Category Archives: Puglia Guide

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There’s no Better Bread: The Giant Loafs From Altamura & Matera

You like the smell of freshly prepared bread just as much as we do? You’ll definitely have to try Matera and Altamura bread then! Rich in history and tradition the bread is made from durum wheat re-milled semolina, a mixture of wheats grown on the central-north Apulian plateau, known as the “Murgia”, and on the Matera hills. One of the most significant aspects of Altamura bread, together with its special flavour and digestibility, is its prolonged capacity of preservation. The bread keeps its taste and crunchiness for up to five days from the date of production. Altamura bread has an outside crusty and crunchy brown crust and an inside cell-like straw-coloured soft part. We’re recommending it toasted, for breakfast, or cut in thick slices as a side dish.

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Food Fotographer Francesca Moscheni Captures the Fascination of Coccaro & Maizza

Whenever somebody asks her why she began to work as a fotographer, Francesca Moscheni quotes a great photographer, Eduard Boubat: “for the light”. No wonder the idea to come down to Puglia appealed to her from the beginning: The “FEINSCHMECKER”, famous german food magazine, had asked her for the job: Since Francesca is well known for portraying styles, objects and persons, their october 2012 cover story on Puglia Cuisine (c/o Stefan Maiwald) was a perfect match. Moscheni immediately became friends with our chefs Vito (Maizza), Luigi (Coccaro Beach Club) Donato (Coccaro) and their teams and took a huge variety of highly emotional fotos all around the masserias, not to mention the chefs themselves and their working environment. Sure, her passion for cooking and trying all kinds of food from all over the world helps her a lot in the business. Couldn’t find out her secret of keeping in perfect shape though… Anyway: We’re glad we got to know each other and more than happy to be able to show a few pictures as seen the FEINSCHMECKER article right here in our blog, just to give you an idea of what her work was about. For those of you who might not get a chance to buy a copy…

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Best of “Apulien”: Fotography Award for Giovanni Troilo

Great news from our artist in residence friend Giovanni Troilo! Some of you may have seen the foto exhibition at Masseria Torre Maizza: In the old olive mill, called Frantoio, we’ve been presenting a “best of” collection of his work on the book “Apulien” (Corso). The foto we’re showing above is the winner entry for the IPA, book/people category. We’d like to congratulate our dear and creative friend: Complimenti, caro Giovanni, well done!

For those of you who want to know more about the award – here’s the official press release:

2012 International Photography Awards Announces Winners of the Competition: Giovanni Troilo was Awarded: 1st place in Book – People category for the winning entry “Apulien”
About IPA: The 2012 International Photography Awards received nearly 15,000 submissions from 103 countries across the globe. IPA is a sister-effort of the Lucie Foundation, where the top three winners are announced at the annual Lucie Awards gala ceremony. The Foundation’s mission is to honor master photographers, to discover new and emerging talent and to promote the appreciation of photography. Since 2003, IPA has had the privilege and opportunity to acknowledge and recognize contemporary photographers’ accomplishments in this specialized and highly visible competition. Visit www.photoawards.com for more details.

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Culture Crossing between Puglia and the World: Teresa Ludovico, Kismet/Bari

We proudly present: Teresa Ludovico, artistic director of the famous Kismet theatre in Bari. We became friends some years ago when Teresa, director at the time, told us about her latest project of the heart, “Ekuba”, that she had worked on with a couple of female prisoners in Trani, trained to be an antique greek chorus… Born in Gioia del Colle, a small town in Puglia not far from Bari, the artist started off her career with a range of Italian and international artists. She was an actress with Koreja Theatre (Lecce), assistant director to Marco Martinelli, and developed an early interest in music theatre, writing and performing Medea – Opera senza canto, a music theatre piece composed by Giovanni Tamborrino. Ludovico became artistic director of the Kismet theater just recently, after many years of working there as a permanent director. Her productions have been acclaimed in Japan, Australia and throughout Europe. Since she is about to leave for Japan any time soon, where she usually spends 2 to 3 months a year, working as an associate artist of Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo and the new Za Koenji Public Theatre Tokyo, we’d like to say Hi through a little presentation of her work. Her Japanese productions of The Snow Queen, The Mermaid Princess and Andersen’s The Travelling Companion premiered to great acclaim. Have a great and successful trip, dear Teresa, looking forward to having you back soon!

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Ferragosto at Coccaro: Country Feast à la Fellini

There’s a few traditions about the Masseria Torre Coccaro that we will never quit: Our Ferragosto country feast is one of them! Every 15th of august from Blue Hour on our courtyard becomes a big cooking, playing and partying space for everyone!
Kids are having fun with big balloons, clowns & artists and sweets all over while their parents enjoy a great brass consert during dinner; the guests are usually serving themselves at our various food stalls around the old church: Ham, freshly cut, all sorts of Puglia cheeses, olives of any kind as fingerfood antipasti; grilled fish, baked vegetables, Panzerotti and Pizza as a main and, for dessert, one of Martino Neglia’s sweet delicacies, served behind the Frantoio this year.
There’s flying drinks all over the place and a late-night-bar on top of the stalls, where Natale offers his cocktail masterpieces from classic Manhattan to the famous Campari Spritz.
Sounds like fun? It definitely is!!
Looking forward to seeing you there next year…

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Ferzan Ozpetek: “Don’t destroy the beauty around you!”

He was born in Istanbul and came to Italy in the 70ies, to work as a journalist at first, then went studying in Rome and at some point never wanted to turn back: Ferzan Ozpetek (“Le Fate Ignoranti”) is one of the most famous italian directors of our times. He loves Puglia where he made his last big film, “Mine Vaganti”, and since he made many friends down here over the years, he’s trying to come back as often as possible to spend his holiday between Lecce, Otranto and Gallipoli. We met him recently, having dinner at La Castellana Beach, and asked him why Puglia became one of his places of the heart. You can read the whole interview in the August edition of Ali del Levante.

Cos`è che le piace di più della Puglia, oltre che del Salento, la sua terra del cuore?
Mi piacciono il cibo, le persone, le spiagge, che sono le più belle del mondo. Insomma, è tutto un misto di caratteristiche che mi sembrano molto autentiche e regalano un’atmosfera bellissima. La Puglia è un paese veramente speciale … finché non diventa turistico! Dico sempre: che necessità c’è di modernizzare ad ogni costo i vostri negozi nei centri storici? Perché non lasciate tutto com’è, classico, carino e molto suggestivo? Non cambiate le cose belle, dico a tutti quelli che stanno per farlo, soprattutto per non distruggere la bellezza genuina di questi luoghi.

What do you like most in Puglia?
I love the food, I love the people and I love the beaches that belong to the most beautiful ones in the world. It is a whole mixture of characteristics that I consider very authentic and that create this beautiful atmosphere. Puglia ia a very special country… It shouldn’t become too touristy though! I keep saying: Why do you have to modernize your shops in the storic center by all means? Why don’t you leave everything the way it is? Classic, beautiful and so appealing? Don’t change the beauty around you, I can’t help myself telling all the people who are about to do it, because they would destroy the genuine beauty of the places around them.