Getting a feel for Italy's heel

Sitting at the 底（に届く） of the boot of Italy, Puglia has been - やめる literally - 負かす／撃墜する at heel for some time. Without the monuments of Rome and Venice or the picture-postcard perfection of the Amalfi coast, the southern town has 伝統的に been overlooked by tourists.

But now the poor man of Italy has suddenly become, 井戸／弁護士席, rather chi-chi. So much so that when we heard George Clooney had started house-追跡（する）ing there, we needed little 説得／派閥 to dash over.

Not that everyone is pleased though. Our hotel owner Vittorio Muolo bemoans the fact there are too many five-星／主役にする 訴える手段／行楽地s 開始 近づく his deluxe masseria, a 変えるd farmhouse-cum-boutique hotel. 'Five 最高の，を越す-end masseria within six miles,' he wails, shaking his 長，率いる in a 'things ain't what they used to be' way.

And thank goodness. Ransacked for centuries by the Greeks, the Spanish and Turkish 著作権侵害者s, and relying おもに on 農業, poverty-攻撃する，衝突する Puglia has long 欠如（する）d the glamour of its northern 隣人s. This is essentially a 田舎の 地域 with flat, somewhat uninspiring countryside stretching for miles, peppered liberally with thousands of olive trees.

But take a detour across the red, sun-scorched landscape - dubbed the Tuscany of the south - and you will be pleasantly surprised. For nestled in の中で the olive groves are a number of masseria springing up like oases in the 砂漠.

They were 伝統的に 防備を堅める／強化するd farmhouses, studding the countryside at one-mile intervals and used as watcht owers to 区 against 強盗団の一味. Nearly five centuries later, many of their owners have caught on to the chi-chi fever 広範囲にわたる the south and transformed their 所有物／資産／財産s into delightful 退却／保養地s.

One such oasis is the 16th-century Masseria Torre Coccaro about 30 miles from Brindisi and a few hundred yards from the sea. The shimmering white 見通し 花冠d in magenta bougainvillea and encircled with jasmine-scented pathways could have been a million miles away from the sprawling 産業の ports of Bari and Brindisi we had left behind. Instead it took いっそう少なく than an hour to escape there from the airport, making it perfect for a 週末 break.

Its comfy rooms, 概略で hewn out of 石灰岩 with rustic chic decor and 地元で-produced olive oil toiletries, were すぐに relaxing; the Aveda spa in 地下組織の 洞穴s even more so. Days were spent lounging by the hotel's lake-like pool, reading in the pretty 中庭s in 前線 of each room and spending hours over leisurely lunches in the terrace restaurant.

As the sun dipped 負かす／撃墜する behind the olive trees, we enjoyed candlelit al fresco dinners, which were invariably lavish 祝宴s of course-after-course of fresh fish and vegetables, such as anchovies 霧雨d in lemon juice and olive oil, octopus and homemade pasta.

For while the 地域 might be poor, its diet certainly is not. Puglia produces a fifth of Italy's ワイン and two-thirds of the country's olive oil, making it impossible not to eat 井戸／弁護士席.

The groves at our masseria were groaning under the 豊富 of fresh figs, lemons, cherries, courgettes, olives, carrots, onions and beans growing there, all of which 設立する their way の上に our dining （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

Keen to learn how to recreate some of the dishes at home, we joined Torre Coccaro's in-house cookery school. 井戸／弁護士席, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so if we do run into Mr Clooney, we'd like to be 井戸／弁護士席-用意が出来ている...

Deft Liberata Bruno taught us how to make amazi ngly simple but impressive dishes such as orecchiette - meaning little ears, a type of pasta typical to Puglia - parmigiana (aubergine 層d with mozzarella and tomato sauce) and calzone, an Italian 見解／翻訳／版 of a Cornish pasty.

To work off our enormous lunch, we made our way to the masseria's beach club - about as chic as it gets with sumptuous, divan-like sofas to curl up on for an afternoon siesta and elegant bamboo furniture.

Its 招待するing 私的な beach seemed just the place to entice a Hollywood superstar - but still a sighting of Clooney 避けるd us. Luckily Puglia had plenty of other distractions.

The queen of chic herself, Nancy dell'Olio, waxes lyrical about the area where she spent her childhood. To discover what 奮起させるd her, we 乗る，着手するd on an 探検 of the Apulian countryside, dotted with white-tipped conical trulli.

In and around Alberobello, hundreds of the strangely picturesque architectural anomalies - once used by 農業者s and now homes to shops and 居住（者）s - sprout from the landscape like mushrooms.

The town became 悪名高い in the 18th century because of an eccentric blind count who used to take potshots from his balcony at women carrying baskets below - then, as legend has it, turning their flesh into furniture. These days the only danger is from ぐずぐず残る too long の中で its charming trulli-lined streets.

その上の inland in the Valle d'Itria, we 在庫／株d up on the best olive oil we had ever tasted at Il Frantolio di D'Amico Pietro, where much of the stuff is produced laboriously - but deliciously - by 手渡す.

On a 小旅行する of its factory, we learned 'lacrima' oil, meaning 涙／ほころびs, is the purest form you can get, drawn from the first 圧力（をかける） of the olives and so-指名するd because it takes 血, sweat and 涙／ほころびs to make. It tasted so rich it was 事実上 a meal in itself and we 熱望して snapped up armfuls of 瓶／封じ込めるs for いっそう少なく than £10.

罰金 dining was becoming something of a 主題 and at pretty Ostuni - where white houses stacked on hillsides reminded us of a Greek village - we ate like kings. We gorged on dish after dish of 黒人／ボイコット pasta coloured by olives, mussels fished from 地元の harbours and chilli prawns the size of a 握りこぶし.

Apulian dishes aren't fussy but the 成分s are superb - a reflection of a 地域 that 達成するs its swanky status through the simplest of 楽しみs.

投機・賭ける その上の south and the Baroque town Lecce - 愛称d the Florence of the south - gives more famous Italian 目印s a run for their money. Its buildings are carved out of warm, buttery-coloured 石灰岩, giving the whole town the 外見 of 存在 bathed in a golden glow.

We stayed at the elegantly understated Patria Palace Hotel, conveniently placed just a 石／投石する's throw from the jaw-dropping Basilica della Santa Croce.

Like the 残り／休憩（する） of the university town's sumptuous buildings, the church is 素晴らしい, but one of the greatest joys of this university town is 簡単に watching the world go by with a cappuccino.

By day barely a soul strolls its sleepy cobbled streets. Come nightfall, the pavements 主要な off Corso Vittorio Emmanuele are heaving with funseekers drawn to lively 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and street 業績／成果s which go on into the 早期に hours. We may not have caught a glimpse of our Hollywood heartthrob, but Puglia certainly managed to seduce us.

Travel facts

Rooms at the Masseria Torre Coccaro 近づく Fasano cost from ?242 (£168) per night, 含むing breakfast. To 調書をとる／予約する call 0039 080 482 9310 or see www.masseriatorrecoccaro.com.

Rooms at the Patria Palace Hotel in Lecce start from ?200 (£137) per night. 接触する Italian 小旅行する 操作者 Citalia at www.citalia.com for more 詳細（に述べる）s.

Ryanair 飛行機で行くs from Stansted to Bari and Brindisi on 補欠／交替の／交替する days. Return flights start from £32 and can be 調書をとる／予約するd at www.ryanair.com.

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