L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano P uglia, the heel of Italy, land of Baroque and tradition, see through waters and the olive tree. A gem unknown to many, though, often set aside by tourists in favor of more popular - and trendier - destinations like Tus- cany or Sicily. But Puglia has so much to give and tell, if we have time to listen, while sitting around one of her centenarian olive trees, in the early hours of a warm after- noon, resting after a luscious meal. Puglia is wise and beautiful, a land of history and records, a land of love and secret legends, of strange buildings and delicious food, of colors and wars. Read on to learn that… Puglia holds some amazing records Indeed, Puglia is the first pro- ducer of extra virgin olive oil in Italy. The region has the higher number of olive oil producing com- panies in the country, with an out- standing 267.203 oil mills. Just to give you an idea, Italy's second largest producer, Calabria, has al- most 100.000 less. And there is more, Puglia is the region with the highest number of DOP olive oil varieties: the Collina di Brindisi DOP, the Dauno DOP, the Terra di Bari DOP, the Terra d'Otranto DOP. 2. Puglia's olive trees may be- come UNESCO patrimony The Agricultural Landscape of Piana degli Oliveti has been rec- ognized as one of Italy's most im- portant historical rural landscapes, which the region decided to pro- pose to UNESCO as a potential World Heritage site. The olive tree, symbol of the region, is also the very heart of the Mediterranean culture and central to its sustain- ment. If there is a tree that needs to be protected, it's the olive tree of Puglia, which has been standing solid to feed and protect her people since immemorial times. 3. Minerva gave the olive tree FRANCESCA BEZZONE Clear waters, olive trees and iconic architecture: ten things to learn about Puglia to more than 70 million years ago. There is a love story behind the creation of Puglia favorite lace Puglia is known, among other things, also for its lacemaking tra- dition. Apparently, the first lace made in the region was born from a love story between a beautiful girl, called Serena, and a young artist. One day, Serena's mother fell seriously ill: Serena prayed and vowed to renounce to her sweet- heart if the Lord was to cure her mother. One day, while the two lovers were under a tree, a beauti- ful spider web fell onto Serena's lap, right into her apron. Its pattern was so beautiful the two decided it needed to be kept and when Ser- ena reached home, she began re- producing the web's pattern with the thinnest, most delicate thread she had. Soon, her lacework be- came famous among local noble women and, thanks to the money she made selling it, she was able to pay for her mother's care. Mindful of her promise, Serena asked her lover for one last meet- ing, just under the same tree that gave them that precious spider web. While they were saying their goodbyes, all of a sudden, another spider web fell into Serena's lap: on it, it was written that she no longer needed to keep her vow and that the two were free to love each other for ever. to Puglia as a gift According to a legend of the Capo di Leuca area (Lecce), Min- erva became the protector of Puglia after a diatribe with Nep- tune, god of the sea. Minerva, ap- parently, had fallen in love with the lands of Puglia, but she wasn't the only one: Neptune himself wanted to make them his own, so he decided to gift their people with a horse. Minerva, who wasn't the goddess of wisdom for nothing, opted for a different gift, the olive tree, aware of the fact it was to give sustainment and wealth to the region. 4. In Bari Vecchia, there is a street where women make orec- chiette every Sunday In Strada Arco Basso, at the heart of the old part of Bari, com- monly known as Bari Vecchia, every Sunday local women move their culinary activities to the street and make orecchiette for family and visitors. Along with orecchi- ette, you can usually find other tra- ditional Pugliese delicacies for sale, like taralli and sun-dried tomatoes. 5. There are villages in the South of Puglia where people still speak Greek Salento, the southern-most part of Puglia, used to be part of Magna Graecia, Greece's own Italian colonies. Today, there are still communities here, known as Griko, who descend from the an- cient Greek inhabitants of Salento and still speak Greek dialects. There are about 54.000 Grikos in Puglia, but their numbers are de- creasing quickly. 6. Trulli hold some interest- ing, curious secrets Apparently, trulli came to Puglia with the Byzantines, who introduced this type of building, known especially in the Anatolic peninsula, to Italy. However, Puglia is home to the first twin trulli in history, that is, a double trullo, with two separate entrances, one for each single building, open- ing onto different streets. Legends say that the house was inherited by two brothers who fought over a woman who was in love with the younger but flirted also with the eldest. We don't know who the young lady ended up choosing, but surely the boys stopped talking to each other and ended up getting two different doors for their home, to avoid seeing each other. 7. Puglia is a land of ghosts Medieval legends say that the dead walk on a ghostly pilgrimage to Capo di Leuca, known since the Middle Ages as de finibus terrae (the end of Land) because of its location, to access quickly to Heaven. Always in Salento, tradi- tion tells us about sea witches liv- ing in the many grottos of the area, ready to kidnap every person brave enough to venture near them. When the sea is particularly stormy, you can hear them scream- ing. 8. In Ostuni, all houses must be white for historical reasons Since the 1800s, if you have a house in the centre of Ostuni (Brin- disi), you have the duty to paint it white. Now, the aesthetic effect is amazing, but the request is not rooted on artistic reasons but his- torical, apparently. At the time, it was believed that sunlight, once reflected onto the town's white walls, could blind enemies who wanted to attack it, giving to Os- tuni a military and tactical advan- tage. Even though those dangerous enemies have been long gone, the habit to keep houses white in Os- tuni remained. 9. Puglia is the cradle of Mankind Two important archaeological discoveries made Puglia famous around the world in recent years. The first is the discovery of the oldest Neanderthal Man skeleton on earth, found in the Grotta di Lamalunga, near Altamura (Bari). The Man of Altamura was per- fectly preserved because protected by the stalactites in which his bones had been incorporated. But there is more: if you are a di- nosaurs lover, look no further than the Valle and the Cava dei Di- nosauri, in the Alta Murgia region (Bari), where you'll find more than 25.000 dinosaurs footprints, dating ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES I trulli, with hteir whitewashed walls and conic roofs, have Byzantine origins © David Pillow | Dreamstime.com Traditional market street in Puglia © Michele Ursi | Dreamstime.com

• Cover