Northern Puglia

A 20 year reunion in Italy and a demi-god's descent

Did I really leave my life behind for 21 days and galavant around Europe, swimming, eating, laughing, interviewing, dancing, listening, crying, walking, cliff-jumping, as though I were 20 again? I can hardly believe it’s come and gone already.

A rare gift indeed, to be able to escape to a life completely unlike my own for 3 lightening-fast (to me) weeks. When I told a random mother who was also waiting for her kid at gymnastics that we wouldn’t see her next week because I’d be gone for 3, she mock-fainted. Zoe stared at her, wide-eyed, as the mom slowly said, “What. ITALY. AND Ireland. For THREE WEEKS. Wowwwwww.” Zoe looked up at me, confused. This woman was having a very different reaction to the one she had when I told her of my pending plans (bursting into tears at the dinner table, which then made Rowan burst into tears - a far more dramatic scene than what I was anticipating!).

20 years ago, I studied abroad in Rome, and was placed in an apartment on the 7th floor of a building with a non-functioning elevator (the building looked exactly like the one in Netflix’s perfect Ripley, useless elevator and all) with these women, who I still count among my dearest friends. We all live on the west coast, so we all four gather for one weekend every year, in some tiny town or another up and down the California or Washington coast. We decided long ago that the 20 year reunion must, certamente, be back in Italy.

No, we never figured out how to make the nice camera I rented especially for the trip auto-focus on faces. But look at that crystal-clear Trevi background!!!!!!

We honed in on Puglia, a region none of us had ever explored, enlisting

Tante Belle Cose

‘s expert help to zero in on the most alluring beaches and towns and restaurants. I was first introduced to Italy expert and art historian Danielle via her astoundingly beautiful essay on the Unicorn Tapestries (read it here), and have been following her work ever since. We did a one-hour zoom with her where she helped whittle down our frenzied research of the region into a very manageable itinerary - can’t recommend her enough! And I’m a Capricorn who LIVES AND LOVES 2 PLAN, but there’s nothing like the trusted advice of an expert who knows the region well.

Polignano al Mare, a delicious swimming spot in northern Puglia.

Find me jumping off a cliff in the picture above, after just having eaten fresh out of the oven veggie focaccia from a focacceria up the road and downing an ice-cold Perroni, not a care in the world!!!!! After we jumped, we swam in the ocean and watched a demi-god like young guy, similar look to agreed-upon classical representations of Perseus but in red swim trunks, climb up the cliff to that largest stone window at the very top. Everyone in the ocean seemed to quiet as we all faced him, our entertainment, MAN vs. ADRIATIC, at a dizzying height, sun glinting off of his defined stomach, assuredly accustomed to cliff-climbing and jumping. He signaled to his friend, and we all counted, in unison, “uno, DUE….TRE!!!!” and he soared through the air as everyone cheered. A unanimous quiet once he hit the water, until his head reappeared, wet overgrown TikTok tendrils swirling this way and that.

YAYYYYYY!!!!! the crowd cheered, all of us clapping for him above the waves, swimming dignitaries from Italy, America, England, Spain, and other countries that were too far away from my ocean-pounding ear to hear. Lost in the reverie of summer revelry together, all voting for the same gladiator to win against the sea, against logic, against fear. It was something beautiful.

Matera, the third longest continuously-inhabited city in the world (V. OLD) - all the houses are built out of caves!!!!!!! We had an insane tour guide who told us in astounding, hilarious detail how he scammed Mel Gibson and the crew of Passion of the Christ when they filmed there (as the city is such an easy replica of Jerusalem)!!!!

We first explored northern Puglia (the very tip of the heel of the boot of Italy). We flew into Bari, rented a car (we tooled around the entire region and only had to fill up the tank once the whole week!), and drove a little south to our masseria, which is a converted farmhouse that is the type of stay traditional to the region.

We chose Masseria Santo Scalone, which was both affordable and incredibly beautiful, boasted a quiet pool set out among olive groves, ancient-seeming stone ceilings with modern furnishings, and a reallllllyyyyyyy fantastic breakfast buffet. It was the perfect jumping-off point for exploring the tiny beautiful towns and cliffsides of the region. We had the aforementioned guide take us around Matera, we explored the “marble white city” of Ostuni, and endless beaches and coves. This is already getting long so next substack will be about southern Puglia…arguably our favorite.

“I haven’t been hungover here once! Just really tired and groggy in the mornings,” Miranda said earnestly on Day 5.

The eastern side of Italy is on the Adriatic Sea, which has dark waters and rough cliff beaches. The western side of Italy is on the Ionian Sea, which is known as the “Bahamas” of Italy. We burned an entire day swimming and reading next to this sea at the Togo Bay Beach Club, where I finished a book with no one interrupting me???? Except to ask if I wanted another spritz or to swim in the sea while holding hands??? I’m sorry what????

“I felt that I could swim for miles, out into the ocean: a desire for freedom, an impulse to move, tugged at me as though it were a thread fastened to my chest. It was an impulse I knew well, and I had learned that it was not the summons from a larger world I used to believe it to be. It was simply a desire to escape from what I had. The thread led nowhere, except into ever expanding wastes of anonymity. I could swim out into the sea as far as I liked, if what I wanted was to drown. Yet this impulse, this desire to be free, was still compelling to me: I still, somehow, believed in it, despite having proved that everything about it was illusory.”

-Rachel Cusk, Outline

Cusk absolutely nailing my ~Sea Fantasies~

More next week, on the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed, gorgeous southern Puglia, unexpected stories in Ireland, and the magic of 2 days alone in London!!!