Great quality food is at heart of Puglia’s charm

IF THE way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, few places offer more pulling power than plentiful Puglia.

The region on the sunkissed heel of Italy, known for good reason as the bread basket of the country, positively strains under the weight of sumptuous goodies.

And that can only mean one thing – a foodie’s paradise.

Some of the most memorable meals in my lifetime have been served up in northern Italy, from a sublime ravioli dish of pumpkin and pasta at a Rimini castle, to an unforgettable feast of poultry at the Michelinstarred St Hubertus, high up in the Italian Alps.

But for consistent perfection on a plate, nothing compares to the simple yet delicious dishes served further south. And one course in particular will stay with me for the rest my life.

It is said the Italians put up with many things, but never bad food. Their unpretentious restaurants with tacky murals and rickety furniture may often be crying out for a makeover, but the cuisine is seldom less than perfect.

The southern fare is, to coin an old Opal Fruits advert, made to make your mouth water. Bright red cherry tomatoes compete for attention with succulent oranges and the juiciest grapes you could wish for in a kaleidoscope of fruits and vegetables.

With such an abundance of food, prices both in the supermarkets and restaurants are often incredibly cheap.

How does three euros (£2.53) sound for a large margherita pizza at a pizzeria in the lively capital Bari, or four euros (£3.38) for a platter of fresh fruit big enough to feed a family of ten at a restaurant in Alberobello?

The foundation of Puglia’s wealth is its mass production of olives, or “green gold”. Gazing out from the airport window, the region around Bari looks like one giant patchwork green quilt glistening under the midday sun, interspersed by pockets of pretty whitewashed villages.

There are around 60 million olive trees in Puglia, many of them more than 1,000 years old and four million protected by government legislation.

The produce

They look like gnarled relics of a bygone era, often propped up by crumbling limestone blocks. But the rich, fertile land and wonderful Mediterranean climate helps them produce 80pc of the country’s olive oil.

Farmer Corrado Brancati has quite possibly some of the oldest trees at his charming working home, the Masseria Brancati, on the outskirts of Ostuni. His family has been making olive oil for more than 200 years and he believes some of the trees could have been bearing fruit since before the time of Christ.

A visit to see the Roman-age mill that has been lovingly restored in a cave beneath Corrado's 16th century farmhouse and to taste the various flavours of oil that the olives produce should be high on your list.

Most of Italy’s fish is caught off the Puglian coast and 80pc of Europe’s pasta – all 200 different types of it – is produced in the region.

As a keen fisherman, I’m salivating at the number of fish being caught at the quaint Savelletri coastal resort, a stone’s throw from my base for the week, the magnificent Masseria Torre Maizza and its sister hotel, the Maizza Torre Coccaro.

Each morning, the hotel’s chefs select from the choicest supplies of fresh bream, scampi, grouper, lobster, oysters, clams and squid, before serving up meals fit for the gods.

Thanks to the skills of the hotel’s genial head chef, 29- year-old Vito Giannuzzi, one of the dishes will be etched in my memory for a very long time.

An exquisite meal of raw grouper fish marinated with red berries and lime, red prawns from nearby Gallipoli, scampi pearl, low-fat yoghurt sauce and “mint flavoured fizzy slush” is enough to render me speechless and, I’m not embarrassed to say, just a little emotional.

This is washed down by a very agreeable ruby red Il Falcone wine, a full-bodied little number from the ancient farms of Puglia’s Cornia Valley.

The Maizza and Coccoro are among 250 masseria in Puglia offering tourists a heady mix of long summer days, characterful accommodation and the freshest of food, some have coookery schools.

Corrado Brancati inside one of his 1,000- year-old olive trees at the Masseria Brancati in Puglia

Cycling groups are increasingly being attracted to the area by the flat roads and picturesque landscape and of course the food.