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Best aperitif in Lecce: the famous Rustico 0

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

If you want to look very local in Lecce, you need to have an aperitif, before lunch, in the Sant’Oronzo square, like all the Leccese people!

Every day, at 12:0′clock an opera singer announces it is noon….and so aperitif time for the true Leccese people! we go to the Sant’Oronzo square to meet our friends, enjoy the sun and ….of course our aperitif before lunch.

The typical aperitif in Lecce is based on a “Rustico” and a drink, which is known as “bitter Campari”.

Rustico is a savory pastry made of pasta sfoglia (puff pastry) stuffed with mozzarella, tomato sauce, bechamel, black pepper and nutmeg and then baked in the oven.

It has a round shape with a diameter of 12 cm.

Rustico is something you can only find in Lecce and in the Salento area. In no other parts of Puglia or Italy you will find a Rustico.

Bitter Campari is an orange, non-alcoholic drink usually served with ice and a slice of orange. It reminds us of the English pims, but there is no mint and cucumber in it. It is also a bit bitter, that’s why it is called the “bitter Campari”.

Any coffee bar in the Sant’Oronzo square would be perfect for a rustico.

All the coffee bars would have the very local newspaper “Il Quotidiano” where you may find only news about events happening in the Lecce area (from politics, to economics, events etc).

Of course the most followed news are:

-Lecce soccer team

-weather in Puglia

-Horoscope!

-Lottery numbers

Tags: aperitif Lecce Lecce rustico
Category Focaccia & Bread, lifestyle in Lecce

Slow Mediterranean lifestyle: the siesta time 4

Posted on June 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

If you ever arrive in Lecce any time from 1 to 5 pm you will certainly think this is a gost town.
All houses will have their shutters down.

All shops will be closed and most bars and restaurants will be empty.

Nobody will be around apart from a few tourists desperately looking for open churches or monuments.

The only proof that humans are around may be a bottle of wine with a few glasses left on the table after lunch in a private home.

For those wondering what goes on from 1 to 5 pm in Lecce and everywhere else in Puglia, the answer is very simple: it’s siesta time!
All people go home to have lunch with their families and then, they go to bed for a long siesta…before starting their day again which goes on until very late at night.

After 5pm, little by little people start waking up again: first you see a man riding a bike, then a lady knocking a neighbour’s door…until when you see all the ladies gathering in front their house and chatting about their plans for dinner.

Many medical studies demonstrated that having a proper and seated lunch with our family improves our well being and lifestyle. Moreover taking a short siesta reduces the risks of many heart and health diseases…..of course when associated to a healthy way of eating.
In general I and Marika like this relaxed lifestyle and for the past few years, since we are back home in Puglia, we “have been forcing” ourselves to take an after lunch siesta every day, even just fo 15 minutes. There won’t be anything else you coud do otherwise: you can’t call anyone because all phones will be off; you can’t go shopping because all shops are closed. The only problem with taking a siesta is that once you get used to it, it’s very hard to go back and not take it anymore!

Tags: Italy traditions Lecce
Category Puglia, travel tips

Best things to do in Italy: living the dolce vita in Lecce 4

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

My friends traveling to Puglia to visit Lecce, often ask me what things they should see, which travel guide book they should buy, from where they should start visiting… and so on. My answer is always: non ti preoccupare (don’t worry!). You don’t need any planning….just come here soon (arriva presto)!

Southern Italians, we are famous for not planning enough! We say we enjoy life (non-Southern Italians say…we are lazy!). Of course I support the first interpretation…..

I think it’s great to take it easy when you come to Lecce and Puglia. Where else can you have such a wonderful opportunity to walk around an historical center which is just an outdoor museum?!

The historical center is just amazing with all his baroque style and architecture. You enter into a very narrow street, you think you are about to get lost……and suddenly you have this beautifully decorated Santa Croce Cathedral. You can only stare at it. You try to take pictures, but the street is too narrow, you just can’t take a full size picture!

You walk along the main Vittorio Emanuele street and you are just astonished by all the beautiful palaces with their handcrafted balconies, reproducing angels, lions, horses etc.

At night, you cross the main Sant’Oronzo square and suddenly you find a Roman amphitheatre (a much smaller version of the Colosseum in Rome!) where a dance ballet company is performing.

However, the best thing I usually suggest to my friends, is to mingle with the locals and live like the local Leccese people do……at least for one day! I promise you start with one day and then… you get addicted! (it’s worst than chocolate!). I have some friends who moved to Puglia from the US and the UK and are now so well accustomed to the Leccese way of life……!!

So how do people from Lecce spend their regular day?

The day starts at about 9:00am (in Lecce when we say 9, we actually mean 9:30). Of course we first need to read the news (i.e. weather forecast, horoscope, Lecce soccer team, night events). So we go to the bar in the main Santo Oronzo square for an “Espressino” and “Pasticciotto”: nobody who is a true Leccese would order anything different than this….I think it’s a breakfast written in our DNA. Espressino, which literally means little espresso, is actually a sort of espresso macchiato, served in a small glass coffee cup: 1 shot of coffee, with milk foam and bitter cocoa powder on top. Pasticciotto is a pastry filled with lemon cream that is one of the most typical pastries from Lecce (you don’t find it anywhere else in Puglia!).

Then, it’s time to work!! You ride your bike or vespa to the office, check you emails, Facebook and Twitter and then ….serious and hard work. After about two hours, the clock tower announces it’s already Mezzogiorno (Midday), time for the pre-lunch aperitif!
So you take your vespa or bike again and go to another bar (Raphael bar, near Mazzini Square) where you have an aperitif based on: rustico and crodino. Rustico is a salty pastry filled with mozzarella, béchamel and tomato sauce. You can only eat it in Lecce!
You meet your friends, check what they are doing at night and then back home for lunch with your family.

You may stop for some food shopping first or may be to buy some spring flowers at the beautiful market behind the big Castle.

Lunch time is from 1 to 4-5pm (it depends!), which of course includes the siesta. Yes, it depends because some shops open at 5.30 pm. Going back home for lunch and having a siesta is a religion which is respected more than anything else. If you walk in the streets at that time of the day you don’t find one single person. If you don’t know about the siesta, you may think Lecce is a desert town….but then at 5 (I mean ….at 5.30) life goes back again. People fill the streets, walking in a hurry to go back to work!

Well, in the afternoon a typical Leccese works until 8.30pm (yes, we do work long hours!)….then gym, shower and ready for the Leccese movida: pizza at 10.30pm and then a drink at the piazzetta behind the Duomo Cathedral. The night life goes on until 2am!….
I know life is too hard!

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Tags: Lecce pasticciotto Puglia things to do
Category cuisine, Favorites, Puglia, things to do in Puglia