24th – 30th April 2025
Situated in the heel of Italy and bordered by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, Puglia boasts spectacular coastlines and glorious scenery on top of its incredible history. Conquered repeatedly, this region bears the legacy of the Greeks and Romans, through to the Byzantines, Normans and the Spanish. Highlights will include great fortresses of Holy Roman Emperors, Romanesque churches and medieval frescoes, spectacular Baroque cathedrals, as well as fascinating cave towns and whitewashed trulli villages.
In addition to the main sites in Puglia, we will be staying in Matera in the region of Basilicata to explore this fascinating cave city. Once the shame of Italy, Matera has now renovated and opened its churches and converted old buildings in to lovey hotels and restaurants.
Puglia boasts wonderful local food and wine and we will discover the secrets of its main export with an illuminating olive oil tasting. Late April will be the perfect time to visit this fascinating region before the summer heat and crowds arrive.
Itinerary
Thursday 24th April
We will fly to Bari and take our coach to our Masseria, arriving early afternoon. Once we have settled in to our hotel we will visit the nearby town of Monopoli, a perfect introduction to the history and architecture of the area. We will explore the maze of narrow streets, leading us to several churches, all with a fascinating story. We will stay in town for aperitivi and supper before returning to our hotel by taxis.
Friday 25th April
We will set off early to Alberobello in order to escape the crowds. We will discover the history of this unique town known for its trulli, the characteristic white-washed conical-roofed houses of the area and look at a couple of the churches. After a coffee we will drive on to Martina Franca to visit the Palazzo Ducale, built in 1668 and frescoed with mythological and biblical scenes in 1773. We will look at the quirky architecture of the piazza and discuss the marvelous baroque façade of San Martino. The charming winding streets, lined with white palaces boasting beautiful balconies, lead to an excellent lunch spot with the best antipasti in Puglia.
In the afternoon we will learn about the main produce of Puglia, olive oil with a tour and tasting among the beautiful olive groves in the grounds of the hotel. There will be an excellent dinner at the hotel, which prides itself on local fresh ingredients.
Saturday 26th April
In the morning, we will drive along the coast towards Lecce. First, we will visit the small town of Galatina, whose church of Santa Caterina houses a vast and beautiful series of fourteenth-century frescoes by unknown artists inspired by Giotto working in Naples. Continuing on to the picturesque city of Otranto, we will visit the cathedral, famous for its extensive floor mosaics created by a group of artists led by a Basilian monk from a nearby monastery. This mosaic programme is staggering in its scale and scope, encompassing a Tree of Life along with biblical stories and medieval depictions of beasts, horoscopic symbols and medieval heroes. In this cathedral we will also be reminded of the “Martyrs of Otranto”; the 814 inhabitants massacred by the Ottoman Turks after refusing to convert to Islam.
Lunch in Otranto, overlooking the sea, before driving on to Lecce. Once settled into our hotel we will explore the city and its history, finishing with an evening private view of Santa Croce. Supper at a lively trattoria in the centre.
Sunday 27th April
Today will be spent in Lecce, full of beautiful Baroque buildings built with the soft, workable Lecce stone, earning the city the nickname the “Florence of the South”. We will also take in the Roman history of the city by exploring its Roman amphitheater and theatre. The morning will end with a visit to the remarkable Museo Faggiano. Originally a house, the building was bought by a family intending to open a restaurant. Upon digging beneath the house to fix the sewage pipe the family unearthed a treasure trove of secret passages and caverns and artifacts that are now preserved in this museum.
After a good lunch to gather our strength, we will be ready to take in the Baroque splendour of the city. The cathedral of Lecce was originally built in the twelfth century but was entirely rebuilt in beautiful Baroque style in the seventeenth century by Giuseppe Zimbale, author of many great works in the city. Outside the cathedral is the magnificent Piazza del Duomo where we can see Zimbale’s towering campanile, as well the Episcopal Palace and fantastic Seminary Palace built to Giuseppe Cino’s design. Our walking tour will continue to take in more of city’s great Baroque buildings and extra treasures. Supper will be at the restaurant connected to our hotel, which happened to be one of the best in town.
Monday 28th April
In the morning, we will leave Lecce to travel to Matera. En route there will be a stop at a charming little town for a coffee break. Just outside the city we will follow a track to what has been called the Sistine Chapel of the South. This little chapel carved into the rock, better known as the ‘Crypt of the Original Sin’, contains frescoes of scenes from the Old and New Testaments, dating back to the ninth century AD. Beautifully restored, these are a delight to see. We then hope (weather permitting) to have a delicious picnic in the olive groves of a local Masseria.
In contrast to our morning, we will visit the Palomba Sculpture Park, a remarkable place housed in an abandoned quarry with few visitors. It is home to the work of Antonio Paradiso, one of the few artists given permission to create art from the remains of the World Trade Centre. The work is poignant and is suited to the atmosphere of this strange place. We will drive the short distance to our hotel perched at the top of Matera. Once settled in we will go out for dinner in the old town.
Tuesday 29th April
The day will be spent exploring houses, churches, monasteries and hermitages dug into the sassi (stones) of the town. Beginning with the Civita, the central part of the town, we will visit the wonderful thirteenth-century Romanesque cathedral. From here we will move on to the Sasso Caveoso where we will find rupestrian (rock-hewn) churches such as Santa Lucia alle Malve, the first female monastic Benedictine settlement, dating from the eighth century and the church of the Madonna de Idris.
We will finish finish the morning with a visit to the ‘Palombaro Lungo’, an extraordinary feat of ancient engineering to create cavernous cisterns far below the city.
After lunch we will take our coach across to the other side of the gorge to the Parco Archeologico Murgia. Here a local guide will lead us deep into the dramatic landscape to discover a handful of the 150 frescoed churches dating from the 14th century, hidden within the rock. There is also a fabulous view back across the gorge of Matera. We will return to our hotel in time for a rest before heading out for dinner. We will begin our last night together with a wine tasting in Sasso Caveoso at the sister winery to Palazzo Zimara before dinner.
Wednesday 30th April
Leaving Matera, we will drive to one of the most magnificent monuments in all of Puglia; the colossal Castel del Monte. Built by Frederick II, the fascinating and enlightened Holy Roman Emperor known by many as the Stupor Mundi, the castle crowns and commands its surroundings. Due to the removal of the interior furnishings and marbles in the eighteenth century, an air of mystery lies around its exact usage. Lunch will be at Masseria en route to Bari for our flight home.
Further Details
Tuition – Charlie Winton and Ed Aspinall will lead the trip, both have a love and fascination for this area of Italy.
Hotels – First two nights in the Masseria Melograno, a 17th century white-washed farm estate set within an olive grove. The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, pool and small spa. Second two nights are in Lecce in the fabulous 16th century Palazzo Zimara, a newly opened hotel lovingly restored retaining the original frescoes and terracotta tiling. It has a great wine bar and restaurant. You can upgrade to a Design Room for an extra £100 per room in total. Last two nights in Matera in the Albergo Italia, a beautiful renovated hotel in a perfect location.
Ability – You need to be very fit for this trip due to the steep streets and unavoidable steps of Matera. The afternoon in Parco Archeologico is spent on uneven tracks and a bit of a clamber to see some of the churches. There is a lot of walking on this trip, as many of the towns are pedestrianised and so we need to walk from the coach to the centre, including the hotel in Matera. As is the case for all our courses, there is a lot of standing while we discuss the works we are looking at.
Flights – We do not book the flights thus allowing you to travel to suit your budget, use airmiles, travel between different airports or on different dates. However, we recommend buying the following flights with Ryanair and Easyjet:
24th April London Stansted 11.20 – 15.15 Brindisi FR2475
30th April Bari 16.55 – 18.55 London Gatwick
NB The outbound is a new flight as Easyjet cancelled our original outbound. This means we fly out of Stansted and back into Gatwick. If this is a problem then you could take the Easjet flight from Gatwick to Bari via Milan 9.15 – 15.45 . If you choose this option, you must have hand luggage only as Easjet do not carry your bags across and you would not have time to retrieve them and check them back in again. We would then pay for your transport from Bari airport to the hotel.
Transport – There will be airport transfers to meet the recommended flights. Please note that due to the nature of this trip with three centres there is quite a bit of driving.
Cost – The fees are £3100 which includes accommodation and breakfast, one dinner (excluding alcohol) all lunches, olive oil tasting, wine tasting, transfers for the recommended flight, transport when connected with teaching, entrance fees, private visits, tuition, reading lists and local advice. The single occupancy supplement is £200 (double room for single use). Room upgrade at Palazzo Zimara £100 per room in total. Not included are the flights, all suppers, travel insurance. The group will not exceed 16 people and we will divide in to two smaller groups wherever possible.
NB you must buy your own flights.
