Meg and I had an uneventful drive down the motorway past Naples. Then we followed the signs for Bari but after a while turned off onto B roads to venture into the unknown depths of the province of Avellino, which more or less corresponds to the cultural and historic area of Irpinia.
Then a steep and twisty drive took us to Calitri in perfect time to check into the impressively-named Hotel Ambasciatori.
Calitri, the Positano of Irpinia
I love visiting towns like Calitri. Italy is full of these hidden gems that no one has ever heard of, where you can buy a house for EUR 20–30,000 and enjoy a great standard of living.
Because of Calitri’s jumble of colourful old houses, the locals call it Positano without the sea.
It’s set in a spectacular hilly area within a couple of hours’ drive of the real Positano in one direction and Bari in the other.
A great pit-stop
The hotel was good value for money: a little shabby but very spacious and comfortable. Once we’d checked in, we headed for the pool and met Liz for a spritz.
Liz lives in Milan and was introduced to the delights of Calitri by a British friend who, attracted by the price-quality ratio, bought an apartment there some years ago. Now Liz has made friends there herself and practically gone native.
A night out in Calitri
Later on, we strolled down to meet Liz for another spritz at one of the local bars.
We were welcomed by an ever-increasing retinue of her friends and admirers who were keen to show off their town to some fresh arrivals.
By the time the last stragglers had assembled, it was about 9.30 pm. We thought it was high time to go to dinner but for them the night was young.
We were whisked off to a lovely restaurant set in woodland with a panoramic nighttime view over the town.
We sampled the local delicacy: cannazze pasta with a rich tomato sauce served with pecorino or Parmesan cheese and chilli powder sprinkled over the top. It was delicious.
We also had the local ravioli and a few other cheese, meat and vegetable delicacies, followed by sweet treats – the local version of cantuccini biscuits.
It was all washed down with the local red wine – drunk chilled as is normal for Italians in the summer.
After that, we were driven round town to admire the view from all possible angles before being deposited back at our hotel in the early hours feeling stuffed, privileged and thoroughly entertained.
Matera
The following morning, we dragged ourselves up, said a fond farewell to Calitri and set course for Matera.
It was too hot for any real sightseeing but we managed a photo-op or two.
We gratefully got back to the car’s aircon and drove another couple of hours to our second UNESCO world heritage site of the day
Alberobello
It really is impossibly touristy and twee, but you have to see the cute trulli. There are hundreds!
Apparently the trulli were designed in this way so they could quickly be disassembled when the tax collectors came calling.
After that, there was just time to stock up on some amazingly good value food and wine at the Brindisi Lidl, before we arrived at our home for the next week: Tenuta Badessa, a masseria near Lecce.
A week in Puglia
The masseria was gorgeous. A lovely green oasis surrounded by olive trees.
Meg had a double room that cost her Eur 50 per night. I had an only slightly more pricey apartment with a kitchen and secluded garden, which we shared.
It was far too hot to do very much all week except laze around and swim in the wonderful pool.
Lottie turned out to be trustworthy enough to be left free to wander around without getting into too much trouble, though I did take her into the olive groves when it was cooler.
In this part of Puglia, the old olive trees have been killed off by an insect-borne bacterium that causes a disease called Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS). It’s very sad to see all the dead trees where all was green and lush just a few years ago.
But at Tenuta Badessa, all the trees are doing well. There’s a mixture of newly-planted resistant trees and middle-aged trees planted pre-blight that luckily turned out to be of a resistant variety.
Trips out
We occasionally ventured out on trips to the beach (too windy and sea too choppy), to Lecce (nice but very hot) and for an evening pizzica dance class with David (fun but too hot and Meg stubbed her toe).
We had a great barbecue at the Katan’s and met up with them, or at least David, nearly every day.
In the main, we were totally happy to just chill out at the masseria while we charged our batteries for the next stage of the trip: Meg to the US and me to Greece…
