Discover the beauty of Apulia with Dolcevita travel: an unforgettable journey through picturesque villages, crystal-clear beaches and authentic gastronomy. Book your group holiday now to explore the heart of Southern Italy
The Apulia tour allows you to visit UNESCO World Heritage sites, savor delicious local cuisine, and meet the warm-hearted inhabitants of the region. Discover Lecce, the Baroque capital, admire the landscapes of the Itria Valley, and explore treasures such as Matera, the troglodyte town next door to Apulia.
8 days/7 nights
Day 1: Departure from your city to Bari (Lecce region)
Meeting point at the airport. Flight to Bari on scheduled flights with stopovers.
Arrival in Bari, Italy, and welcome by your English-speaking tour guide, who will be with you throughout your stay.
Transfer to the Lecce region. Dinner and overnight at your hotel.
Day 2: Otranto – Gallipoli
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure for the easternmost tip of Italy, to OTRANTO, a fishing port where a dialect very close to Greek is still spoken. Visit with a local guide to the town and its cathedral (remarkable mosaic pavement from the 12th century), the old town and the Aragonese castle (15th century).
Enjoy your lunch in a local restaurant
In the afternoon, we continue with a visit to the town of GALLIPOLI, built on a small almost-island, with its characteristic whitewashed houses, narrow streets and “terraced” roofs that make it look like a real Oriental town. Visit the castle and cathedral, then take a stroll along the Riviera, along the ramparts offering beautiful views of the Jonio Sea.
Return to your hotel in the Lecce area in the late afternoon, dinner and overnight at your hotel.
Day 3: Lecce
Breakfast at the hotel.
Discover the city of Lecce, “the Florence of the Baroque”, where sumptuous architecture is the backdrop for exquisite ornamentation. The local stone, particularly soft, lent itself to the whims of the sculptors’ chisels. You’ll discover the remains of the Roman amphitheatre, the Venetian-built church of San Marco, and plenty of evidence of the boom in art here in the 17th and 18th centuries. Triumphal arches, obelisks, palaces, caryatids, fountains – everything is arranged in a theatrical Baroque décor.
Continue on to the Piazza del Duomo, home to an astonishing campanile, the cathedral, the seminary palace, the episcopal palace and several dazzling facades. Many other details of the city will hold your attention, testifying to the invention and exquisite refinement of a civilization that we would venture to describe as “Mozartean”.
Lunch in town and some free time.
In accordance with the day’s schedule, visit and tasting at a local wine producer.
Return to your hotel in the Lecce area in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight
Day 4: Alberobello – Locorotondo – Ostuni
Breakfast with your group at the hotel
The morning is dedicated to discovering the region’s trulli, tiny cone-roofed houses dotted around vineyards and gardens.
Visit Alberobello, for a close-up look at the famous dwellings that seem to have been made for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Lunch at the hotel. Afternoon stop at Locorotondo, a typical hilltop village (rotondo = round) with characteristic houses…
Continue on to Ostuni, built on three hills (the highest of which supports the medieval town). Explore the picturesque old town, with its Baroque and Renaissance palaces, the 13th-century cathedral at the top of the hill and narrow streets reminiscent of a Cycladic village. Visit to an olive oil producer: walk under the olive trees, explanation of production methods and tasting.
Accommodation at your hotel in the Alberobello area in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight
Day 5: Trani – Bari
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel with your group
The morning will be dedicated to discovering Trani, with its characteristic historic seaside center and splendid Roman cathedral with its interior and crypt.
Discover Bari by strolling along the Lungomare Nazario Sauro, a beautiful promenade running alongside the Adriatic Sea. But it’s Bari’s old town that really catches your eye: a medieval town with narrow streets and staircases that sometimes remind you of a medina. It’s not unusual to see women making pasta in front of their doors.
Lunch at a restaurant during the visit.
You’ll also discover two very fine churches: San Nicola, a Romanesque basilica built at the behest of a Norman prince (with a façade of rare nobility, an episcopal throne and a curious crypt housing the tomb of St. Nicholas, whose relics were brought from Asia Minor by sailors from Bari), and the cathedral, remodeled in Romanesque style with Baroque additions. marins de Bari) et la cathédrale remaniée en style roman avec des ajouts baroques.
Return to your hotel in the Alberobello area in . Dinner and overnight at your hotel.
Day 6: Matera – Martina Franca
Breakfast at the hotel.
In the morning, excursion to Matera: through the gentle hills dotted with olive trees, we’ll reach Matera, in the Basilicata region, which we visit above all to admire the “Sassi”, houses in troglodytic quarters formed by white buildings superimposed in such a way that the roofs serve as streets.
Next, we explore the “Strada dei Sassi”, which runs along the wild gorge and around the rock supporting the cathedral.
Lunch in a restaurant during the excursion.
The afternoon is devoted to a visit to Martina Franca, situated on the highest hill in the Murge, with its interesting Baroque buildings and numerous small rococo palaces that give it a very endearing appearance.
Dinner in a typical restaurant in Martina Franca with local specialities
Overnight accomodation in Alberobello
Jour 7: Polignano – Monopoli – Castellana Grotte
Breakfast with your group at the hotel
The morning is dedicated to discovering Monopoli, with its Baroque cathedral and the Aragonese castle that dominates the town. Next stop is Polignano a Mare, a picturesque village built on a rocky outcrop with a beautiful view of the Adriatic Sea: visit the beautiful Matrice church.
Lunch with your group in a local restaurant
In the afternoon, excursion to Castellana to enter and visit its caves, which follow the course of an ancient underground river: drapery, stalactites, stalagmites and the grandiose Grotta Bianca with its characteristic calcite crystals.
Overnihgt accomodation in Alberobello
Day 8: Bari – Return
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel with your group
Free morning in accordance with your flight
Transfer with your motor coach fron your hotel to the Bari airport. Board your flight from Bari and fly back to your destination
Contact us now to organize this experience of a lifetime!