Italian culture, food and hotels: Attitude’s travel editor visits LGBTQ+ friendly Puglia
Baroque beauty, queer resilience and a magnificent masseria – Puglia serves sun, style and surprises in Italy’s under-the-radar south
Is a ring of 36 cherubs excessive? Perhaps, but those are only the ones around the southern Italian city of Lecce’s Basilica of Santa Croce’s rose window; I count dozens of additional cheeky winged babes among stone carvings of plants, dragons, knights and even Hercules on the building’s façade.
It is the most ornate church in the city, which is blessed with so many baroque buildings it is referred to as the ‘Florence of the South’.
Located in the region of Puglia, near the bottom of the Salento peninsula, the stiletto heel of Italy, Lecce is like a living museum. One huge advantage it has over gems further north is there are fewer tourists. It is 9am on a Saturday morning in May, and my partner and I have the old town to ourselves.
Architecture
The morning sun is casting honey-hued light on narrow, twisting streets that house grand doorways and evermore colossal church façades. This city’s artful architecture was created during a period of wealth some centuries ago, and is made from Lecce stone, a soft, pale-yellow material highly prized for its architectural uses and primarily found in Salento.
The partial excavation of a second-century BC Roman amphitheatre, which could seat 25,000 spectators, leads the visitor down another avenue into the past and is available for all to peer into from one of the city’s main squares.
Aside from the sights, there are plenty of artisan shops selling ceramics and clothing. There are also numerous studios housing artists practising papier-mâché. The art form has been popular since the 17th century, and the studios offer a chance to see the craftsmen’s creations, which are also displayed in churches or used during festivals.
Although the city has plenty to see, there’s little in the way of an LGBTQ+ scene. Since 2022, Lecce has taken the reins of Salento Pride from previous hosts Gallipoli and Brindisi, but it does not have any gay bars or dedicated queer venues. What it does have is a strong community spirit, as I discover when I spot two massive Progress Pride flags hanging outside Lecce’s Re Mida restaurant and go inside to investigate. There, I meet the owner who tells me in broken English that she just wants people to know that everyone is accepted.
On the wall are two stark, black-and-white prints of Italian drag queens by Lecce-based photographer Giulia Carluccio, who worked on the series in partnership with LeA, a local trans-feminist association. The photographer’s prints featuring other LGBTQ+ people are presented in various queer-friendly restaurants, pubs and shops. For more of a scene, your best bet is to venture to Gallipoli on the western coast of Salento, where there are also several popular gay beaches.
Hospitality
Next, we stop for a coffee at Cafferia Benarte, where owner Luciano Treggiari is working behind the bar. On the walls are centuries-old paintings, which, he proudly shows us, are reproduced on the labels of the beer and Prosecco he sells.
But this small picture gallery is only the tip of the iceberg. Over 30 years, Treggiari has amassed one of the largest collections of European art and antiques, with important pieces dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
“I started my collection in the 1990s,” Treggiari tells us. “I opened my shop, Ship in Arte, in 2002. Next year, I will open a museum in my name and give it to the city.”
It is a bit of a shock to see him making coffees and cocktails at the bar. With a café, his own clothing line, drinks brands, an art shop and a forthcoming museum, he is clearly a man who is willing to put in the graft.
We make our way to Ship in Arte and see many passersby stop in their tracks to peer through its large glass windows. Inside, it is like the treasure-laden cave from The Arabian Nights, with paintings, carvings, busts and ceramics beautifully presented from floor to ceiling. And there are some wonderfully odd finds too: if you are after a curvaceous wooden mermaid that once sailed upon a Venetian galleon, this is the place to visit, though it will set you back €28,000.
In the evening, we dine at Trattoria Nonna Tetti, a restaurant that feels like eating at an Italian grandmother’s home. Inside, beneath stone walls that curve into an arched ceiling, dishes are eaten from decorated earthenware on tables covered with homely, checked tablecloths. Most of the menu is easy to figure out, with plenty of homemade pasta dishes, but I am intrigued to discover what the curiously titled Fantasy of Nonna Tetti is. When they say it is gnocchi, I’m immediately sold, and the dish lives up to its name.
After leaving the restaurant, we find the city streets are coming alive as the sun sets on the warm Saturday evening. People crowd outside small bars listening to live music, but we head to Quanto Basta, Lecce’s first street cocktail bar, which opened in 2013 and has won a plethora of awards. There is little seating inside, but lots of tables and chairs outside. The cocktail menu explains that the drinks are inspired by local myths and legends of the area.
Palazzo de Noha design hotel, Puglia
After downing brilliant cocktails inspired by sea serpents, witches and an ‘omen of death’ dog, we call it a night and head back to the 14-room Palazzo de Noha design hotel.
When we arrived earlier in the day, the hotel receptionist was one of the most helpful and attentive I’ve ever encountered. She took the time to tell us where to visit and offered us the hotel’s list of recommended restaurants – there was a sense of pride for both the city and the hotel in every word.
The hotel started life as a private home owned by Baron Nero, who in the 16th century donated it to become an orphanage for abandoned children, which was a major issue. The building was renovated, and in 2020 opened as a boutique hotel. There are lots of nods giving great respect to its history, as well as plenty of fun details and quirky art and furniture.
After a rooftop breakfast, it is time to hit the rails for our next destination – Fasano, a coastal town 100 kilometres north. Southern Italy is famously less industrialised than the north, so I’m not expecting the trains to be modern, but I couldn’t be more wrong. They are significantly bigger and better than UK trains. And the best part is, tickets are shockingly inexpensive – just €5 for our hour-long journey.
Rocco Forte’s Masseria Torre Maizza, Puglia
After taking in the scenery of flat, farmed fields with the sea visible in the distance, we arrive and are collected from the station by staff from Rocco Forte’s Masseria Torre Maizza, where we are staying. Only a 10-minute journey and quick check-in later, we are led down an avenue of single-storey buildings lined with precisely trimmed hedges and fragrant flora.
The hotel boasts 40 rooms and suites, and we find ourselves in a quaint suite with a seating area, a massive bed and a stone-tiled bathroom with his-and-his basins. A door opposite the entrance leads to a small patio area with sun loungers and a heated plunge pool. On several occasions, we are told the number one rule is to make ourselves at home – and we do just that.
This is one of nine of the chain’s Italian properties, with three more being added by the end of 2026. The 16th-century white-washed farmhouse, which is typical of the area, has been lovingly transformed into a luxury getaway. The former stables is now Carosello, a restaurant named after Puglia’s native vegetable, which we find growing in the kitchen garden. Beyond the restaurant’s citrus orchard terrace is a 20-metre pool and bar with a pizza oven. There is an air-conditioned, glass-walled gym surrounded by greenery and a nine-hole golf course. And the cocktail bar proves to be the perfect rest spot after a day of exploring.
Hundreds of twisty, ethereal-looking olive trees populate the grounds, with many dating back hundreds of years or even to Roman times. Puglia has 50 million olive trees, the highest density in the world, with many trees tagged and protected by law.
There is a small spa onsite that employs Irene Forte Skincare products, which are B Corp certified. The products demonstrate that the chain is very much a family affair, with Sir Rocco Forte, his wife and his children all involved in running the travel empire. His daughter’s selection of toiletries in our bathroom smell divine, and the packages of hibiscus night cream left on our bed each evening are a nice touch.
This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in Attitude’s November/December 2023 issue.
For more information on Masseria Torre Maizza, visit Rocco Forte Hotels official website.
Attitude’s travel editor flew with British Airways from London Gatwick to Bari using tickets won by his boyfriend in a raffle in support of Trans Pride Brighton. Flights operate from May to October, with up to 11 flights per week to choose from. Book the best prices on the British Airways official website.
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