Table & Vine
Bringing Food From Italy to the US: What You Can Pack From Puglia
Bringing food from Italy to the US: olive oil, wine, taralli and hard cheese are allowed; capocollo, ricotta and fresh produce are not.
Bringing food from Italy to the US: olive oil, wine, taralli and hard cheese are allowed; capocollo, ricotta and fresh produce are not.
Lecce as a base for Salento in 2026: trains to Gallipoli for €5.40 and Otranto for €4.50, Sunday gaps, parking, tourist tax and rents.
Lecce’s tourist train always starts and finishes at Piazza del Duomo. The two routes we’ve ridden, a map, seasonal hours, tickets and tips.
A self-guided Lecce walking tour: seven stops through the baroque old town in about 2.4 km, from Piazza Mazzini to the Duomo, with a map and timing tips.
Wine tasting in Puglia: what a winery visit costs at nine wineries in 2026, how to book, where to go and how much wine you can take home.
Monopoli as a Puglia base: trains to Polignano, Bari and Ostuni, Blue Flag beaches, the old-town ZTL, tourist tax and 2026 rents.
What to eat in Puglia and where it comes from: orecchiette, burrata, focaccia, mussels, olive oil, Primitivo and what is in season now.
When to visit Puglia, month by month: Bari and Lecce weather averages, beach season dates, festivals and the best months for each trip.
Puglia in winter: what stays open, what closes, real weather from November to February, and the festivals worth planning a December or January trip around.
Puglia’s olive harvest runs from mid-September into winter. When to taste olio nuovo, what the labels mean, and how the mills work in the 2026 season.
15 Lecce restaurants, all checked as open in September 2026: trattorias, pizza and seafood, sorted by budget, area and occasion, plus dietary and booking tips.
At Christmas, Puglia puts on its most intimate face. Narrow streets glow with lights, nativity scenes appear in churches and courtyards, and the air smells
A short guide to boutique hotels in Lecce, from restored palazzi and a convent in the old town to two fortified masserie nearby, with tips on parking.
Lecce, the Baroque jewel of the Salento, feeds the appetite as well as the eye. Beyond its stunning architecture, the city has a small but
Few places marry well quite like Puglia. In Salento, at the tip of the heel, couples can choose between castles and old convents, rose gardens
You do not need a car to swim from Lecce. The city’s own buses run to the nearest beaches at San Cataldo and Torre Chianca,
Updated October 2026 · Puglia Everyday research Martina Franca sits on a hill above the Valle d’Itria, one of the largest towns in the valley
The Valle d’Itria, or Itria Valley, is the gentle green heart of Puglia, spread across the provinces of Bari, Brindisi and Taranto. Low limestone plateaus
Why Lecce is called the Florence of the South: its golden baroque churches, Roman amphitheater, old-town streets and what to see on a first visit.
All 27 Puglia towns awarded the 2026 Blue Flag (Bandiera Blu), with every listed beach by province, sandy or rocky notes, and tips for choosing the right beach.
Know what’s happening in Puglia before everyone else. Every day, plus rare homes and can’t-miss events.