Search Results for: Puglia

September 13, 2022

Salento: Driving along Puglia’s magnificent, isolated peninsula a smorgasbord of beautiful beaches

Salento is the peninsula that is the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s one of the most isolated places in Italy but easy access from Bari, Puglia’s capital. Guest blogger Annamaria Borelli rented a car and rekindled old childhood memories by hanging out at the beaches. A car is a must but so is relaxation.

November 2, 2021

An American woman in Puglia: A dream come true

It’s a major adjustment from the U.S. to Italy and from Italy to Puglia. For transplanted New Jersey girl Annamaria Borelli, it’s a life she always dreamed about.

July 15, 2020

Traveling in Italy: Trip to Puglia reminds me of why I live here but caution flags rise

Traveling in Italy is only a dream for Americans. For us living here, it’s a wonderful reality. However, a trip to Puglia shows caution from the coronavirus remains.

February 10, 2016

Puglia wine tasting brings back memories of long coastlines and purple-red wines

At the Wine Tastings of Rome Meetup at the Hotel Imperiale (from left): Alessandro Castellani, Vanessa Rispin, Robert Della Vedova, me.

Wine Tastings of Rome, a terrific Meetup group that could only have a more attractive name if Beyonce held its sign, brought in wine makers from around Puglia to one room at the Hotel Imperiale. Built in 1895, the Hotel Imperiale is as elegant as it sounds. It’s a gold palace with small balconies overlooking tree-lined Via Veneto, perhaps Rome’s most glamorous street where its rich and famous once preened for panting fans and fought with prying paparazzi. Walking into the snow-white interior, I felt thankful I wore a sportcoat as “retired journalist” and “elegant” aren’t usually found in the same sentence. The Hotel Imperiale makes you at least try to look the part.
(To read more, click here.)

January 2, 2013

Puglia journal: Italy’s inane bus system can’t spoil romantic meal next to 700 skulls

SUNDAY, MAY 13 – LECCE, ITALY Mussolini vowed he’d make the trains in Italy run on time and he did. Now Italy needs another fascist to work on the buses. I’m in Lecce 40 euro poorer after the “deficiente” (moron) here three days ago sold me a bus ticket from Otranto to Lecce when there […]

January 2, 2013

Puglia journal: Trip to gorgeous Adriatic beach is a true recycling affair

The gorgeous beach north of Otranto, just before tourist season.

SATURDAY, MAY 12 – OTRANTO, ITALY There’s a bottle of ice cold water near my laptop that I would’ve given five years off my life or my left testicle last night if it was available. I’m so dehydrated I don’t know if I felt worse this morning or yesterday when I had the vicious hangover. […]

January 1, 2013

Puglia journal: The Puglia milk run consists of seven connections and 11 hours

My hotel in Otranto, the Bacconcino d'Oriente.

FRIDAY, MAY 11 – OTRANTO, ITALY I take back anything good I’ve said about Italian wine. They don’t need preservatives and phosphates, the mine fields of American wine, to produce a nuclear explosion in your frontal lobe. I’m writing this with one eye closed. It’s to lessen the pain from a savage hangover from the […]

January 1, 2013

Puglia journal: Cold beer, a quiet outdoor cafe and view of Adriatic = Kodak moment of foreign travel

Me and my view from the Grottino Grill in Vieste.

THURSDAY, MAY 10 – FOGGIA, ITALY There are certain times in a person’s travels when they find the perfect corner of the planet at just the perfect time. The Foggia train station McDonald’s, where I’m writing this, is not one of them. However, yesterday afternoon I had one of those moments – no, hours – […]

December 21, 2012

Puglia journal: A day at beach a quiet respite from celebration of Santa Maria di Marino

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 – VIESTE, ITALY For a tiny beach town, this place is as loud as Fort Lauderdale over spring break. It’s the celebration of Santa Maria di Marino, the patron saint of Vieste. I think every town in Italy has a patron saint, but I’ve never seen one as beloved as this Santa […]

December 21, 2012

Puglia journal: Vieste a romantic hideaway on the spur of Italy’s heel

Cheese vendor Costanzo Laprocina with a backdrop of caciocavallo cheese in his shop in Vieste, Puglia

TUESDAY, MAY 8 – VIESTE, ITALY Sometimes in travel you find yourself in such an idyllic place that you think you’re the only person in the world this happy. This is one of those times. I’m on the rooftop of Rocca Sul Mare, my hotel here high above the Adriatic Sea. The rooftop is barebones, […]

November 19, 2012

Pecorino, orechiette, fusilli, pesto define Puglia’s “poor cuisine”

VIESTE, ITALY — I walked down the street with a jump in my step, a parch in my throat and a hunger in my stomach. It’s remarkable how much appetite you build lying on an Italian beach. Plus, it’s a lot of stress. No. 35 sunscreen or 15? Dante or “The DaVinci Code?”?And, when in Puglia, […]

November 12, 2024

Moving to Italy: Trump’s victory leading thousands of Americans seeking pasta, vino and calm seas

So many people are disgusted with last week’s U.S. election that they are flooding expat websites trying to leave the country. A major target is Italy where I have received numerous inquiries, and the CEO of Expats Living in Rome says her emails have tripled. I examine the whole phenomenon with the CEO as we discuss the obstacles facing desperate Americans but also the rewards that are here..

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