V5 travels: South, Festa, Lecce and the bottom of the heel!

After our day wandering the Castle and the fantastic lunch, we decided on a quiet night. Thursday, the next morning, we departed La Vedute and travelled to Altomura - V4 had seen some information about a medieval festival - apparently the Festa di Federico

On arriving we drove around to find parking (not an easy feat!) and luckily snatched a spot quickly. We headed uphill toward the old city centre, the laneways were cobbled with limestone - a beautiful sand coloured stone, made shiny with all the wear over the years. The laneways were windy and every so often, there were flags festooned between the buildings - we wondered what we were in for.

Rounding a corner suddenly, there were crowds, and loud music, and I mean really loud suspenseful music. We had stumbled upon a troupe of pole dancers, jugglers and balancers, entertaining the audience. Their ‘security’ were even dressed to suit and the props were of Viking ships, sails and masts. It was an entertaining show. Just as the show finished, there was procession - stilt walkers, drummers, and others I couldn’t quite recognise (perhaps historical figures).

Wandering the laneways, we entered a small crossroad piazza and came across a battery of drummers performing amidst a host of medieval activities - women in dress performing washing and dying of wool, crafters, knights putting people in stocks; an extended family (including a 6 month old) in full medieval dress who played music and enticed the crowd to dance with them. And then, there was the food! Street stalls selling beers, focaccia; pizza; fried dough; vino….and all their stalls decorated in keeping with the theme - hessian canopies; wildflowers and leaves; wooden barrows. It was absolutely fabulous!

We continued out southward journey to Lecce and found our accommodation for the next few nights in a non-descript apartment block a few blocks from the Centro. While the outside was ordinary, the apartment was furnished with antiques in the most exquisite way. Our hosts Vittorio and Monica were so welcoming and helpful.

After leaving our bags, we walked to the Centro Storico and found ourselves in the Piazza del Oronzo where there is the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre right in the middle of the piazza. We found a cafe and sat and had apertivo and tris and people watched before wandering to find dinner in another piazza, enjoying pizza boscaola and another with pumpkins - both beautiful!

This morning we woke late having had a great sleep. Monica had baked us a ‘welcome cake’ each. It is really a form pastry pie - short crust pastry with a lemon/custard filling called a Pasticciotto, a tradition of the area.

We wandered into the Centro again, finding the Convent of Celestini. It was right next to the Basillica di Santa Croce, which is a large very white baroque cathedral with the most ornate decorations of people, animals, flora and gargoyles!

Having had enough of walking laneways, we decided to jump in the car and drive to the bottom of the heel of Italy to a town called Santa Maria del Leuca, or simply Leuca. The drive down was interesting, we went from reasonable farm land to desolate stretches of what appeared to be abandoned land, dead ancient olive trees and weeds. It all looked a little sad, until we got to the town, and then a beautiful white coastal port lay below us, next to the acquamarine water where the Adriatic meets the Mediterranean Sea!

We walked the promenade and found a restaurant for lunch that looked over the water. We ate Fritto Misti and drank a cold glass of Chardonnay and marvelled at how fortunate we are!

We drove a different route back to Lecce - taking secondary and tertiary roads to stick to the western coastline travelling through sleepy little coastal towns up to Gallipoli (the Italian one!). There were lots and lots of holiday houses that looked shut but lots of people on the beaches late into the afternoon.