ADVENTURES IN PUGLIA

October is a wonderful time to visit Puglia - the weather is sunny and a balmy 65o to 70o . The stores offer all kinds of discounts, and there aren’t many visitors around (there were only small groups of Germans, British and Japanese, very few Americans). So in October 2013, I went to Puglia for the first time, with a group of mostly National Italian American Foundation members (mostly from New York and New Jersey) and OSIA Fairfax, Va. Lodge officer Joe La Marca and his wife June.

Little did I know I was in for a big treat. Puglia is truly a beautiful region. It’s the “heel of the boot” with the Adriatic Sea on the eastern side and the Ionian Sea on the western side. One thing you should know about Puglia is that it’s the land of olive trees - in fact, about 60 million of them (yes, you read that right!!).

The huge trunks look like elaborate sculptures and we were told that up until a few years ago, “olive tree rustlers” used to uproot big trees and sell them to wealthy landowners in the North. In Italy, 37% of the olive oil is produced in Puglia (and 30% in Calabria), and the olive oil from Puglia is said to be of high quality. There are also lots of almond trees, with many pastries made with almonds, and almond milk is used in coffee. And there are so many fig trees that apparently nobody bothers to buy figs since they can pick them anywhere (same thing with the prickly pears).

After flying from Rome to Brindisi, it was a short ride to Lecce. We stayed a couple of days in Lecce, which has been called “the Florence of the South” because of the beautiful architecture and art. From the 15th century on, it was considered one of the most important cities of Southern Italy.

Lecce, in addition to being full of beautiful palaces, churches and elegant stores, is known for its Roman amphitheatre which is right in downtown Lecce in the Piazza di Sant’Oronzo, named after the city’s patron saint. Centuries ago, gladiators fought in this amphitheatre, because that was the entertainment of the day. But we learned that they didn’t “fight to the death,” that was only for slaves (captured in war) and wild animals (such as two elephants or a tiger versus a lion).

Sometimes the amphitheatre was filled with water so sea battles could be reenacted. During the Roman era, some 20,000 spectators would fill the stone seats of the amphitheatre. One can only imagine the crowds watching these spectacles centuries ago, whereas nowadays the crowds consist of passersby on their way to the many restaurants, bars and stores nearby (with creative names such as the made-up name “Ragazzeria” for young people).

Also nearby was a museum featuring an exhibit of paper Mache figures such as the Madonna and saints, using the lightweight material that allows them to be carried more easily in processions. We learned that the name Lecce is derived from the Latin word “leccis,” which is a kind of oak tree. The city is nearly surrounded by walls dating from the 1500s and it has a vibrant night life and almost 100 churches. The most famous is the baroque Basilica of Santa Croce. It features fanciful statues of animals, dragons, undersea creatures, shells, birds, flowers and angels.

The Basilica was completed in 1695 after work by three generations of architects and artisans. We found out that the Romans’ famous Appian Way (the main road between Rome and Southern Italy) ended in Brindisi, but the column marking the end of it somehow wound up in Lecce in the piazza honoring Sant’Oronzo, the patron saint and first bishop of Lecce who was martyred during Emperor Nero’s reign. The most famous native son of the province of Lecce may be Aldo Moro, the Prime Minister of Italy who was born in Maglie, and who was kidnapped and assassinated in 1978 by the Red Brigades after being held for 55 days - which even now is being written about (it’s the subject of a new book, “I 55 giorni che hanno cambiato l’Italia”).

After spending 2 days in Lecce, we moved on to Bari, the capital of Puglia and a big port city. We learned that Bari has been very important since the Middle Ages, when it was the junction between East and West. In fact, some of the Crusades to the Holy Land to conquer Jerusalem were launched from Bari, and also Otranto and Trani.

Bari is a city of contrasts. Until 10 years ago, it was called the most dangerous city in Italy. The joke was that if you walked into Bari Vecchia (the old quarter, which resembles a maze), you would come out with no clothes, and they said people used to need a police escort to go to church!!

Then about 10 years ago, the army and carabinieri came in during “Operazione Primavera” and a lot of people were arrested, some left voluntarily (for example, to go to Montenegro across the Adriatic to open a casino) and some were paid to leave. Nowadays, Bari has a famous opera house (Teatro Petruzzelli) that was featuring Giuseppe Verdi’s last opera “Falstaff” during the Verdi bicentennial month of October. And there are beautiful wide avenues lined with palm trees, such as the Via Sparano, where you can find top designer stores such as Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Hermès. Bari is thought to be the final resting place of St. Nicholas, the city’s patron saint, and many visitors (especially around Christmas time) come to see the Basilica of San Nicola which is dedicated to this famous saint.

The basilica was built in the 11th century after the Saint’s relics were brought to Italy from what is now Turkey. There’s a lively music scene too, and one Sunday night, we saw the street band Sembianze Umane playing in the street in front of the Armani store. They just happened to be playing “Tu vùo fa l’americano” (before they even knew they had some in the audience). And Bari has a beautiful waterfront area known as the Passeggiata Lungomare. Walking nearby one afternoon, we came across a wedding party taking pictures in the middle of the piazza.

The wedding party looked stunning - and the bridesmaids’ stiletto shoes really sparkled in the sunlight!! We were surprised tp see that within the city is a Swabian castle that really looks beautiful at nighttime. The area is now a major nightlife district. Bari, a city of 370,000, is truly a city with a soul. There are the street musicians playing a violin, or a saxophone on the steps of a church. In Bari, card games remain very popular, especially sette e mezzo at Christmas time. Briscola and tressette are played in the back rooms of bars, in homes, and sometimes in the street. For the last few years, card playing in bars was banned in an attempt to stop 9 the gambling.

Nevertheless the popularity of the card games continues, and if you take a stroll through Bari Vecchia (the old quarter) with its narrow winding streets and passageways, you will see the women making pasta (especially orecchiette) at tables outside, and the men gathered on the corner playing cards. The Barese dialect is considered one of the more difficult dialects to understand for an Italian. For example, andiamo (let’s go) is “sciamunscin” (pronounced shahmoonsheen). Huh? The dialect spoken in some towns in the Salentina area is sometimes called Grico because its roots go as far back in history as the time of the ancient Greek colonization of Southern Italy in the 9th century B.C., and this dialect is considered by linguists to be the last living trace of the Greek elements that once formed the Magna Grecia. Although Puglia does not see a lot of visitors from the United States, the British are busy visiting and buying up property -

Sean Connery and Helen Mirren among them. But this beautiful region is well worth seeing. I’m ready to go back. Sciamunscin!! (To be continued)