Toe-bound

This morning we head through Puglia and Basilicata to Calabria, which encompasses the entire toe area.

Our last day in Puglia yesterday was spent amongst three of the white washed towns - the Greek influenced towns of Locorotondo, Martina Franca and Ostuni.

We started with the smallest, a village, really. Locorotondo is one of the prettiest towns I’ve seen in Italy. Sparkling white, narrow alleys, flowers on every porch and balcony.

Only barely touched by tourism, this is a little town that I would love to come back to and stay a few days. Precious.

Martina Franca was larger and clearly more visited, also beautiful with an exceptional Cathedral and piazza lined in coffee shops and oak trees.

Named for St. Martin, this is also the traditional town of capocollo. The pigs from which said deli meat is derived, range in the oak forest outside of Martina, feed on the acorns dropped there and, once butchered, the shoulders of these entitled pigs are smoked with the wood of the very same oak trees from which they were fed. The circle of life.

A break for lunch at a family restaurant.

And finally Ostuni, a white washed city, by the seaside.