Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South Sunday 7.30pm ITV1 (11.15pm in Wales)
Lucy Thackray - 20 October 2023
Settling into a limestone-paved patio, vines overhead dappling the sunlight on white tablecloths, you await the dish of the day. The owner comes out smiling, brandishing shallow bowls of pasta and sauce the colour of an autumn leaf – it’s the local style, orecchiette (named “little ears” for its curved, half-moon shape), doused in a thick pumpkin sauce and topped with crispy lardons. Dark red Salice Salentino wine is sloshed into goblet-sized glasses. Life is good.
It could be a scene from Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South, Gino D’Acampo’s ITV travelogue, but it could also be your next holiday, because this is a standard way to while away an afternoon in Puglia (sometimes internationally called Apulia), Italy’s most fashionable region. Taking up much of the heel of the country’s “boot”, it’s well connected by international flights to Bari Airport, making it more popular than its neighbour, Basilicata – though perhaps that gives Basilicata the edge, leaving it more of a secret. Either way, Puglia has built up the infrastructure and glamorous pit-stops for a classic Italian road trip.
Pick up a hire car in Bari and you can drive to beautiful towns such as Monopoli, Polignano a Mare, Ostuni and Lecce, known as “the Florence of the South”; do it in a packed week or a more leisurely fortnight. You’ll see Greek influence in this corner of Italy, particularly in Ostuni (the “White City”, with homes that look lifted from a Cycladic island); southern Italy and Sicily were a Greek colony from the eighth century BC.
The way to stay and eat in Puglia is in a masseria, one of the whitewashed farmhouses converted into chic, affordable guesthouses. These have become the tourism lifeblood of a region that once lay forgotten, with little love or investment, in the late 20th century. Many have swimming pools and quality restaurants attached – Masseria Salinola (masseriasalinola.it) was the purveyor of that pumpkin and pork orecchiette, unmistakably Puglian in its farm-to-fork simplicity.
Only the truly adventurous will make it to neighbouring Basilicata, a formerly deprived and remote region that’s now on the up, thanks to the success of its 2019 European Capital of Culture, Matera. This city has 9,000-year-old cave houses (sassi) that sometimes draw history fans from Naples – a three-hour train away. But it’s worth digging into Basilicata properly – perhaps extending your road trip through Puglia and heading north from Lecce to Matera in the “arch” of the boot, just over two hours away.
What these two regions share is a traditional peasant cuisine, cucina povera, which has been preserved and recently elevated in stylish restaurants. Puglia has a greater love of charcuterie, cheeses and fried dough, while Basilicata’s country folk tend to pad out their stews with pulses and vegetables. Must-try dishes in Puglia include fresh focaccia bread, fave e cicoria (fava beans, puréed with chicory, garlic and oil), crunchy taralli biscuits and panzerotti, half-moons of dough fried in oil and filled with cheese, ham or vegetable sauces.
Crossing the border into Basilicata, you might weave a foodie trail from Matera to the Lucanian Dolomites, where houses sit huddled on the slopes, or coastal Maratea, with its beautiful churches and unspoilt shores. This side of the heel you can eat chilli- and fennel-laced sausage, along with cavatelli pasta and red beans, or ciaudedda, a stew of artichokes, potatoes, fava beans and white wine. Both regions are vegetarian-friendly, sausage aside. Basilicata’s ancient name is Lucania, and you’ll find many local specialities named lucano or lucana.
It’s not all rough and rustic, however: Matera’s groundbreaking Basquiat Restaurant is garnering rave reviews for its pop-art interiors (basquiatilristorantino.it). The pace of life is slow in southern Italy, so leave whole days to explore historic towns. Heading back to Bari or Brindisi Airport, you might pick up a bottle of Puglian wine as a memento – Negroamaro is the famous grape of the region, tannic and herbal with a touch of bitterness; while excellent Primitivo and Sangiovese will help you re-create an Italian feast at home. Just take a tip from your southern hosts: keep it simple – and don’t rush
Settling into a limestone-paved patio, vines overhead dappling the sunlight on white tablecloths, you await the dish of the day. The owner comes out smiling, brandishing shallow bowls of pasta and sauce the colour of an autumn leaf – it’s the local style, orecchiette (named “little ears” for its curved, half-moon shape), doused in a thick pumpkin sauce and topped with crispy lardons. Dark red Salice Salentino wine is sloshed into goblet-sized glasses. Life is good.
It could be a scene from Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South, Gino D’Acampo’s ITV travelogue, but it could also be your next holiday, because this is a standard way to while away an afternoon in Puglia (sometimes internationally called Apulia), Italy’s most fashionable region. Taking up much of the heel of the country’s “boot”, it’s well connected by international flights to Bari Airport, making it more popular than its neighbour, Basilicata – though perhaps that gives Basilicata the edge, leaving it more of a secret. Either way, Puglia has built up the infrastructure and glamorous pit-stops for a classic Italian road trip.
Pick up a hire car in Bari and you can drive to beautiful towns such as Monopoli, Polignano a Mare, Ostuni and Lecce, known as “the Florence of the South”; do it in a packed week or a more leisurely fortnight. You’ll see Greek influence in this corner of Italy, particularly in Ostuni (the “White City”, with homes that look lifted from a Cycladic island); southern Italy and Sicily were a Greek colony from the eighth century BC.
The way to stay and eat in Puglia is in a masseria, one of the whitewashed farmhouses converted into chic, affordable guesthouses. These have become the tourism lifeblood of a region that once lay forgotten, with little love or investment, in the late 20th century. Many have swimming pools and quality restaurants attached – Masseria Salinola (masseriasalinola.it) was the purveyor of that pumpkin and pork orecchiette, unmistakably Puglian in its farm-to-fork simplicity.
Only the truly adventurous will make it to neighbouring Basilicata, a formerly deprived and remote region that’s now on the up, thanks to the success of its 2019 European Capital of Culture, Matera. This city has 9,000-year-old cave houses (sassi) that sometimes draw history fans from Naples – a three-hour train away. But it’s worth digging into Basilicata properly – perhaps extending your road trip through Puglia and heading north from Lecce to Matera in the “arch” of the boot, just over two hours away.
What these two regions share is a traditional peasant cuisine, cucina povera, which has been preserved and recently elevated in stylish restaurants. Puglia has a greater love of charcuterie, cheeses and fried dough, while Basilicata’s country folk tend to pad out their stews with pulses and vegetables. Must-try dishes in Puglia include fresh focaccia bread, fave e cicoria (fava beans, puréed with chicory, garlic and oil), crunchy taralli biscuits and panzerotti, half-moons of dough fried in oil and filled with cheese, ham or vegetable sauces.
LUCY THACKRAY