Salento – The Towns – Lecce

MAMMA LI TURCHI! The first of a number of posts that will explore the great Salento region of Italy.

As I make my way out of the Brindisi Airport, I feel like I haven’t moved a step away from home. I must have taken the flight to Bodrum, Turkey instead. The same climate, similar sceneries and familiar faces welcome me to this Southern tip of Italy. I am at the heel of the Italian Boot, kilometers away from home, but I am already settled in. I am where all the  Italian metropolitans will rush into once the their vacation period begins in August.

The only thing out of my comfort zone is the few people trying to speak to me in Italian (including the flight attendant). I keep quiet and nod to whatever they say, trying not to ruin anyone’s confident guess. I can’t make out if it is my looks or moods that give the impression of an Italian man. It might also be that I landed at a place where people are not used to tourists. Whatever the case maybe I am flattered (but also a little perplexed).

Fava greets me out in the parking lot. He has it all planned out. We are ready to take on the beaches, the wines, the cheeses, the pastas, the espressos…

LECCE

I leave Bodrum in Brindisi. I dive into Italy. The hometown of the Great Andrea Favale, Lecce is an undeniably cool ancient city constructed inland right in the middle of Salento, between the Aegean and the Mediterranean coasts. Like many other Italian cities, it comes with an ancient historic part glowing in the center and a modern part expanding on the outer skirts. This is the city you fall in love with if it is ever in an Hollywood movie.

The day starts around 10 a.m. and the noon is celebrated with a song by Tito Schipa, the famous opera-singer from Lecce, flowing out through the speakers at the city center, Piazza S. Oronzo.

The shops close with Tito, sending their owners to relaxing siestas until 5 p.m. The night bubbles up around midnight, glowing up until 3 a.m.

As you make your way around the narrow streets you are amazed by all the detail found on historic residences. However small they may be, each glows with its untraceable design, unfortunately absent in many of today’s modern buildings. In one corner you run into a house with an amazing lemon tree sprouting out of its terrace. On the next corner a house with an arched balcony welcomes wonderers. You see hints of Spanish blending into artistic Italian architecture. From floor to ceiling you are surrounded with warm precious limestone. No maps, no directions you get deeper into a jungle of history thinking you will soon be lost, but you always find the way out. That should be what they call “intelligent city planning”.

The bakeries, restaurants and bars all remind you that Lecce is alive and full of people looking to enjoy life. The tiny markets with fresh food make you want to cook; anytime and anywhere. The presence of McDonald’s in the city center certifies the grasp of the vicious capitalist life, pocking you even in a city filled up with well-rooted culture and tradition. No matter how wrong it sounds, you still find it hard to resist the delicious smell of a McChicken, sustaining your shameful urge at the Italian bakery steps away.

You can’t come back from Lecce without:

• Having a Rustico (a baked flan filled up with mozzarella and tomatoes) and a Pasticciotto (an individual bread crumbs cake filled up with vanilla cream) from the Luca Capilungo bakery located inside the CinCin Bar to start your day. Trust me they will be enough to keep you full until dinner.

• Visiting the Piazza Duomo

• Having an iced espresso to give you the buzz for a fun day at the beach

• Locating the face of the architect on the walls of Basilica di S. Croce

• Observing the tiny woman’s face on the corner of a residence on Vico del Theutra. The story goes that the building was the maids’ quarters of another estate years ago. The owner of the estate was so in love with one of the maids that he had her face put of at this corner which was visible from his bedroom window.

• Going to an art exhibit at Castello di Carlo V (if there is any)

• Having a scoop of the pistachio and the coconut ice-cream at Natale

• Having dinner at Corte dei Pandolfi and letting Michele D’Ambrosio work the magic for you. I recommend the pasta with zucchini, black olives, peppers, tomatoes topped with ricotta cheese and the spaghetti with zucchini and parmesan cheese

• Having the Burrata at Locanda Rivoli