Lecce | Italy cooking Courses

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!

Please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

Tags: Lecce Lecce best things to see pasticciotto rustico
Category Favorites, Puglia, cuisine, lifestyle in Lecce, things to do in Puglia, traditions, travel tips

Two very delicious recipes for ice cream! 0

Posted on April 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

The spring has finally arrived in Lecce after a very rainy winter. This is a fantastic excuse to have my and Marika’s favorite icecream…which is the hazelnut flavor…
In Lecce we have two ways to prepare a very good icecream dessert.
The first recipe is called “Nocciolino” (which in Italian means, the little hazelnut).

The recipe is:
-two shots and very warm of coffee (served in a very small glass)
-one scoop of hazelnut ice cream

You put the ice cream in the glass and pour the warm coffee on top. The combination of the warm coffee with the ice cream is soooo good!

The second recipe is called: “affogato” which in Italian means drowned.

The recipe is:
-one big (or two..is better) scoops of truffle chocolate ice cream (the best is the one which has the vanilla and a small piece of lady finger biscuit, inside)
-half glass of digestive liquor (in Italy we call it, “Amaro”)
-toasted almond (for topping)

Of course for both recipes it is very important that the coffee, the ice cream and the liquor are of very good quality!!

Do you have any other interesting recipe for ice cream?

Tags: Italy Ice cream Lecce nocciolino Puglia desserts
Category Ice cream, Ice creams & Sorbets, Recipes

Lecce best things to do in January 0

Posted on October 19, 2007 by Stile Mediterraneo

The “Focara” fire celebrations – Novoli, Lecce. January 16 – 17, 2008.

In Novoli the fiesta in honor of the Patron Saint Antony is celebrated around a focara, which is a bonfire made with vine branches from the plants that have just been pruned.

This mountain can be more than 25 metres high. Religious symbols are placed on top. This ritual takes place every year on the night between January 16th and 17th.

Fire is very often used during rituals in the Salento area. This is due to pagan culture where it symbolized purification and rebirth.

This tradition has been passed down for years and years in Novoli and the bundles of wood are put on top by using very long ladders.

Every year thousands of people and pilgrims come to Novoli to see the last firework light up the mountain making it burn.

Tags: Focara festival Lecce lecce things to do Novoli
Category Puglia, things to do in Puglia, traditions

About Stile Mediterraneo Italian Cooking School Puglia 2

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Stile Mediterraneo

Stile Mediterraneo is a project born out of love and passion. Passion for a region Puglia, its people, the beauty of its landscape, its food and wine, its history and culture.
One of Italy’s best-kept secrets, Puglia is a region in the South East side of Italy – the “heel of the boot”. Many people have called Puglia the “next Tuscany”. Stile Mediterraneo provides an authentic and tailor-made experience of Puglia’s many beauties and secrets.
There will be cooking classes with local cooks, visits to markets and artisans shops, winery tours as well as arts (opera, exhibition, fashion tours) and outdoor (spa, golf, sailing, cycling, horseriding) activities.
People will discover the many secrets of this beautiful region where the sun shines all over the year and where people enjoy the art of living!

Visit the website: http://www.italycookingcourses.com/

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Tags: Italy cooking schools Lecce Puglia cookery classes stile mediterraneo
Category Food markets, Italy Cooking classes, Mediterranean Healthy food, things to do in Puglia