Getting a car rental in Brindisi was fairly easy. Karen had made the reservation in the US saving us a lot of money and I only had to show my passport and US driver’s license, not the International Driver’s License I bought at AAA. Karen had smartly purchased and international GPS for our trip. We plugged in our location and sped off. Luckily, twenty years of driving in Rhode Island prepared me well for the many roundabouts in Italy. I didn’t see any speed limit signs on the Autostrada, so I kept it at about 120 kilometers per hour. For some folks that was way too fast so I passed them at a speed that must have looked like a blur. Other drivers came up on my tail out of nowhere doing well over 90mph. Just like home, except Italians only use the left lane for passing.
We encountered our first problem when the GPS told us to take an exit several miles before our town of Lecce. Not questioning the all knowing GPS we did as we were told and promptly found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. Turning left and right, mindlessly following technology, we stumbled on our first great find in Puglia. A castle. Following a dirt road and parking for a moment soaking in the crumbling castle, beer bottles are stacked on the façade and weeds have overgrown the grounds. This is a forgotten spot. Leaving, we tried to find out hotel with no success. Frustrated, I pulled out the guidebook and saw that our hotel was on Via Lombardia, not Via Lombardi.
Arriving at our hotel, it is locked up tight. The sign said check in is not until 4pm, three hours away. Karen and I decided to walk to the old town of Lecce with no idea where we are going. Baroque Lecce as it is known, has the most ornate architecture you’ve ever seen. More about that later. But, all these buildings were constructed using the local limestone. It is very soft, which makes it easy to carve. But, that also means it is susceptible to deterioration. Just running your hand over the limestone, you can feel the dust on your fingers.
The center of most Italian medieval towns is the Duomo. In Lecce, the Piazza del Duomo has a huge belltower and the church at the piazza has a fantastic façade. Inside, there are at least six alters but you can’t take pictures so you will have to take my word that the interior is amazing. Confession takes place almost in the open where the sinner kneels in plain sight and confesses his sins to the priest hidden in a box.
We grabbed lunch at a café on the piazza. Our waitress was a blonde woman, probably a student at the local university, who was very unsure of her English. But, she spoke well and reminded us twice that they could make anything on the menu “vegetariano” for us. We each had a Panini with local Primitivo wine. When paying our bill, we talked to the owner who spoke no English. We told him we saw the Lecce futbol team on the plane and he said the whole of the town was depressed due to their loss to Roma.
Back to our hotel, check in, siesta. Exhausted, we slept for three hours. When we woke up we thought it was the next day, but it was only 7pm. Perfect! We can go to dinner. From our research, we had a bunch of restaurants we wanted to try. With our GPS in pedestrian mode we found that many restaurants in Lecce are closed on Sunday, just like in the US. So we went to Divinia de Providencia a couple of doors down. Divine Providence, this must be a sign. Walking downstairs a flight of stairs to what must have once been a wine cellar or cantina but is now a fine dining restaurant. About ten tables are in two dining rooms. A waitress greets us in Italian, speaking far too fast for us to understand.
“Parle Ingles?”
“Poco”
“Due”
She sits us down and gives us each a menu. I struggle to translate the menu. Rucola is arugula but is there any meat in this dish? Karen, meanwhile is sailing along.
“There’s bacon in that.”
“How do you know?”
She pointed to her menu. It was in English. We ordered from her menu.
Puglia is best known for two food items. Orichetti pasta and pecorino cheese. Orichetti or Little Ears are small discs of pasta with dents in the middle. Karen and I lovingly call them “hats.” Pecorino is a salty sheep’s milk cheese that I love but Karen finds too strong.
Karen ordered the orichetti with rucola and I ordered the linguini with porcini mushrooms and chestnuts. The pasta is homemade. With the wine, perfect. And the portions are just right so we have room for dessert. Ricotta pie with dried fruit for me. Like an American fruit cake, only good.
Tonight is Halloween in America, and we didn’t think they celebrated this holiday in Italy. But, walking to the restaurant we saw several children dressed in costumes. Teens were wearing devil horns and other simple costumes. I’m curious about whether kids go trick or treating to celebrate Halloween. She answers me by telling me where to buy our costume and writes down the address of a local Halloween party.
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