Wonders of Apulia and Matera

Arrival at Bari airport and pick-up of a rental car at the airport to be able to move independently throughout your stay. Transfer to a 4-star hotel/masseria in the Bari countryside and accommodation in a double room, breakfast included. Thanks to the hotel's convenient location, you can easily reach the city and visit it on your own. Enjoy the museums, art galleries and theatres, because Bari has always been a dynamic cultural and artistic centre, in the past as in the present. Don't forget the Basilica di San Nicola, built in the customised Romanesque style by French masters who arrived in the wake of the Norman knights. Before returning to the hotel, delight your palate with a dinner of raw fish, mussels and shellfish, the pride of the local fishermen, or earthy dishes such as orecchiette, prepared by hand along the streets and seasoned with broccoli rabe, or mashed broad beans with chicory.  

Breakfast at the hotel/masseria, then transfer by rented car to Alberobello, an enchanted village in the Itria Valley, famous for its trulli, typical rural white stone buildings with cone-shaped roofs, which stand out like gems in the surrounding nature.

Included experience: Bike tour in Itria Valley amid nature and taste (unguided tour)

Embark on an eight-hour bike tour, pedalling at a slow pace through rolling hills, vineyards and centuries-old olive trees where the scents of the Mediterranean maquis mingle.

Reach Locorotondo and then Martina Franca, with its white buildings.

Visit one of the area's underground oil mills to taste the essence of the area, extra virgin olive oil.

Before returning, take a leisurely stroll through the baroque town of Martina Franca, with its narrow streets, stately palaces and monumental churches.

Breakfast at the hotel/masseria, then transfer with a private chauffeur or rented car to Castellana Grotte, in the province of Bari.

Included experience: Apulia's wonders amid art and taste

Embark on a journey to the centre of the earth, among underground caves, tunnels and trulli.

Together with an experienced guide, venture into the underground karst formations, at a depth of 122 metres.

Let yourself be enchanted by a three-kilometre scenery of canyons, fossils, stalactites and stalagmites. Afterwards, visit Alberobello, strolling through Rione Monti, the oldest district of the town, and Rione Aia Piccola, quieter and more characteristic.

Enter a trullo and delight your palate with a tasting of typical products: local jams, prickly pears and fioroni with Apulian bread and rosoli, the liqueurs of the past based on distillates and spirits of flowers and fruits picked in the countryside. 

Breakfast at the hotel/masseria, then transfer from Bari to Altamura by rental car to discover the secrets of bread and focaccia in the place where the recipe for perfection is handed down from generation to generation.

Included experience: A lesson in bread and focaccia between tradition and taste

Surrounded by the Alta Murgia National Park, amidst large gorges and acres of wheat, learn together with master bakers every secret of the first baked product in Europe to be awarded the PDO designation.

Take in a breath of beauty while strolling through the village and admiring the Cathedral built by Frederick II where the Romanesque blends with the Gothic.

Continue to Lecce with a rented car and accommodation in a 4-star hotel in the historic centre, in a double room.

In the evening, stroll leisurely between Piazza del Duomo, Piazza Sant'Oronzo and Piazzetta Santa Chiara, and dine in one of the city's many trendy venues.

Breakfast at the hotel and, thanks to its central location, a walk through the historic centre of Lecce with an expert guide to discover millenary stories and enduring traditions nestled in breathtaking landscapes.

Included experience: Tour of Lecce and Ostuni amid history and taste

Sculpted in the yellow limestone that colours its façades gold, the heart of Salento even has its own style, that Lecce Baroque combining Spanish models and Renaissance legacies with the creativity of local masters. Porta Rudiae, Porta San Biagio and Porta Napoli.

Then visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, emblem of Salento Baroque, and Piazza Duomo.

And then there is the Roman amphitheatre, eight metres below the level of the present city, witness to how ancient its history is.

Continue the journey with a private chauffeur to Ostuni, the white city. Admire the 15th-century Romanesque-Gothic cathedral and Piazza Beato Giovanni Paolo II, with the 18th-century Bishop's Palace and Seminary.

Finally visit an ancient oil mill and, together with an expert, delve into the entire production process, ending with an oil tasting on Apulian bread.

Return to the hotel in Lecce.

Breakfast, then transfer by rental car from Lecce to the Matera countryside and accommodation in a 4-star hotel, in a double room. Thanks to the hotel's location, in the morning, it is possible to comfortably and leisurely visit Matera, a timeless city suspended in an extraordinary dimension that has preserved it from the onslaught of modernity. Immerse yourself in a different world, with the slow pace of ancient life and an upside-down reality, where instead of building houses and churches, people preferred to carve them out of the rock. This is the spectacle of the Sassi, the quarters inhabited for millennia where everything is carved out of stone: the dwellings, the stables, the craftsmen's workshops.

Included experience: Tour Caveoso in Matera amid history and beauty

In the afternoon, meet with an experienced guide to continue the city tour.

Listen to a brief historical-architectural introduction, then enter an authentic Sasso Caveoso cave-house.

Continue on to a rock church, with its rock walls and medieval frescoes.

Visit a handicraft ceramics workshop and conclude with a tasting of local products.

Before returning to the hotel, end the day on your own, enjoying the Matera cuisine with the lights that illuminate the Sassi and turn the city into a real nativity scene.

Breakfast at the hotel and, thanks to its convenient location, a free morning in Matera to visit other iconic places in the city: the Church of Purgatory and the Church of San Francesco, both examples of the Baroque style in Italy, Via delle Beccherie with its handicraft workshops, and Via Ridola, with the Baroque buildings of the Rione del Piano. Cross Piazza San Francesco and Piazza Del Sedile, the glamorous meeting spot of Matera, and visit Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where you can enjoy the panorama of the Sasso Barisano.

Included experience: In the Murgia Materana Park amid nature and history

After a well-deserved gourmet break with typical Lucanian products, meet at an agreed time with an expert guide and visit the Murgia Materana Park.

Walk through breathtaking landscapes, rocky ravines and canyons, admiring the infinite variety of flora and fauna that inhabit these areas.

Discover evidence of ancient periods among the rocks, including Palaeolithic caves and the remains of Neolithic villages carved into the tuff.

Visit the fortified farms and rock-hewn churches carved out of the rock by monks in the Middle Ages, which were also occasionally converted into dwellings or animal pens.

Visiting Matera does not only mean getting lost walking through the streets of the Sassi district, but also experiencing a journey through time, in an enchanted landscape. 

Breakfast and transfer from Matera to Bari airport by rental car to be returned to the agency. Leave with the harmony of traditions and nature that can purify the soul.