Gourmet Puglia

Begin your culinary affair with a cooking class in the romantic city of Lecce. Accompanied by a culinary connoisseur, start with an espresso at a local café before shopping for seasonal ingredients from market vendors. Your cooking class is based in a historic building in the centre of town where you’ll learn how to whip up dishes like handmade orecchiette with mussels and delicate courgette flowers. Then feast family-style with a medley of south Italy’s finest wines.

Spend the afternoon uncovering some of Puglia’s charming boutique wines. Duck into several bars to taste tipple from Salento known for its year-round sun, mineral-rich soils and consistent sea breeze. Its most important wines feature the rustic-tasting negroamaro and robust primitivo grape. Linger over these regional specialities with a plate of antipasti.

Enjoy a languid dining experience among the lemon-scented gardens of an upscale hotel where you’ll learn how to cook Apulian delicacies using fresh local produce. Ingredients may include sun-ripened tomatoes from Torre Guaceto, straciatelle from Andria and fish straight from the morning catch. You’ll whip up dishes like home-baked focaccia, lip-smacking seafood spaghetti and moreish grissini. Round it off with biscotti.