Blogs from Italy, Europe - page 10

Alberobello is trulli territory. Martina Franca area is trulli territory. There are hundreds. Most of the farms and very small villages are constructed in the trulli style. What is a trulli? From the outside you see a whitewashed stone hut with a conical roof. They are limestone dwellings of drywall (mortarless) construction made of roughly worked limestone boulders. The domed/conical roof is built up of corbelled limestone slabs (see instruction diagram). The walls are double skin with rubble core. Doorways and small windows pierce the thick walls. An internal fireplace and alcoves are recessed into the walls. The roof is also double skin with a watertight outer core. Water is collected via the projecting eaves at the base of the roof which divert water through channelled slabs into a cistern beneath the house. Ingenious. We left ... read more

We escaped the rush hour traffic of Bari by departing early and headed to the hills of Pulgia and the town of Altamura about 45kms away. The town is known for its quality of bread called Pane di Altamura and is sold in numerous other Italian cities. We found the number one baker of the bread, Vincenzo Diele, met and spent time with him in his, “Antico Forno Santa Caterina”, which was constructed and hasn’t changed since 1391. Amazing. It was our friend who we met yesterday, the emperor Frederick who ordered the construction of the large Altamura cathedral which we also visited. We walked and made our way along the many beautiful narrow lanes that make up the old town of Altamura and came across one of the lowest arches in Europe, Arco Basso, at ... read more

Upgraded the car to a bigger size and automatic too … naturally one had to pay for convenience. So, the challenge had arrived to mix it with the crazy drivers of Italy. It took a team effort to exit and enter Bari during peak hour and arrive at our various destinations throughout the day. Whenever we were in the car it was extreme concentration with eyes in the back and sides of our heads working overtime. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes overtaking on the inside, cars, scooters, bikes, pedestrians, darting out of side streets without a care, no signalling, stopping on main thoroughfares beside parked cars and leaving the vehicle to go to a shop or to speak to a friend they had just seen on the footpath, were just a FEW of the unorthodox ... read more

Caught the 6.56am train to Naples. A little concerned when it had taken an hour to cover 10 stops as it would mean that by the time we arrived in Naples we would have missed our connecting train to Caserta plus the train to Bari. However, after the 10thstop, the train sped through the remaining 20 stations without a stop, and with smiles on our faces, instead of lines of concern, arrived in plenty of time to find our platform. In no time at all we were in Caserta, with time to grab a coffee (and a roll for me), before our beautiful business class ride through farmland countryside of vineyards, wheatfields, olive groves, vegetable crops and hay fields to Bari and the Pulgia region. The train journey took us from the Gulf of Naples across ... read more

Apologies to Naples … you are not chaotic … ferry embarking and disembarking along the Amalfi Coast is chaotic … definitely would not pass the slimmest of safety regulations. Witnessed a young lady being grabbed as she was about to topple into the sea at Positano … a crew member came within centimetres of losing both lower legs … the crush of people in the ‘every man for himself’ boarding procedure … enough with the negativity … From Sorrento, along the coast to Positano to Amalfi, up the mountain side into Ravello the vistas were magnificent… the vistas from Ravello, truly awesome. Ravello, a resort town set 365 meters above the Tyrrhenian Sea by Italy’s Amalfi Coast, is home to iconic cliffside gardens. Overlooking the Amalfi Coast, Ravello is the city of music, a medieval village ... read more