Last week, my time in the deep south of Italy came to an end. In last Monday’s blog, I told you how I had just arrived in Brindisi, the very last stage of my trip. I also described where exactly I had been the week before, as we had travelled through almost all of Puglia, one place even more beautiful than the other. And because I had shared very little of my adventures on Instagram this time, I made the promise that I would do so in the weeks to come.
Despite being a very visually oriented person usually, the most vivid memories of this summer that come up now are not just images
That’s how I found myself going through all of the photos and videos several times over the past few days. I realised that I really didn’t know where to start. I had experienced these weeks so intensely! Despite being a very visually oriented person usually, the most vivid memories of this summer that come up now are not just images. They also comprehend the many tastes, smells and sounds.
Admittedly, my very first thought was “what is this?”, but I could hardly disappoint a real Pugliese amateur chef who looked at me so very expectantly
I have enjoyed my tartare di tonno, raw tuna and my absolute favourite dish, in every possible way. On a panino at the fishmonger’s, simply prepared at home, in a chic restaurant with an Italian-Asian fusion touch, and even on a pizza (in Gallipoli I discovered a restaurant that had a pizza with tuna tartare on the menu: hallelujah!). I can still taste the salty tagliata di mare on my tongue: raw seppia (cuttlefish) of which the outside first melts away strangely on your tongue, almost like a gulp of seawater, to then arrive to a fairly chewy inside. Admittedly, my very first thought was “what is this?”, but I could hardly disappoint a real Pugliese amateur chef who looked at me so very expectantly. When I took the second bite together with a tarallo – a typical salty snack from Puglia – I started to understand the incredible tastiness of this typical antipasto. That same Pugliese chef prepared friselle con pomodorini, probably the simplest dish from Puglia that exists, and perfect for a light summer lunch or dinner: a kind of hard bread that’s made softer with water and which gets topped with tomatoes and sprinkled with olive oil and oregano. In Matera I had the honour to taste the typical pasta with peperoni cruschi (crunchy bel peppers), and at nonna’s, I got to try the orecchiette al pomodoro, the oh, so typical pasta. In Lecce, lunch consisted by default of a puccia – a kind of panino that apparently isn’t a panino – and of course, a little bit of burrata was never really far away of any meal we had. After all, isn’t that why you’re in Puglia?
The typical smell of cleaning products with a hint of lemon at nonna’s house
And then there were the smells. It will hardly surprise you that many of those remarkable smells went hand in hand with all those flavours as described here. But there was more. The salty smell of the sea that lingered in the bathroom after I had hung out my bikini and beach towel to dry. The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans and sweet pastries in the morning, ubiquitous throughout the whole of Italy. The typical smell of cleaning products with a hint of lemon at nonna’s house. But also, the smell of rain that came pouring down after months of drought.
Did you know they practically speak without using vowels in Matera?!
But what has stayed with me most of all, are the sounds. Sounds that I am able to share through the plenty videos I made. From sing-a-longs in the car, to an unintelligible dialect (did you know they practically speak without using vowels in Matera?!), and from the warm sounds of an acoustic guitar and girls (us) singing under the light of the full moon to a village festival with the most famous Italian hits. My own sounds of summer, as I call them, and the most beautiful memories. Too beautiful not to share, so that’s what I’m going to do. Promised.