Negroamaro Winefestival

Today is the last day of the Negroamaro Winefestival. And finally I found the time to edit the photos that I took the first day of the festival :)

It's the second year of renewed Negroamaro Winefestival. Wine, olive oil, cheeses, cold cuts and a variety of local edible goods producers arrive from all the Puglia region. This year there are more than 100 exhibitors.

Every day from Friday till Tuesday (today) from 7 pm until late at night many people walked in the city center drinking, eating, dancing etc…

If you want you can just walk but  you should buy the ticket to taste delicious food . This ticket include drinks and foods or only drinks. Also you receive wine glass with special small bag-pocket to hang the glass on the neck.

I arrived early to take the picture of the main entrance, while there isn't a crowd. Of course the entrance has only decorative function)

We taste out first wine. It’s prosecco, Italian sparkling wine, good for begin the evening.

Each exhibitor tries to accentuate his stand and to attract people.

Usually olive oil is tryed on a piece of homemade bread, but you can ask to pour oil into a small cup.

This man has so good salami that we took two pieces)

Cute cheese decorations 

Traditional focaccia of Brindisi called Puddica:

The sausages were absolutely delicious ...

Porchetta, pronounced "por-ketta," is an Italian specialty of slow-roasted suckling pig.

This was cooking show. I arrived early so he cooked octopus:

but after that when was too dark to make photos he cooked pasta with seafood and this was SHOW-COOKING) I put video from my cell phone. He cooked spaghetti in 120cm pan!

Two little girls taking pieces was saying "I'm a little piranha" ;)

You can have just a taste of everything without ticket, but with it you will have a big plate of what you liked)

Our second or... glass of wine :)

There was also homemade beer for who doesn't like wine:

After all you could take sweet or fruits:

Holidays season in Italy

It's finished Holiday season and I want to write about Christmas and New Year’s traditions in Italy. As we all know already Italy is a country of traditions! They differ a bit from region to region or town to town just like the dialects, but some are common all over Italy and those are the ones I’d like to share.


Christmas is well loved and celebrated in Italy as all over the World and by the end of November most of the shops are decked out for the season.

On Christmas Eve the whole family gathers at the table laden with goods with Presepe in the center. Presepe is Nativity Scene in Italy - Joseph, Mary and animals in the stable. Just a few figures or all the table taken by scenes of local life. At Christmas time a lot of towns hold Presepe exhibitions and artists compete to make the best one. 

At midnight the youngest in the family holds the statuette of baby Jesus and leads the „train” of a sort where everybody follows holding the person before by the shoulders all around the house as they sing «tu scendi dalle stelle» - You come down from the stars. At the end of the song baby Jesus is put into Presepe and unwrapping of gifts starts.

One more Christmas tradition is Italian Christmas cakes that grace every table - panettone and pan d'oro.

There are other traditional sweets of this period. In our region they called purcedduzzi and carteddati. Purcedduzzi are small, funny, fried gnocchi with a sweet flavour and  an orange aroma, carteddati in dialect means bent, curved. Both can be decorated with almonds or cedar nuts (the almond tree is the most common in Puglia) and covered with honey. They can be covered also with "vincotto" - wine boiled until it becomes syrup.


Right after Christmas on the 26th is St.Stephen’s Day - Santo Stefano. He is the patron saint of Italy. I can’t remember any particular traditions of that day besides getting the whole family together one more time to feast from the heart and stomach!

Let’s move on from Christmas to New Years.


Traditionally it’s not a family holiday like Christmas, but a celebration with friends, usually a noisy and fun party. Often Italians go skiing for a few days over the New Years or just to get away to the mountains. One of the holy traditions of New Year’s Eve is cooking lentils and then eating them at midnight, of course without utensils, just with hands! Lentils are followed by meat delicacy called cotechino. It is a fresh sausage made from pork, fatback, and pork rind. Eaten with hands of course  Tradition says eating lentils at New Year’s will bring you lots of money in that year. As long as I remember, and especially since the crisis, it didn’t bring us any, but we still do it every year.

Last holiday of the season is Epafania - Epiphany, that is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on the 6th of January. Gift giving for Christmas is a novelty in Italy, that tradition isn’t older than 30 years. Before that the gifts were brought by Befana – old, ugly but kind witch that comes on her broom at the night of the 6th and places the gift into the stocking hung at the window or fireplace. Traditionally you have to leave Befana a snack. If the child was good for the year he or she will find stocking full of sweets, dry and fresh fruit, but if he or she was bad the stocking will be filled with coal. This tradition is getting forgotten now but my husband always leaves a sockful of chocolates and a tiny witch figure under my pillow.

Happy Holidays!

La Papara

Are you thinking that I visited Wild West of America? No)
This is "La Papara" - competition where horsemen from all parts of Puglia take part for winning the "head" of papara. La papara is a little balloon with water. The goal of horseman is at full tilt bring down it. For do this men should be able to perfectly ride a horse and have a coordination. It's important not only to bring down the balloon but return to start the shortest time. This year in La Papara took part 9 horsemen.


This man was my favorite because hi perfectly rided a horse and seemed organic whole with horse. Hi had the most beautiful horse I ever seen:

I thinked that he will win and he had the best time till the last boy. But this last boy took 4th place in European competition of Barrel Riding. His time was better for only 0.13 sec!

I made this photo in excactly moment when he break down the balloon)

Exploring Puglia - Ceglie Messappica

This Sunday we went to a Christmas dinner with some of our friends. The restorant was near the small town Ceglie Messappica far 40 km from Brindisi, half way between Brindisi and Taranto. This town is not so particular and beautiful as Locorotondo or Alberobello, but it is attractive small town in the countryside with long history. It’s one of the most ancient centres in Puglia. Ceglie Messapica’s history goes back to at least 15 centuries before Christ.

According to legend, the foundation of Ceglie was due to the great people of the Pelasgians, who arrived in Puglia from the East. Following the arrival of Greek colonists in the area, around 700 BC, the city took the name of Kaila. Between IX - VII centuries BC proud and honest people, Messapi built numerous residential centers, fortified with giant walls. It was their military capital It had four lines of walls, the inner one having a perimeter of 5 km. During the Messapi dominion the city prospered and extended remarkably, achieving a population of about 40.000 inhabitants.

When we arrived was a celebration of Carabinieri. This is their this festive form. Beautiful, Is not it?

The center of Ceglie.
Narrow streets.

The city and the country-side is full of restaurant, known and appreciated even outside the borders of Regione Puglia. In one of this we are going now…