A tour in Orsara di Puglia
Published: August292019

A tour in Orsara di Puglia

When you think about Puglia, you seldom think about Daunia Mountains, but you’re wrong: it is absolutely worth visiting it at least once in your life.

We have been hanging around this area many times, but last month we had a very authentic and unique experience in Orsara di Puglia.

We have been invited to be part of a press tour within the project ATLAS Interreg Italy-Croatia developed by Tecnopolis PST, the most important scientific and technological research center of Puglia.

Excited about this proposal, we immediately agreed, and we started this daily journey in this little village famous for its traditions and culture.

Experience tour

A daily trip among cheese and pasta making, edible plants, and good food

Our trip started in Bari, but when we finally arrived in Orsara di Puglia, there was a worldwide famous chef waiting for us: Peppe Zullo, which actually made Orsara di Puglia very popular as well.

Peppe Zullo is a very kind and smart chef who runs one of the best restaurants in Puglia, where every day builds the match between tradition and innovation on the route of healthy food.

He takes care of its large vegetable garden, its animals, and vineyards. Indeed, before cooking, he has just to pick up some vegetables and spontaneous edible plants from its garden.

Moreover, he can provide meat, dairy products, and fantastic wine.

Our journey with him gets started in a cheese factory where the dairymaid made for us mozzarelle, scamorza, and caciocavallo, three relevant kinds of cheese in the Apulian food panorama.

Then, he also offered a ricotta cheese tasting on a slice of fresh and fragrant bread, something genuine and delicious.

Peppe Zullo is very famous for its Italian temperament and for its positive and business-oriented mindset.

We had a taste of this when he brought us to the vegetable garden where he took at least two hours in a passionate talk about the spontaneous edible plants: borage, chicory, mauve, thyme, and many others.

After being surrounded by its incredible garden at Villa Jamele, in a few minutes, we got to the restaurant. Here we also learnt how to make fresh pasta: orecchiette, cavatelli, and cicatielli so our food experience began with starters and a glass of rosé wine.

The oldest bakery of Puglia

The next stop in our experience tour was at the Pane e Salute bakery: the oldest communal bakery in Puglia.

It has been for a long time a straw-burning oven, but nowadays it’s a wood-burning oven.

But what’s a communal bakery?

In Puglia, there’s a fascinating tradition born during the postwar period: at that time, to have a private oven was a luxury good, something only rich people had the pleasure to get.

So, towns and villages were full of communal bakeries. Our grandmas were used baking their bread, pizza, focaccia, or baked pasta in the shared bakeries, which were available, and gave this service in return for some cents.

In this fantastic land, as Puglia is, there’re still some of these communal ovens, even in the most important towns like Foggia, Bari, or Lecce.

Those are still active: some as cultural associations, some others as properly companies which give the opportunity yet to citizens to cook their meals in a wooden oven, which means: an added value talking about taste.

Pane e Salute was an incredible surprise for us. We were really amazed by listening to its story.

They still use a two hundred old starter for making bread and pizza, and it was the best pizza ever eaten so far.

We live far away from Orsara di Puglia, but we promise ourselves to come back soon to eat again that pizza, it’s worth it!

So, if you’re traveling to Puglia, consider the option to visit also the Daunia Mountains and Orsara di Puglia, and not only the most famous and crowded places on the travel guides.

First: if your journey starts from the Karol Wojtyła International Airport of Bari, take the train to the Main Train Station of Bari.

Second: from the Main Train Station of Bari get the train to Foggia.

Third: when in Foggia, take the train or the bus to Orsara di Puglia, find here the perfect train following your needs.

Travel information

To get to Orsara di Puglia by car from the Karol Wojtyła International Airport of Bari: follow this itinerary

Instead, if you’re by public transportation is a bit more intricate, but still possible if it’s a weekday.

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The tale of the Two Sisters


Traveling on the Apulian Adriatic coastline, in a few km from Lecce city, you’ll reach the marine area of Torre dell’Orso and the most famous Two Sisters Beach | ita: Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle.

  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia

Are you curious to know something about that singular name?

Well, there is a nice and a bit sad tale behind the Two Sisters Beach | ita: Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle. This gives the location a huge air of mystery.

This marine area is very fascinating. Reachable walking through a little Mediterranean Maquis forest, under the cliffs there’s a sandy beach 800 meters long.

Slight white sand, clear turquoise seawater, warm enchanting sun, everything in the same stunning place.

But probably you’re still thinking about the tale, so, I’m going to tell the story.

The tale of the Sisters

« The tale says that once upon a time, two young sisters were living in the Salento area. They were very hard workers, and they had never seen the magnificence of the sea.

One day, to counteract the hot summer, they went toward the seaside for the first time. Well, they were so much fascinated by the amazing view they got there that the younger one dived from the cliff into the water. At that point, the eldest sister tried to save her, but it was too late.

They couldn’t get back to the shore. The Gods, looking at them: alone, desperate, and cute, decided to turn them into two beautiful rocky stacks in the middle of the sea.

A fisherman, while walking nearby, just saw two rocks rise from the sea. Since that day, the beach is known as Two Sisters Beach. »

The tale is very magical but a bit sad, and once there, it’s really hard to don’t get emotional.

Then, the clear seawater just completes the landscape.

Two Sisters Beach and Torre Dell’Orso

The Two Sisters Beach| ita: Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | is located in the marine area of MelendugnoTorre dell’Orso. For the sake of completeness, we have to say that also this name has got a charming little story.

In this case, the name Torre dell’Orso, which literally means Bear Tower, derives from the sighting tower by the sea.

Then, on the cliff under the tower, there’s a rock shaped like a bear by the erosion.

  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia
  • Two Sisters Beach - Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | Torre dell'Orso | Lecce | Salento | Puglia

One day trip

If you want to get a fantastic and cool experience traveling on the Adriatic coastline, start your trip having a good breakfast in Lecce.

We advise you to ask for a pasticiotto and a caffè leccese: you’ll love them from here to the moon and back!

Then, drive from Lecce to Roca Vecchia village, where the amazing Poetry Cave | ita: Grotta della Poesia | awaits you for a nice dive.

After that, run towards the Two Sisters Beach | ita: Spiaggia delle Due Sorelle | to get a relaxing swim into one of the most beautiful seas of Puglia.

In the end, reach Torre Sant’Andrea to admire the stunning view of The Sea Stacks of Sant’Andrea | ita: I Faraglioni di Sant’Andrea .

But if you have still time, don’t miss the weird landscape of the Bauxite Cave | ita: Cava di Bauxite | quite close to Otranto.

You can easily do this little itinerary on a one day trip. From the morning to the night on the southern Adriatic coastline of Puglia.

We did it and you find an article about our Road Trip in Salento on the blog!

Would you like to start your trip? Enjoy your One day trip to Salento!

Click on the map below to directly get the direction.

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Big news for you!

We’ve opened the first Puglia Poster Store!

We deliver posters in Italy for now, or you can catch them in Bari.

Starting from September 27th

Let us know if you live in the US or a European country and want to make an order.

We’ll set it up!