again, the Greccheto varietal.

III. On Rome's Edge: Ostia, Fiumicino, and Isola Sacra

Everyone knows of Rome, the Eternal City, for its deep history and archeological wonders. However, not too far out of town in the direction of Fiumicino airport lies a handful of remarkable sites that often go unnoticed. ⁠ If you are looking for even more impressive history and ruins without the crowds, check out Ostia Antica and Portus, two nearby Tiber River gateways for commerce and exchange during the Roman Empire.

These lesser known archeological ruins speak to the development and growth of Rome and form the cornerstone of a kind of “Rome you never knew” experience. To connect past to present, our itinerary also included encounters with passionate local people and projects highlighting the link between community, history and nature in and around the surrounding communities of Fiumicino and Isola Sacra.

Ostia Antica: The ancient Roman Empire…just outside Rome

Stroll the ancient streets, homes, theater and businesses of the once thriving ancient city of Ostia, known today as Ostia Antica. Although this site does not garner the attention (or crowds) of the top-tier archeological sites in nearby Rome, nor trigger the kind of emotion you might experience at Pompeii, the evidence of what life was like in this town some 2000 years ago astonishes due to its remarkable state of preservation. Marble-topped bars? Ostia Antica had them. Street food stalls? Those too. Maybe that's why Ostia Antica is considered among Rome's first colonies despite its proximity to Rome itself.

Portus (The Port of Claudius and the Harbor of Trajan)

Just down the road from Ostia Antica in the direction of Fiumicino (home to Rome's airport FCO) lies Portus and the Archaeological Area of the Imperial Harbours of Claudius and Trajan. Imagine the bustling ancient city of Portus while strolling the stone-quiet ruins of the Port of Claudius (42 AD) and Harbor of Trajan (100 AD).

Today, this archeological site is 3 km from the Mediterranean coastline, making it difficult to imagine that 2,000 years ago this artificial, hexagon-shaped harbor was fully submerged and served as Rome's main port to the Mediterranean Sea.

Goods arriving by sea were unloaded at the port and harbor, then transferred to smaller boats on the Tiber River to take to Rome. This configuration allowed Rome access to the Mediterranean Sea along with a layer of protection.

Portus grew in such size and importance that it received the status of an independent city in the 4th century. However, history consigned the port to disuse. Much of it remains undiscovered, quite literally underground, so one can only imagine what lies underneath the airport and the nearby towns of Fiumicino and Isola Sacra.

Explore the ancient tombs at the Necropolis of Portus

If you wish to understand the ancients, understand how they honored, buried and stored their dead.

The Necropolis of Portus in Isola Sacra is a vast cemetery dating from the 1st century A.D. Although the well-off at the time could afford mausoleums and tombs whose epic mosaic floors remain intact even today, workers from the Roman port and harbor and tradesmen of various crafts were relegated to packed burial niches and much tighter quarterage.

The site is absolutely worth a visit. The necropolis and its surroundings combines the tranquility you'd expect from a burial site with the wonder and story of a cache of archaeological ruins offering a glimpse into the lives and livelihoods of those who helped build the surrounding history.

Eat and drink local in Fiumicino

For lunch on the Tiber River near a marina in Fiumicino, we enjoyed 4112 – QuarantunoDodici Restaurant, a more laid back bistro version of the Michelin-starred Il Tino restaurant upstairs

Resisting an urge to try everything on the menu, we reined it in and opted for a palate cleansing starter, the merluzzo (salted codfish) and red beet carpaccio dashed with raspberry vinegar. Appreciating the scratch pad of the seven local species of fresh fish on offer, we shared a whole sarago, a kind of Mediterranean bream not to be confused with either branzino or orata. Distinct, tasty and light. We went bold and paired it all with a Fioranello Bianco from Lazio.

When we were in Fiumicino poking around the Port of Claudius and Harbor of Trajan, we stopped by nearby Bioagricola Traiano for lunch. The restaurant is located on the edge of its organic garden, chicken hut and bee hives so you can imagine the source of many of the ingredients you see on the regularly changing menu.

We opted for a couple of appetizers and pasta dishes, including fried polenta over cicoria greens and homemade pasta with zucchini pesto. Meals are visually appealing and tasty enough, but portions are big and hearty so beware of over-ordering as we did.

Meet a local historian at Museo della Cultura Contadina

⁠Past and present come together at the Museo della Cultura Contadina in Isola Sacra. Our host, Oswaldo, shared the history of the area and how it had been transformed from a swamp — they literally drained the swamp — into a productive tract of agricultural land during the early-to-mid-20th century.

He is one of the few remaining descendants who still lives there. Through the museum he works with the community to preserve the story of the establishment of the area as an economic development opportunity and enticement to Italian World War I veterans from around Italy to settle and work the land after the world wars.

Check out the Pietro Micca steam tugboat

Along the Tiber River as it readies to spill into the Tyrrhenian Sea, Giulio, the passionate owner of the Pietro Micca steam tugboat, keeps a piece of maritime history and heritage alive to illustrate the evolution of technologies and energy use.

The Pietro Micca dates back to 1895 and has known many incarnations, including its original role as a tugboat, then support ship for an American military base in Naples. Most recently it served as a traveling, floating modern-day sustainability education program run by Giulio and his family.

Although the operations of the ship are not currently sustainable since its steam is generated by diesel, Giulio remarks that “we need to remember and understand where we were and are [in terms of sustainability and energy] to know where we're going.” In fact, his vision of sustainable evolution for the ship includes its eventual conversion to electric power. That would be something.

Birdwatch at LIPU Oasis and witness the regeneration of nature

Two decades ago, Alex Polinori of LIPU Oasis (Centro Habitat Mediterraneo Ostia) set off to turn a garbage dump into a suburban oasis and a thriving home for migratory birds. Since then, he and his team have planted over 7,000 trees and helped reclaim a patch of once disregarded wetlands that now attracts a fast-growing list of migratory bird species and local wildlife.

LIPU Ostia is a case study in natural land reclamation and regenerative tourism. If you are bird enthusiast, it's worth the effort to time your visit with that of the visiting birds' migratory patterns.

To optimize the atmosphere of the wetlands, it's only possible to watch the birds through two bird hides. The hides provide birdwatchers an opportunity to enjoy the birds in their natural environment without disturbing them. Depending upon the time of year you may see an unusual and wide array of birds and water fowl including flamingos, pelicans, rare Europeans duck species, woodpeckers, and more.

Sentiero Pasolini and Regina Ciclarium: A return to Rome

From Ostia and the coast, human civilization yields again to nature. As it does, reeds and thickets have been cleared along the hand-marked Sentiero Pasolini (Pasolini Path). Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose name comes up often throughout the itinerary, was a prolific poet and film director, perhaps most well-known for his film Mamma Roma (1962). For the first-timer, Pasolini is difficult to grok: in parts folk, suburban, spiritual, philosophical, and wary and weary from his time in the war. Controversial, thoughtful. And unfortunately, a voice snuffed out by murder (and some say assassination) in 1975.

The Pasolini Path yields to the Regina Ciclarium as it winds its way through the suburbs of Rome, by street art caches, and over and around old bridges and Tiber River infrastructure from the Roman Empire. The paths, for cyclists and hikers alike, are community-maintained and in full disclosure, a work in progress.

After navigating and emerging from what felt like a time warp, we found ourselves somehow startled to be staring at the Roman Colosseum. From there, we wound our way further past the imposing yet human scale of history, through to more polished neighborhoods and the touristic center city Rome.

In many ways, we'd completed the cycle.

Disclosure: The experiences above were provided to us in conjunction with a Lazio Region-funded consulting project with Thybris River Experience entailing product advisory, product marketing and destination positioning. As always, the thoughts contained herein — the what, the why, and the how — are entirely our own.

The post Exploring Lazio: Off-the-Beaten Path Italy Outside Rome appeared first on Uncornered Market.

If you're thinking of visiting Puglia, Italy, but don't know where to start in planning a road trip or what to see and do in Puglia, then you're in the right place. Read on for our top recommendations on things to do, where to eat, where to stay, and places to interest in Puglia from our own road trip.

The goal: help you create your own road trip route and Puglia itinerary of 7-10 days. This little-known province in southern Italy really has so much to offer in terms of history, beautiful old towns, beaches, landscapes, colorful markets and just incredible food.

Choosing Puglia for Our Anniversary

Puglia (or Apulia), the southern Italian province referred to as “the heel of the boot” first entered my consciousness more than ten years ago when a friend from San Francisco up and moved there on the initial leg of his retirement.

In an email now deep in the archives, Will wrote: “Puglia is excellent. And by the way, not too expensive, my friend […] I have a very spacious apartment in a nice section […] excellent weather and the food almost never disappoints.”

I’ve since lost touch with my friend; perhaps Puglia was so good that it drew him in. But before it did, he planted a seed.

As our 15th wedding anniversary approached, Audrey and I considered a handful of regions in Italy in which to celebrate. While we could have returned to Tuscany, the original scene of the crime, we aimed to explore somewhere new to us. Puglia came up often, reigniting the embers of my friend’s correspondence.

Along with the neighboring province of Basilicata, Puglia would serve as the setting of a road trip to celebrate the occasion. Equipped with a rental car reservation for late September to early October and no plans other than a bed and breakfast reservation for our first night in the provincial capital of Bari, we set off with a touch of abandon and two maps – one physical, one digital.

During our Puglia travel research, we were grateful for and overwhelmed by all the recommendations we received. Particularly thanks to our Puglian friends Franca and Gianni, there was plenty to sift through. We allowed the chance twists and turns of the road — “let’s pull over here…maybe we should stop here for the night” — to serve as our sorting mechanism.

If you’ve never thought of visiting Puglia, maybe the following photos, experiences and stories can draw an image in your mind’s eye — and help you plan a trip of your own.

Andiamo!

How to use this Puglia travel guide to create your own Puglia, Italy road trip and itinerary: The following experiences are in chronological order from our own travels and road trip in Puglia, Italy. If you have 7-10 days, you can conservatively accomplish something similar (scroll down for a map of our road trip route). Or, cut back a few destinations to make the trip more leisurely and manageable. We include suggestions of notable restaurants and accommodation to help round out your travels in Puglia.

Road Trip in Puglia, Italy: What to See and Do in Puglia

1. Find your way home in Bari, Puglia by walking the medieval old town walls.

We get lost. Often. It’s a fact.

On our first night in Bari, after a long four-course meal accompanied by a carafe of Puglian wine, we got turned around on our way home and stumbled upon a ramp that took us atop the medieval stone walls surrounding the old town.

It may not have been the most direct way home that night, but it proved a beautiful and romantic diversion. The medieval old town glowed on one side of us while the Adriatic Sea lapped on the other.

“Now, why haven’t we heard more about Bari before?” Charming, alive, good food. Spend a night or two in Bari, or as we did bookend your trip with a visit there. To explore Bari even more, consider taking a walking tour through the old town.

Where to eat: Vini e Cucina, via Vallisa 23, Bari. What to eat: The standard offering, scribbled on a chalkboard, is a four-course meal focusing on seafood. The grilled pulpo (octopus) was tender and perfectly cooked. For an introduction to Puglian food, this is a good place to start.

Where to stay in Bari: We stayed close to Bari's old town and water so that it was an easy walk to the city's main sites and charming historical streets. A few hotels in Bari's old town to consider:

• San Domenico: Located in a great location on the edge of Bari's old town, San Domenico B&B has rooms with balconies.
• La Stanza Hotel: Located in Bari's old town close to the water and port, La Stanza Hotel offers rooms with a kitchenette in an old stone building.
• Il Puma Apulian Rooms: Modern and recently renovated rooms not far from Bari's old town, but convenient to the train station if you are traveling by train.
• Find a hotel in Bari that fits your budget, desired location and style on Booking.com.

2. Rise early and jog the coast along the port of Bari.

Run, jog, walk. Whatever method you choose to carry yourself, make an effort to get up early and trace the coast around Porto Vecchio. This will prove essential to your health, particularly if you’ve overdone it as we had with too many courses the night before. Not that we speak from experience…

You’ll also find fishermen stocking the seafood market from their boats, fresh from the morning’s catch. A few others choose to sell direct on the stones next to the promenade.

3. Take a photo of laundry hanging in every old town. Begin with Bari.

Everyone around the world does laundry. (Don’t they?)

In Italy, laundry unfurls like pastel banners in the breeze of medieval alleys and it dries in the warmth of Mediterranean light. Those flags of everyday life are accompanied by voices of local families.

The curtain is pulled back on Italian life and the backdrop feels cinematic. This is culture of the unofficial sort, beauty and poetry embedded in a task many of us consider mundane.

4. Meet the Adriatic Sea at Polignano a Mare, Puglia.

We confess to not going into the water here. (Later we did). However, we enjoyed watching others dodge the chop and waves and take in the fading warmth of the season by sunbathing on the rocky beach of the cove at Polignano. It’s as if they said, “I know winter is coming, but I won’t allow it. Not yet.”

This is one of three distinct views to catch in Polignano a Mare. The two others are from the opposing cliffs above.

If you want views of Polignano a Mare from the water and to get even closer to the caves and cliffs, take a 1.5 hour boat ride that takes you along the coast to visit the main caves and also offers the opportunity to take a dip. For even more time to explore the caves, go snorkeling and enjoy the views, consider this longer 3.5 hour boat ride in and around Polignano a Mare.

Where to eat in Polignano a Mare: Osteria dei Mulini, via Mulini 2, Polignano a Mare. Located just inside the old town walls. What to eat: Orecchiette di grano arso or “burnt” flour orecchiette with tomatoes, bread crumbs, anchovies + purè di fave e cicoria or pureed fava beans topped with sautéed chicory.

Where to stay in Polignano a Mare: We didn't spend the night here, but kind of wish we had as the old town is beautiful and it would have been quite stunning to watch the sun rise and set over the cliffs and water.

• Amore di Mare Casa: Located on the seafront cliff in the old town, Amore di Mare Casa has a rooftop terrace with an incredible view of the Adriatic Sea and either rooms or apartments with balconies.
• Casa Cassona: If you want to stay in the old town, but with a little more space and your own kitchen then take a look at the apartment offered by Casa Cassona. A good value especially for families as it can sleep up to five people in its two bedrooms.
• B&B Casa Dorsi: Located in a traditional building in the old town, Casa Dorsi has rooms and suites with balconies, including several with views of the sea. You'll be right in the middle of old town, and just a few minute walk from the beach if you decide to take a dip.
• Find a hotel in Polignano a Mare that matches your dates, budget and style.

5. Watch fishermen knot giant fishing nets in the port town of Monopoli, Puglia.

Although I understand that commercial fishing now dominates the world’s waterways, including in the Roman-Venetian living history museum that is Monopoli, it’s still heartening to see independent fishermen still play a role. Amidst the tiny fishing boats along the old port, watch veteran fishermen mind the knots and fix the holes in their fishing nets in preparation for tomorrow’s catch.

6. Enjoy the back streets of Monopoli during la pausa.

La pausa (“the pause”) is the Italian institution version of siesta and nap time. After the “storm before the calm” as people leave work, a stretch of stillness descends on Italian towns from noon until 4:00 PM.

We found ourselves roaming the streets of Monopoli just as the streets emptied for lunch; the remarkable old town and coastal promenades were ours almost entirely.

Magical, no?

Road trip note: Public parking is often free and more easily found during the pause since everyone has gone home for lunch. It’s an excellent time to take advantage and find a place to eat.

Where to stay in Monopoli, Puglia: We didn't spend the night here as we had already reserved a place in Lecce for the night, but as you can see from the photos Monopoli is pretty magical so we wish we had planned to spend at least one night here. We can imagine how beautiful those marbled streets would have been to wander through at night.

• Mamma Maria B&B: A good budget option right in Monopoli's old town near Porta Vecchia (old port). The beach is very close by, as is free public parking (good if you have a rental car).
• Dimora Palmiera B&B: Located in Monopoli's old town near Porta Vecchia and the beach, Dimora Palmiera's rooms have balconies and there is a nice rooftop terrace to enjoy breakfast each morning.
• Palazzo Murat B&B: Housed in a historic building in the old town, Palazzo Murat B&B has rooms that are modern in design and features, but you can still see the traditional domed ceilings and stonework. Large private bathrooms and a rooftop terrace to enjoy breakfast.
• Find a hotel in Monopoli, Puglia that matches your budget, style and schedule.

7. Stumble upon a 2nd century Roman amphitheater at night in Lecce, Puglia.

Lecce is most known for its Baroque architecture, something opulent and grand and looking as if it has just popped out of a 3-dimensional fairy tale book. This is especially true at night when buildings are lit and details laid bare.

The huge 2nd century Roman amphitheater on the edge of town reminded us of the depth of history and the many layers of civilizations buried just under our feet in this part of the world.

If you want to go deeper into the city's history and learn about its main sites, consider taking a walking tour of Lecce (1.5-2 hours) or a street food tour where you get to taste some of Lecce's food specialties while taking in the Baroque architecture and feel.

Where to stay in Lecce, Puglia: We stayed at UP Room&Suite, Via Cavour 16, 73100 Lecce which was in a good location in the old town and reasonably priced. Other Lecce hotels to consider staying in include:

• Arryvo Hotel: A modern hotel located in Lecce's old town, Arryvo Hotel is also quite social with a restaurant, bar and lobby area that sometimes includes live music.
• La Casa di Giovanni B&B: Located just a short walking distance from Lecce's old town and its major sites, La Casa di Giovanni has bright, modern rooms decorated with art.
• Le Antiche Mura: A good option in the old town if you want an apartment with a kitchen and a bit more space. Located in a historic building with original stone walls, Le Antiche Mura apartment is close to the cathedral and public parking.
• Find and compare rates at other hotels in Lecce that match your budget, travel style and schedule.

Where to eat in Lecce: Osteria Da Angiulino, Via Principi di Savoia, 24, Lecce. Local specialties, friendly owners (a few words of Italian does wonders), and reasonably priced. Be sure to call ahead and make a reservation as there is a line out the door before this popular place even opens. What to eat: We went for the traditional orecchiette con sugo alla ricotta forte — orecchiette in tomato sauce blended with strong, local ricotta cheese. Homemade, hearty and inexpensive.

8. Steal a kiss on the beach at San Foca, Puglia.

Whether or not it happens to be your 15th wedding anniversary, it’s always a good idea pull the car over along the coast, walk barefoot in the sand together, breathe in the fresh sea air as you explore, and steal a kiss.

Then repeat.

9. Walk the cliffs at Roca Vecchia and Grotta della Poesie, Puglia.

Recent archaeological finds date the ancient site of Roca Vecchia and Grotta della Poesie as far back as to the Bronze Age. Now the area serves as a popular swimming hole. The ancients apparently knew where to party. Modern Italians, too.

Go to the cliff side and watch, if you can stand it, as your fearless-of-heights wife tests your nerves by going right up to the cliff’s edge for a better view of what’s below. (Spoiler alert: A 200-foot drop and the sea.)

10. Stalk stray cats through Italy’s easternmost city – Otranto, Puglia.

During Roman times, Otranto served as an important port for all trade headed east. Nowadays, it’s known more for wide beaches and a picturesque old town overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

Unfortunately, the 11th century cathedral and its renowned mosaics were closed during our visit because of the pause. We opted instead to follow a group of stray cats who happily served as our impromptu guides.

Where to eat in Otranto: La Pignata, Via Rondachi 12, Otranto. One of the most delightful meals of our trip, including a discovery that Primitivo Rose (yes, that’s like white zinfandel) is an appropriate match for local seafood and pasta dishes. What to eat: The highlights of this meal were a starter of cozze gratinate (gratinated mussels) and Vellutata di Ceci e Fagioli con Pomodori Secchi e Gamberetti (mashed chickpeas and beans with sundried tomatoes and prawns).

Where to stay in Otranto: We just stopped in Otranto for lunch, but it does have a charming old town that would be quite beautiful to wander around in the evening and to maybe enjoy another delicious meal at Pignata.

• Profumo di Mare Hotel: In a perfect location right on the beachfront and promenade just a few minute walk from Otranto's old town, castle and cathedral. Many of the rooms have a balcony that faces the beach and sea.
• Alba ad Oriente B&B: Located very close to the old town and Otranto's Castello and Marina Beach, Alba ad Oriente has a modern room with breakfast on the terrace.
• Find a hotel in Otranto that fits your travel style, budget and schedule.

11. Soak up the coastal route south from Otranto to the tippy tip of Italy’s heel, Santa Maria di Leuca, Puglia.

In all our research prior to our trip, why hadn’t anyone told us the drive south of Otranto was so beautiful? We almost skipped the coastal route for something more direct. What a missed opportunity that would have been.

If you have a car, do this drive in southern Puglia. Take a little time, pull off the road frequently to satisfy your curiosity, breathe the air, take photos. Be sure to check out the 16th century watchtowers and elaborate, colorful 17th century Moorish palaces like Santa Cesarea Terme along the way.

12. Celebrate your 15th wedding anniversary with a sunset Aperol spritz at Torre Vado, Puglia.

There seemed no better way to end a beautiful drive along the Puglian coast than with a sunset Aperol spritz at the tip of Italy’s heel. Our trip was meant to celebrate 15 years of marriage. This moment captured us as we were and are, taking stock at an unassuming port-side cafe, sitting in plastic chairs and soaking up a perfect sunset.

Where to sunset Aperol spritz: Albergo Ristorante Pizzeria Al Porticciolo, Torre Vado. Other than the view to the sunset over the sailboats, there’s nothing spectacular about this place. Maybe that’s what made it so special.

13. Stay in a converted palace in old town Gallipoli.

When we pulled into Gallipoli and made a late reservation via the Booking.com app we weren’t expecting to stay in a palace and given a sprawling room whose balcony windows opened onto the ochre-washed light of the old town. It was a welcome surprise upgrade; the owner hadn’t even been aware it was our anniversary.

Where to stay in Gallipoli: Palazzo Flora, Via D'Ospina, 19, Gallipoli. The garden courtyard of the palazzo is terrific. Breakfast was abundant and fresh, one of the nicest along our trip. Rooms range from €50-€82/night depending upon the size of the room…and the number of frescos inside. If Palazzo Flora is full, consider staying at one of these other hotels in or near Gallipolli's old town:

• Domus Dejana: Located near the water in Gallipoli's old town, Domus Dejana has a rooftop terrace with views over the old town and sea. Housed in a traditional, historic home, many of the rooms have their own balconies.
• Antica Rimessa di Gigi Hotel: Located in Gallipoli's old town in a historic building, Antica Rimessa di Gigi has several rooms with high vaulted ceilings with the original stone exposed, but modern features and fixings.
• Dimora Muzio B&B: A good value option in Gallipoli's old town with big rooms and a rooftop terrace with views over the city and sea. Housed in a 17th century building with frescoed walls, Dimora Muzio also includes a restaurant on the ground floor.
• Find another hotel in Gallipoli that matches your budget, travel style and schedule.

14. Enjoy a plate of mussels and a carafe of sparkling wine at Lido Conchiglie, Puglia.

Although you go to eat seafood, the experience is more about the atmosphere. Burly fishermen-looking guys serve as waiters and dish out heaping piles of sea urchins, mussels, fish, and other seafood.

While the menu at La Maruzzella is written on paper tablecloths, the best approach is to point and shoot at the piles of fresh catch out front or to someone else’s dish nearby. For lunch, be sure to arrive early so you're sure to get a table.

Where to eat in Lido Conchiglie: La Maruzzella, Via Cristiforo Colombo, Lido Conchiglie (just outside Gallipoli). What to eat: Best was the huge bowl of mussels and clams. The seafood sampler was acceptable, but perhaps a little over-grilled. Sparkling wine from the tap also a nice touch.

15. Turn back the clock and visit Salice Salentino after the pause.

Our initial intent in visiting Salice Salentino was to source some on-the-ground information about wine tasting. Instead, we found a town stuck in time.

Salice Salentino is the town that time forgot. Everyone else seemed to forget about it, too — except the old men at the local bar and a handful of people on bicycles crossing a desolate main square.

I appreciate old towns like this because they exist on their own terms — not for the tourist, not always spiffy, yet certainly authentic in an untouched sort of way. Salice Salentino is also of the same name as the Italian DOC wine made from the Negroamaro grape, one of the many wines we’d enjoyed along our trip.

16. Buy wine from a gasoline pump dispenser at Produttori Vini Manduria.

Watch locals line up at the wine pumps with their 5-liter jugs for a few Euros fill-up. If you aren’t in the market for pumped wine, you can also taste wines from a local lineup that includes Manduria Primitivo (the local zinfandel-like grape). If Primitivo is too heavy, hot, or fruitacious for you, try a Primitivo Rosato (rosé) that goes especially well with a mezzo plate or seafood in a light red sauce.

Where to find the wine consortium: Produttori Vini Manduria, via Fabio Massimo 19, Manduria.

17. Admire magical olive groves in red clay soil in Puglia.

Clay-pan olive groves dot much of the landscape of inland Puglia. I’m sure the chunky clay soil is essential to the character of the tasty olive oil that run rivulets through notable Puglian cuisine.

As I indicated to my sister in a lengthly dozen-email exchange about Puglian food, “Everything is fresh. But — and I've been thinking about this a lot — the magic, persistent ingredient: olive oil. You get a sauce with a couple of pomodorini [cherry tomatoes] and a bunch of olive oil. And it's incredible. It's as if the olive oil is a flavor activator. And the olive oil here is very good.”

18. Admire the trulli, Puglian stone huts, in the Itria Valley.

If the Hobbits had to suddenly take up residence in southern Italy, they’d likely do so in the trulli dotting the countryside of the Itria Valley. Many of these stone hut structures — often dating to the 14th-15th centuries — were originally built to house agricultural workers or as storage buildings.

Why this style of home became so popular is still a bit of a mystery, however. One appealing theory posited: people built trulli so they could easily dismantle them before the tax collector arrived.

How’s that for a clever tax dodge?

19. Make a new friend at a Masseria (Tourism Farm) in Puglia.

In Puglia, a working farm that also serves as a bed and breakfast is called a masseria. (Think of it as Puglia’s version of what Tuscans call an agritourismo). The masseria we stayed at, Masseria Ferri, included not only our very own 450-year old trullo, but also a friendly dog named Tommy who remained by our side for the stay.

We recommend a picnic dinner with a glass of Primitivo wine while watching the sky change color. Kicking back at a masseria is an excellent way to rest the mind at the end of a road trip. Masseria Ferri also makes its own cheese, wine and olive oil.

Road trip note: We used Masseria Ferri (closest town: Martina Franca) as a base from which to explore various destinations in the Itria Valley. All notable towns are nearby; it's easy to visit several in one day.

20. Wander streets of trulli in Alberobello, Puglia.

The town of Alberobello, Puglia offers a motherlode of trulli. You’ll find its UNESCO old town made up almost entirely of these traditional Puglian homes. The town's popularity, however, means vast crowds of tourists.

Be sure to begin your visit on the northern side of the old town where things are a little less touristy. There, you’ll find families who still live in their 400-500 year old trullo homes.

If you go in early fall, you’ll also find elements of the harvest like walnuts or chestnuts, or as we did, gargantuan garlic heads drying in the open air. When we asked the woman drying it, she told us that it’s sweet garlic and can be sliced and eaten raw in salads.

Stay in a trulli in Alberobello: Some of the trulli of Alberobello have been converted into hotels and B&Bs. It's a fun experience to stay in a trullo home (we did so at the masseria mentioned above) so consider staying overnight in one in Alberobello.

• Trullo de Amicis No 5: Sleep in the quiet of stone trullo right in the center of Alberobello so you can easily explore the town. This place also has a terraced restaurant on site.
• Trullo dell'angolo: Rent your own complete trullo house complete with your own kitchen and bedrooms. The stone walls and traditional construction make them naturally cool in the hot summer months.
• Trulli Monte Pasubio: Stay in the middle of Alberobello's historic trulli center in either your own trullo home or a studio apartment in another historic building.
• Find your own hotel or trullo in Alberobello, Puglia that matches your budget, interests and style.

21. Marvel at small towns with big architecture, like Martina Franca.

Like so many towns in Puglia, Martina Franca was another that made us wonder why we hadn’t heard more of it before.

Architecture in Italy had always been a thing, but the Renaissance re-ordered it and took it up a notch. Martina Franca stands as a fine example of Baroque and Rococo style. Our suggestion: park on the edge of the old town and just get lost in its alleys and plazas. Although we did not eat in Martina Franca, the restaurant menus looked formidable and tempting.

Where to stay in Martina Franca, Puglia: If we weren't already basing ourselves nearby at a masseria in the countryside we would have based ourselves for a few days in Martina Franca to explore this area of Puglia with many cute, historic towns and villages nearby.

• Casa Dolce: Rent your own apartment in a traditional house right in the center of Martina Franca. Having your own place not only gives you a little more room, but it also allows you to bring back foods from your market visits (see below) to enjoy as snacks or meals.
• Savito Guest House and Trulli: In case you don't stay in a trullo in Alberobello or elsewhere, here is your opportunity. Located about a 10 minute walk from Martina Franca's old town, Savito has rooms in traditional trulli that are modern in design and comfort, including a swimming pool, terrace and other amenities.
• Terrazza Sulla Valle: If you want to splurge a little, get a room in a renovated 18th century trullo home and enjoy the terrace with views over the valley. Good location near Martina Franca's old town and offers free parking.
• Find a hotel in Martina Franca, Puglia that matches your travel style, budget and itinerary.

22. Hang with these dudes at the open-air weekly market in Cisternino, Puglia.

Shop like a local, too. Buy black chick peas, a wheel of cheese (or two), a string of peppers, and some smoked meat. And take a photo of the guys who sell it all to you.

Local outdoor fresh markets are on rotation in the region and appear in a different town each day of the week (e.g., in Cisternino on Mondays, Martina Franca on Wednesdays, etc.), so just ask around at your hotel or nearby tourism office to find out which town is hosting the market for that day. Note: go early in the morning as open-air fresh markets usually wind up around lunchtime.

When you finish shopping, drop your goodies off in the car and explore another beautiful old town.

23. Watch grandmothers as they watch you from behind their beaded doorways in old town Ostuni, Puglia.

Grandmas in kitchens peering through the beaded door curtains. They peer from upstairs windows, they stand on balconies. Grandmas, Italian grandmas everywhere. Pay attention and you’ll see them as you make your way. They watch, they survey life, and they see you.

It’s one of the life features we loved about Puglia. Old towns were well lived in with grandmothers poking their heads out of doors to say hello, scold their errant dogs, and mind the laundry. Children’s giggles echoed off cobbled pathways and the smell of home cooking slowly permeated the air just before lunch.

Why go to a museum when you can see life as it has been lived, and it is lived today?

24. Take a dip in the Adriatic Sea…even in October.

Even in early October, graced with sun and favorable currents, the Adriatic Sea is worth a dip or wade.

Perhaps we were just plain lucky with the weather, but we found late September/early October a perfect time to explore this region. Plenty of sunshine and warmth, and no crowds.

Along this stretch of coastline south of Bari you'll find divers – some in wet suits, others without — ranging for octopus (pulpo) along the rocky coast. Vegetarians, turn away. The rest of you pulpo-eaters, this is where lunch and dinner have come from. Divers clean the pulpo and strike them against the rocks, so they’re tender by the time they make it to your plate.

25. Chat with a family drying homemade pasta on the streets of Bari.

A friend on Instagram suggested we seek out “the orecchiette ladies,” local women in Bari whose morning ritual consists of making the signature ear-shaped Puglian pasta. On our final morning, just before heading to the airport, we wandered through the old town in search of the ladies.

Instead, we were lucky enough to meet Grazia and her daughter Maria. Grazia had just finished making three kilos of hand-made orecchiette for her family and neighbors and was drying it outside her home on a wire rack, around which Audrey and I puzzled about.

Through broken Italian, we had a conversation with Grazia and her daughter and understood how they make the orecchiette and prefer to serve it. The favorite: the traditional, orrechiette con cime di rapa (with turnip greens).

Now, before any more time passes, I owe Grazia and Maria a copy of the photos we took. I must put them in the mail, since they don’t have an email address.

A fitting way to close from Puglia.

Note: If you want to learn how to make this local pasta you can do so on this Bari walking tour that includes making your own orechiette.

Map of our Puglia, Italy Road Trip Itinerary

If you travel to Puglia, take some of our advice and then also find a few of your own adventures. Let us know how you get on. And if you come across a guy from San Francisco named Will somewhere on your travels in the province, don’t interrupt him. I suspect he’s still having the time of his life.

The post Puglia, Italy Road Trip: 25 Things to See and Do in Puglia appeared first on Uncornered Market.

We'd like to think of ourselves as rather savvy when it comes to Italy, having married in Tuscany and having visited a dozen times throughout the last decade.  But when a friend recommended we visit the Maremma region during our 10th anniversary trip to Tuscany this past autumn, we were intrigued.  Maremma?   Seen it on maps, never really paid it much mind.

Names like Pitigliano, Sorano and Manciano don’t usually roll off the tip of one’s tongue when talking Tuscan hill towns. Same goes for wines and cuisine from Maremma.

But that's what motivated us to visit – unknown, hidden, maybe even a little bit wild.

Check out the audio slideshow below to find out what we found:  a grape festival, trademark hill towns, terrific food and wine. We're almost afraid to say too much. When you find something this peaceful, this untouched, you think, “I might just keep this one for myself.”

More Photos from Maremma

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Special thanks goes to Juilio Detto for introducing us to his home region, the Commune of Manciano for putting us up at La Rocca dei Briganti agriturismo, and La Filanda Restaurant for welcoming us into their kitchen with our cameras and endless questions.

The post Maremma: Hidden Tuscany [Audio Slideshow] appeared first on Uncornered Market.

As autumn advances, the sunflowers fall, the golden soil is turned for the winter. Grapes, too, are ready for harvest. People celebrate.

Tuscany's poetry is packed in the fields, the hills, the history, the food, and the people who make it all possible.

Earlier this month, we returned to Italy's Tuscany region ten years after we were married there in September 2000. Time can do funny things to one’s perceptions: we wondered if our memories had been unfairly overcome with nostalgia.

When we were married in Tuscany, it couldn't have been that beautiful, could it?

So we returned to investigate. And this is what we found.

Tuscan Landscape

Although the Val d’Orcia is itself a UNESCO site and many of the towns throughout are quite touristy, the region's focus on agriculture remains authentic. Tuscan farmers — the easily forgotten foundation of Tuscany's culinary depth — wave when you pull to the side of the road to admire their craft and to capture another image of the profoundly beautiful soil. Not to be outdone by the Tuscan earth, the sky dazzles, too — particularly as late afternoon autumn light fights to break through rolling thunderstorms.

Tuscan Hill Towns

If you look up every few kilometers while driving across Tuscany, you find yet another medieval hill town revealing itself perched cliffside or atop a patch of soft volcanic rock. Pinch yourself, this is no fairy tale. It's all very real, and has been so for hundreds of years.

Should you choose to take the climb to your hill town of choice, steep, winding cobbled streets will challenge your heart and reward you by depositing you somewhere within reach of a main plaza, cathedral and town hall.

Small towns may even feel abandoned, what with all the shutters drawn. But as lunchtime approaches, the symphony of dishes and pots and pans begins, and the aroma of garlic, tomatoes, and aged cheese wafts from kitchens and fills the narrow streets of old towns. Families gather to eat in the opening act of their afternoon pause.

We do want to mention our soft spot for Pienza. This was the scene of the crime: our wedding, ten years ago, in this UNESCO World Heritage Tuscan hilltown.

When we arrived, we picked up our uphill pace and turned the corner to enter Pienza's main piazza, the scene was that of the Tuscan hill town we remembered. Heads up, Renaissance stone, echoes of Pope Pius II's vision of a perfect town, delis stacked with wheels of pecorino (the local sheep cheese), hunks of wild boar salami, and piles of dried porcini mushroom slices.

But we felt like we owned a little piece of the place. Ten years ago, we ran across the plaza under a shared umbrella while locals chanted “Sposa bagnata! Sposa fortunata!” (a wet bride is a lucky bride). The entire event — from start to finish with all of its twists and turns, shared with friends and family — was wickedly magical and perfect in its own imperfect way.

Tuscan hill towns have this effect on you, whether you get married there or not.

Tuscany Weekly Markets

If you'd like a chance to rub shoulders (literally) with locals and join in animated discussions regarding the differences between Tuscan and Parma prosciutto, stop by one of the dozens of weekly markets. These Tuscan fresh markets are not fancy affairs. In fact, they usually consist of a lineup of delis-on-wheels pulled into a parking lot on the edge of town. Looks can be deceiving. These trucks are chock full of fresh Italian product to fashion your wildest of your gourmet Tuscan picnic dreams.

And the vendors? Friendly and passionate. They focus, they laugh, gesticulating ferociously about who knows what. They enjoy the company of their customers, most of whom they've probably known for years. Tuscan vendors — their pride in product, palpable; their love of food, infectious. Free samples flow, just to ensure you choose the right cheese or smoked meat.

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In the course of a week we traveled over 1,300 km (800 miles) through Montepulciano, Pienza, Montefellonico, Torrita di Siena, Montalcino, Cortona, Cinigiano, Manciano, Pitigliano, and Sorano. Even in this context, we barely covered a fraction of Tuscany. The region is vast and deep in geography, life and leisure.

This distance may not sound like much. However, the roads are windy and driving times are often double or triple initial expectations. In other words, if it's “an hour away,” it should take about two hours to get there.

Our advice: don't attempt to tackle the entire region in one visit, but choose a few areas to enjoy more deeply.

The post Tuscany in Autumn: From Hilltowns to Harvest appeared first on Uncornered Market.

When we think of Italy, we think of vineyard orchards populated by wild boars, happy cows and people who talk with their hands and sound like they're yelling at each other all the time even though they are really just talking about how great the tagliatelle is.

Tuscany is no exception for the exceptional. History is rich and geography has smiled on this region. The land rolls, one minute great for growing wheat, the next minute just about perfect for a Sangiovese grape.

For meat appreciators and vegetarians alike, Italy is a land of eating. Where else do roadside gas stations pride themselves on espresso cremas and rustichella piadina sandwiches made of soft ricotta and rucola.

How do you like our wild pig?

— A cook in Tuscany's Maremma region pauses to ask us one of life's burning questions.

By no means is this an exhaustive treatment of Tuscan cuisine. The region is large, the table is deep. In honor of the beautiful, the simple, the edible, the memorable, here are a few culinary memories.

Favorite Meals in Tuscany (and Where to Eat Them)

1.  Ravioli alla Crema Tartufo Bianco

Our first meal. And what an opener. Large, homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach dished in a creamy white truffle sauce. The sauce was especially terrific for the fact that it didn't strike you over the head with the taste of truffle, but was deliciously subtle. This is the beauty of the white truffle.

Where to eat it: 13 Gobbi (Via Lando di Duccio 5, just inside the gate for
Montefollonico's old town). Note:  Like all good salesman, the waiter can be prone to pushing the spendy bottles of wine on the men. If you aren't in the upmarket for wine, don't sweat it. In other words, if you aren't ordering grilled meat, which would go nicely with a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, go instead for a Rosso di Montepulciano or a 1/4, 1/2 or full liter of red table wine (vino rosso di tavola).

2.  Cinghiale alla Mancianese

When we asked our waitress, Irina, about local specialties in the Manciano area in Maremma (a Tuscan sub-region in the south of the province, closer to Rome), she didn't skip a beat in recommending the local wild boar. “We have lots of wild forest here. The boar is excellent,” she added, as if we needed any more encouragement.

When the dish arrived, it didn't look like much. Looks can be deceiving. It was huge in the flavor department. Cooked in a redux of tomatoes, rosemary, bay leaf, sage, garlic and black olives, this wild boar was tender, juicy — as if pulled — and not gamy at all.

Where to eat it: Il Poderino Locanda, just outside Manciano on the road to Grossetto. This roadside restaurant was rather empty when we visited as it was late for lunch, but that didn't stop them from taking great care with everything they served. Their own olive oil is also incredible.

3.  Picnic alla Toscana

In Italy, you can't do much better than going straight to the source for ingredients that form the basis of so many great Italian dishes. We popped into the weekly market (Thursdays) in Montepulciano and stocked up a bit on smoked meats, cheeses, sundried tomatoes and tiny zucchini that grill perfectly with a splash of the local olive oil.

Our picnic platter included: proscuitto parma (larger, more sweet), proscuitto toscana (smaller, more savory), aged pecorino (hard sheep cheese), fresh asiago (soft and flavorful cow cheese), fresh pecorino with pepperoncino, wild boar (cinghiale) salami, rucola and unbelievable larger-than-a-grape tomatoes. Even though our visit was past the prime for vegetables, the rucola was spicy and light and the tomatoes were so tasty and sweet it was like someone injected them with 100% addiction.

Perfect grazing, perfect appreciation of why Tuscan food is so tasty.

Where to find it: Almost every town features a weekly market, usually until around 1 PM. Trucks pull in selling cheese, meats, porchetta (cooked pork), vegetables, fruit and more. Montepulciano's market is on Thursday, Pienza and Torrita di Siena host markets on Friday and Cortona has a small market on Saturday mornings.

4. Tortelli di Zucca

We always try and order something off the daily or weekly menu, as the offer usually corresponds to what's coming fresh out of the garden. In Tuscany, in early October, this includes pumpkin. Large pillows of pasta stuffed with ground pumpkin and ricotta covered in a light cream sauce, topped with grated pecorino. Audrey, one of the world's most notorious appreciators of stuffed pasta, was in heaven.

Where to eat it: Trattoria La Pappal Pomodoro (Via Roma 92, Pitigliano). This small little trattoria was full of local construction workers and travelers the day we stopped by. Reasonably priced, friendly and high quality food.

5. Pici all'aglione

“No, I don't think you want to put cheese on that. Just try it without,” the owner scolded Dan after he asked for grated cheese to go with his pici (homemade, thick pasta common in the Montepulciano area) in garlic tomato sauce. Dan followed his advice and held off on the cheese. The “spice” in the sauce comes from the freshness of onion, garlic and tomato and in this sauce, it really deserved to be eaten without the incursion of a hard grated cheese.

Where to eat it: Trattoria La Pappal Pomodoro (Via Roma 92, Pitigliano).

6. Tagliolini cinghiale e porcini

Another special, but it was only served at night, so we skipped out on lunch and returned specifically for dinner. Freshly made flat pasta (similar to tagliatelle) tossed with fresh porcini mushrooms and chunks of wild boar meat.

Where to eat it: La Botte Piena (Piazza d. Cinughi 12, Montefollonico). A cute little restaurant enoteca whose owner is exceptionally friendly and wine-obsessed. He visits a huge wine event every year in northern Italy to taste and procure wine for the coming year. The wine list is encyclopedic, featuring bottles to suit all palates and budgets.

7. Pici alla panna salsccia

Pure Italian comfort food – thick, homemade noodles with ground sausage and cream. Not for those who are watching their waistlines, but a great dish for a rainy autumn day.

Where to eat it: il Botteghino (outskirts of Montefollonico). This road side restaurant may not look like much, but it was filled with locals stopping by on their lunch break before heading home for siesta. Reasonably priced and friendly.

8.  Tagliatelle alla pecorino e pepe bianco

Made-that-day tagliatelle (flat pasta) in a light cream sauce and, with a dramatic flourish, tossed in a large, hollow round of pecorino (local sheep cheese) so that cheese fragments coat the pasta. The finishing touch: freshly ground white pepper. Exquisitely simple, balanced and delicious.

Where to eat it: 13 Gobbi (Via Lando di Duccio 5, just inside the gate for
Montefollonico's old town).

9.  Ravioli al Tartufo

Small, ricotta-filled ravioli tossed in an olive oil-based truffle sauce (contrast to the cream-based sauce as in #1 above). Although the truffle flavor is strong, it's not overwhelming and is balanced nicely with the filling.

Where to eat it: Trattoria Dardano (Via Dardano 24, Cortona). This family restaurant attracts large groups of locals (love the “men only” tables) and travelers. Very reasonably priced.

10.  Caffe alla gas station

In Italy, even the roadside gas stations feature espresso machines and professional barristas. Coffee in Italy is exceptional, in general the best in the world. And the cups dosed up in gas stations cause coffee swoon: dark, creamy, rich, dessert-like. It is most often drunk standing up at the bar. If you happen to be roadtripping through Italy, be sure to check out the gas station stops for cheap and delicious espresso.

Where to eat it: Everyone probably knows about the coffee on the autostrada. Good stuff. But in the weeist, least impressive looking convenience store on the highway about one hour north of Rome, an outstanding espresso can be had for 0.70 Euro.

And what about Tuscan wine to drink with all of these dishes?

House Wine (vino rosso di tavola or vino sfuso)

Most restaurants offer inexpensive house wine that you can order by the liter, half-liter (mezzo) or quarter liter (quarto). Although these are not often top-of-the-line wines, they usually open up after a few minutes and work well with pasta dishes. The cost is usually 4-7 Euros/liter.

After a few bottles here and there at restaurants, we found ourselves going for carafes of table wine. They are usually local wines and decent quality. This low-end selection also takes away the pressure and expense of choosing from a large, intimidating wine lists.

Montepulciano Wines

Rosso di Montepulciano: Although the rosso offers some structure, it's the lighter of the two Montepulciano wines. It goes well with pasta and lightly grilled steak.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano: This famous red wine of the region needs to age several years and decant for a while in order to appreciate its full flavor. It really goes best with heartier grilled meats, such as wild boar or pork.

Montalcino Wines

Rosso di Montalcino: Like it's Montepulciano counterpart, this is a full wine but is not aged as long in barrels and uses lower-quality grapes than in its big brother, Brunello di Montalcino. Pair this with light, grilled meats and pasta.

Brunello di Montalcino: Probably the most famous wine in this region, Brunello is aged for a minimum of two years in Slavonian oak barrels and is often kept in the bottle for a few more years before being sold. This is a big wine (and usually features a big matching price tag). You may find yourself overpowering your pasta with it. Find a Florentine steak or other piece of grilled meat.

Maremma Wines

The wines in the Maremma region of Tuscany are less well-known than their northern counterparts. But we were fortunate to stay in the Manciano area and did some wine tasting at wineries and restaurants. We really enjoyed these wines for meals and drinking. They were less temperamental and easier to drink straight from the bottle.

White wine lovers, keep an eye out for white wine under the classification of bianco di Pitigliano. This wine can also be light and tasty, as we discovered during a tasting at Montauto winery.

The post Tuscan Food: Eat Your Heart Out with these Dishes and Wines appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me.

–- Carl Sandburg

“Are you visiting Tuscany for your honeymoon?” Lorenza, our wine tasting hostess at Avignonesi winery, asked over a swirl of 2007 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

“No,” I laughed. “We're actually here for our 10th anniversary. We were married just down the road in Pienza in 2000.“

Even as the words came out, I thought: Ten years? Really?

Mid-September 2000. We stood before a jolly, rotund man named Luciano in the reception of his converted farmhouse in the Val d’Orcia. “For a real Tuscan wedding, each person must have a Florentine steak, 800 grams,” he asserted in his exaggerated yet somehow natural, gesticulated Italian.

The setting sun was carving a path through a side window; our frantic search for an alternative venue just three weeks before our wedding was thankfully coming to a close.

But was it really a requirement of a Tuscan wedding that each guest be served two pounds of Florentine steak amidst four other courses?

A recipe for an oddball do-it-yourself destination wedding in the Italian countryside: a $100 wedding dress mailed from Estonia, simple rings purchased on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the world’s least expensive genuine Hugo Boss wedding suit (thank you, favorable exchange rates), a week of family and friends getting lost in the middle of Italy, homemade truffle crostini and pillows of ricotta-stuffed ravioli, a mayor who had just rolled out of bed to perform the ceremony, and more than just a little lost in translation.

We’re proud of the fact that we’ve been doing this “married” thing for ten years. Even more thankful that, to many, we don’t look ten years married. During our recent visit to Tuscany, we reflected on the relationship between our wedding and our values, and how the event foreshadowed our lives together.

So what did our wedding teach us?

9 Life Lessons from Our Tuscan Wedding

1. Dream. Then it can become a reality.

“Let’s get married in Italy. How about Tuscany?”

Without dreams, visions and crazy ideas that leave others wondering, you are leaving a lot to chance – and to someone else’s script.

It sounded crazy at the time. I was in San Francisco, Audrey was in Estonia. I had never been to Italy, but the Renaissance and Baroque art history classes I had taken at university planted a seed. Audrey had been to Italy on a quick solo trip after a semester abroad and was game.

Sure enough, our language evolved slightly: “Why not Italy? What’s to stop us, really?”

We had already scrapped the idea of a traditional American wedding and we’d planned to backpack around Europe. A wedding in Italy sure sounded like fun. And it fit us: good food, wine, a bit of the unknown. We invited friends and family to plan a getaway to Italy and join us for our wedding.

The rest is history.

Without dreams, visions and crazy ideas that leave others wondering, you are leaving a lot to chance – and to someone else’s script.

2. There’s more story in the process and the journey than there is in the result and the destination.

Cobbling together all the bits of our wedding in the three weeks leading up to the event provided endless madcap story fodder: choosing a bouquet, making hair appointments, setting a menu — with nothing more than an Italian phrasebook and some skills in charades at hand.

As friends and family arrived in Tuscany the week before the wedding, the shared stories and experiences of getting lost, random encounters, and amazing food multiplied.

Not only was this great fun, but it also put the final event – our wedding, our getting married — in proper perspective. Everyone had gathered because of an event and a destination, but the real story: their new experiences.

3. There’s beauty in simplicity.

Simple is not only beautiful, it’s often less expensive and it reduces stress.

Two days before the wedding, before everyone set off for their countryside day-trip adventuring, we asked each person to bring something back for dinner: a local specialty from wherever they went. That night, we gathered around a picnic table with wild boar sausage, buffalo mozzarella, aged local pecorino (sheep) cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and 5-liter jugs of table wine purchased on impulse from a restaurant in the nearby hill town of Cortona.

In life, simplicity often means lower overhead and more flexibility. Living simply is something we value. It is one of the key reasons why we were able to pick up and move to Prague, pick up and travel the world. Pick up and do.

4. Perfection is overrated.

By no means was our wedding perfect – it poured on the day of, we had Italian funeral flowers at the reception (until Luciano’s wife rescued us from our ignorance), there was way, way, way too much food, and the marriage was almost not legal because our witnesses didn’t have their passports. The whole thing was pretty much made up as we went along.

But that’s what made our wedding an engine of fond and funny memories. In its own way, just about perfect.

Some say that perfection is the enemy of the good. I’d offer that perfection can be the enemy of the great.

And when it comes to your wedding – or your life — ask yourself: What is it that you are perfecting?

5. Create your own style.

Tradition and society often dictate what life and the events that fill it ought to look like, leaving you to simply plug pieces into a predefined equation.

Before you fill in the blanks, ask yourself: Is this what I really want?

We printed out poems about love and life from an internet café in Budapest and read them on an overnight train to Venice. By the end of the 15 hour train ride, we had our ceremony worked out. Some of it traditional, much of it less so.

Mix things up, do what feels right to you and make it your own. You’ll learn more, and you’ll likely be happier for it. And best of all – it will be yours.

6. Dissatisfaction is OK, so long as it spurs action.

Three weeks before the wedding, we drove up to the hotel we had booked on the internet. Our hearts sank: instead of the peace and tranquility advertised (keep in mind this was in 2000, before the endless hotel reviews we expect now), the hotel we booked overlooked the best of Italy’s highways. Sure, we could have made the best of the situation, but we examined our priorities, decided the setting was important to us, and took action.

We hopped back into our rental car and drove around Pienza and into the hills looking for road signs with a bed and a fork and a knife (indicating accommodation and food). After a few hours of pulling off a dozen country roads, we found exactly what we were looking for: a valley setting looking up to nearby hill towns, simple accommodation and great food.

Life often doesn’t turn out as planned. Sulking doesn’t help. Size up the situation and then do something about it.

7. Provide a context for others to create their own adventures.

When it comes to events (or life in general), planning every little detail is for the birds. Besides being stressful, it can detract from the beauty that comes from spontaneity and unexpected turns.

For our wedding, we provided a framework: Tuscany and Italy. But our guests created their own adventures. We strategically advised friends and family to first plan a vacation to Italy, then to join us for our wedding. We didn’t plan many activities. As a result, each day everyone created their own adventures to nearby Tuscan hill towns and each evening they returned full of stories.

Guests used our wedding as a platform to travel in a way they may not have normally chosen to do without the excuse of an event. My mother had never been outside North America, but she used our wedding as an opportunity to drive around and explore Europe for a month. My father had not been outside the United States for over 30 years, but he picked up the travel bug and now finds his way to Italy every few years.

We hope that by sharing our travels through this website, we provide another context that inspires you to create your own experiences and adventures.

8. Things change.

Appreciate the moment. There is no going back.

In one respect, our return to Tuscany was bittersweet. Because of the economic crisis, the agriturismo (farm guest house) where we celebrated with family and friends had closed. The medieval stone buildings are still in place, but the property has been abandoned and is falling into disrepair. Its gregarious owner and the man of great steaks, Luciano, is now incapacitated and bedridden in nearby Montepulciano.

Walking around the place and absorbing the news from the next-door neighbors was profoundly sad. I had harbored visions of sharing a glass of vin santo with Luciano and his wife at sunset upon our return.

But the reality remains: things change, people grow older, places evolve.

All the more reason that when you have an experience of beauty before you, bask in it. Appreciate the moment, for the moment may be more fleeting than you think.

9. It takes a village

The village is what makes an experience. And by village, we mean the people whom you enlist to help you create and share an experience.

Don’t just ask people to show up; get them involved.

We not only invited people to our wedding, but we asked them to participate. Everyone helped out in one way or another to make our wedding week well beyond something special – from the music to the programs to the flowers to even a magic show.

And for this opportunity, we are grateful. For the involvement, excitement and support of family and friends that ushered us into married life, we are thankful.

Ten years later, that week still brings a smile and more than a few laughs.

The post Life Lessons from A Tuscan Wedding appeared first on Uncornered Market.