Le Stanzie

 Danica and Samuel recommended Le Stanzie for a special lunch, and I'm always happy to spend time in a lovely environment with good food!

Le Stanzie is a masseria which is basically a large farm inhabited by the landowners, including lodgings for the peasants working the land, stables, and warehouses for forage and crops. The largest number of masserie is found in Puglia.

We threw the address into google maps, threw the car into gear and headed off, first in the direction of Tricase (the old town as opposed to the Port of Tricase where we are staying). Beautiful little square, incredible basilica (those huge churches and all that gilding is a separate conversation - such largesse). We may have spent some time in the beautiful ceramic shop and the linen shop - we may (I) have even bought a few things.. Helen Miren has a bar in this little village. The colour of the stone is warmer here - 














Castro was our next spot - amazing lido (outdoor natural pool) and marina, really pretty, and then a hilltop old town with grottos. Picking the basis for the hilltop towns was the ability to see if anyone was planning a siege?



And then on to lunch - GPS took as through tiny country lanes bordered by rock walls. I kept seeing drywall buildings, oval in shape, some with squared off sides - seems these were created as the fields were cleared of rocks, some used for storing food.


Le Stanzie is just stunning - walking up the front pathway, the gardens were planted out with basil and sage, rows of nicotiana with racks of leaves from the plant drying in the sun. Garlands of tomatoes were hanging to dry from the arches, garlands of onions and chillis. The family rooms has been left intact so that each little discreet corner had a table set up for dining. In the room off we were seated, a table was set up for a banquet with about 20 people, but the walls of the building were so thick that any noise was just a murmur.

The food was divine - we thought we would share an antipasto and then choose one of the pastas - all of the little tasting dishes of which were traditional food - black chickpeas, turnip, veal liver - flavours that were new and interesting. That one tasting filled us up  - we didn't get to move on to try anything else! I think the best was to enjoy this place would be to spend the whole afternoon with long pauses between the various plati!

Here are some shots, but they don't do justice to the place - the solidness, the silence, the feeling of history. Absolutely loved it!































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