APULIA & BASILICATA

On arrival, you'll be transferred to your hotel in Polignano, where you'll meet your Kaoma Travel Tour Leader and fellow travellers for a welcome dinner this evening. A Serenity Hotel secluded among the olive groves, vineyards and the magnificent Adriatic Sea, where the beauty of Puglia will fill your hearts with wonder.

Meals: D
Accomodation: Borgobianco Resort & Spa***** or similar.

Capital of the Region

Bari, the capital of the region, is divided between the elegant Murat district and the hypnotic old city. The ancient area is dominated by the magnificent Norman-Swabian Castle designed by King Roger II and later fortified by Frederick II of Swabia. Along the ancient streets, we'll admire the Romanesque Cathedral of San Sabino and the majestic Basilica of San Nicola.

In the Murat district, outside of the old town, we'll find many different and important streets and palaces such as the Petruzzelli, Piccinni, and Margherita theatres, the Fizzarotti and Government Palaces and the Town Hall.

Bari is also a city rich in gastronomic traditions. We will take part in the life of the city, tasting its typical food. We'll find stalls and kiosks where we can taste fried polenta (sgagliozze), the typical focaccia Barese, panzerotti (a closed fried pizza stuffed with mozzarella and tomato) and fresh raw fish.

Then finish in the home of a local signora, cooking a pasta dish typical of the Puglia region.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Borgobianco Resort & Spa***** or similar.

The Pearl of the Adriatic

Buongiorno! Waking up has never been sweeter thanks to the decadent breakfast, which is served on the terrace of the restaurant and showcases local produce and steaming coffee. Crystal clear waters and cliffs pitted with caves carved by the sea give Polignano a Mare its uniqueness. The fascinating historical centre reveals traces of its Arab, Byzantine, Spanish and Norman past, including the remains of the four watchtowers that once guarded the ancient town.

We'll head through the Arco della Porta (the Door Arch), to get in the magical centre, home to the 13th-century Mother Church dedicated to the Assumption. The high cliffs and jagged coastline between Palazzese Cave and Lama Monachile, make Polignano's shoreline one of Puglia's most beautiful coastal stretches, peppered with hidden inlets and charming sandy bays.

After lunch, we'll sail to Monopoli admiring the many grottos and the coves that have been created by the sea over millennia. The name of the city derives from the greek "Monos polis" which means unique. A definition that is quite true even nowadays: Monopoli is one of the most beautiful towns on the Adriatic coast, thanks to lovely beaches and an old town centre full of art and history.

For dinner, enjoy tasting typical Mediterranean and Puglian dishes in a fresh and refined atmosphere.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Borgobianco Resort & Spa***** or similar.

Timeless magic villages

Enjoy a hearty breakfast of local produce served on the terrace with views of the sea before leaving to explore Alberobello and Locorotondo.

The vast countryside is peppered with Trulli and drystone walls that surround centuries-old oak and olive trees. The panorama is filled with timeless magic, in the heart of which, lie fascinating villages like Alberobello and Locorotondo.

A lovely spread of pinnacles announces Alberobello's characteristic historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old town centre is entirely composed of trulli, traditional dry stone huts whitened with quicklime and capped by conical bare-stone roofs. Crosses and zodiac signs decorate the roofs, maintaining the air of mystery that surrounds the trulli.

Continue to Locorotondo, set on the Wine Trail through the Itria Valley, which produces an excellent DOC white wine. We'll discover the different steps of the wine cycles of production, walk between the vineyard and taste regional wines produced in the terraces that surround a small characteristic Apulian village.

The end of the day is magical. Enjoy a dinner in a charming and enchanted place, a restaurant with a terrace created inside a natural cave in Polignano.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Borgobianco Resort & Spa***** or similar.

Welcome to Salento

After a delicious breakfast, will depart for Ostuni. Ostuni appears as a mirage, a shining pearl, standing splendidly on a hillside rising from a green plateau that's covered with olive trees. We'll take a stroll down the narrow streets. We'll admire the beautiful courtyards and piazzas crowned with small white houses, artisans workshops, excellent restaurants and stylish bars.

After lunch, we'll drive down to Lecce.
Lecce is a journey into the Baroque, with churches, palazzos embroidered in stone, courtyards, secret gardens and a surprising Roman amphitheatre in the heart of the city.

End the day chilling out in a restored 18th-century masseria named after the almond trees once flowering here.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Masseria Le Mandorle***** or similar.

Italy's most eastern city

Start the day with a sun salutation – on the herb-scented roof terrace. Then breeze down to breakfast. Tuck into fresh fruit, pastries and just-brewed coffee in the rustic restaurant.

We'll admire the elegant Oriental profile of Santa Cesarea Terme overlooks the Adriatic from atop a plateau that plummets down to the sea. We'll visit the town's symbol the Moorish dome and we'll look at the local skyline shaped by the extravagant lines of the town's noble dwellings: Villa Raffaella, Palazzo Tamborrino and Palazzo Gargasole.

Not far from Santa Cesarea Terme we'll discover the beautiful Otranto. Otranto, set on a rocky spur on Italy's most easterly coastline, has been recognized by UNESCO as a “Culture of Peace Messenger Site.” We'll walk along the ''Lungomare Degli Eroi'', at the foot of the ancient city centre. We'll go past the monument dedicated to the Martyrs, sculpted by Antonio Bortone, and we'll head down the stairs through the Porta Alfonsina to the old town. Take time to visit the Castello Aragonese and the Cathedral, with its precious mosaic floor and the relics of 800 martyrs killed by the Turks in 1480.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Masseria Le Mandorle***** or similar.

Sea coves & pristine sea

After breakfast, we'll depart for a full day boat experience. We'll admire the end of Puglia region, an area of Salento where the Ionian and the Adriatic Sea meet. We'll explore Santa Maria di Leuca and see the truly fascinating underwater caves and other geological formations off the coast.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Masseria Le Mandorle***** or similar.

From Apulia to Basilicata

Enjoy your breakfast and depart to Grottaglie: sit on a small hill, on the edge of the Murge terrace. Its origins lie in the surrounding countryside and spectacular canyons: out of the earth, the town has extracted the raw material for which it's worldwide famous.

Potter’s wheels turn ceaselessly in the craft shops, where generations of artisans have worked and continue to give shape to plates, crockery, fonts, and to the famous glazed ceramic “pomi”: veritable icons of the art of Grottaglie’s “figuli” (master potters).

After lunch, we'll depart for Matera. Once we arrive, we'll explore one of the most beautiful and ancient cities of the world, by an exciting and vintage Ape Calessino. You'll comfortably reach the different places on the itinerary accompanied by a qualified guide who will give you information about the sites you visit.

End the day in an exclusive resort in the heart of Sassi. The spaces, historical and seductive, have been harmoniously combined with comfort and a refined elegant design.

Try the unique experience of sleeping inside a millennial cave.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

Explore the Sassi

Just walk down a few stairs to immerse yourself in the taste, coffee and tea aroma will capture you and fresh juice and centrifuge flavor will help you getting start the day in a healthy way.

The way to start your visit to Matera is to stroll around the Sassi districts. Matera shelter priceless secrets: over 150 frescoed churches and an intricate network of homes, tunnels and cisterns riddling the living rock. It rises on a limestone plateau and shows a magnificent strangeness: a central fissure, as a real 70-80 metres high canyon, crossed by the Gravina torrent. The area of Matera was continuously inhabited since the Paleolithic era. The specific districts of the Sassi were built in the late 5th century. The alternation of populations over time has left an intricate urban system, where the buildings overlap the natural cavities. In 1993 the Sassi was given Unesco World Heritage status and naming Matera European Culture Capital 2019 breathes new life into the ancient cave city.

Enjoy your free afternoon, fall in love with the silence and calmness of the Spa or choose one of our optional experience.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

In the heart of Dolomiti Lucane

Enjoy your breakfast, and we'll depart for the heart of the Dolomiti Lucane. A small part of Basilicata that features very high mountains and deep valleys dotted with countless villages, clinging to the mountainside.

The villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa are among “Italy’s most beautiful villages”. Their urban structure, typically medieval, is a rare example of a sustainable balance between natural components and human intervention: constructions are inserted directly in the rock.

Choose to walk or fly between the two villages.

Walk (2 hours): The the seven stones path links the small towns of Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano. The path takes its inspiration from the stories handed down orally among generations and the collective imagination, which underlie the text "Vito ballava con le streghe" written by Mimmo Sammartino.

Fly (Depend on the weather): A steel cable suspended between the tops of the two small towns, let you make and live a unique experience, the Angel Flight. Tied in total safety with a harness, attached to the steel cable, you will live the thrill of flying some minutes in a fantastic adventure, one of the best in Italy and the world for the beauty of the landscape and the maximum height of flight.

Overlooking the Basento Valley and along the ancient tract of the old Appian Way, is where one will come across Tricarico, a fundamental meta among the art cities of Basilicata. We'll stroll through the ancient part of the city and we'll meet people with so many stories to tell, that your Kaoma Travel guide will be the best translator from the local dialect to your language. On the way to Matera stop to the best places where to find good Italian gelato, taste a dried fig flavour or enjoy a typical almond pastry.

Free dinner tonight.

Meals: B,L
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

Where Basilicata meets Puglia

If you would like an optional savory breakfast, then simply taste local meats and dairy products. Everything will be well matched with the traditional Matera bread, which goes great with the honey and jam made by a reliable local producer.

After breakfast, we'll reach the “Lioness of Puglia”. Altamura will amaze and delight us with its historic centre rich in art and the distinctive flavour of its DOP bread of Altamura (the same mentioned by the Latin poetry Orazio in his Satire on 37 B. C.).

We'll explore the Old Town, held inside its inner walls and articulated in claustri. We'll stroll in extremely narrow alleys and short passages hidden between the buildings.
We'll taste the local sweet specialty: the so-called tette Delle Monache (literally the tits of the nuns), especially the ones prepared by the real nuns in the convent of Santa Chiara, in the heart of the Old Town. We'll try them with a glass of the local nocino (walnut liqueur), Padre Peppe.

The town centre of Gravina in Puglia has a hidden part: under the inhabited area, there is a well-kept underground world, with tunnels, cellars, stone churches, granaries, seventeenth-century ovens. We'll cross the characteristic bridge-aqueduct of the seventeenth century, which seems almost one with the rocks and we'll discover an equally evocative and fascinating Gravina where time, almost as if by magic, has stopped.

Free dinner tonight.

Meals: B,L
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

Enjoy your breakfast, before departure for Castel del Monte. The medieval castle proudly overlooks the country, from a hilltop at an altitude of 540m.
Built around 1240, Castel del Monte became the permanent seat of the court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who became the sovereign of the Kingdom of Sicily at only three years of age. Since 1996 registered on the list of UNESCO World Heritage monuments.

Admire the Castle and get ready for a trekking tour in the National Park of Alta Murgia.

Free dinner tonight.

Meals: B,L
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

The Ionian Coast: a dive into the past

Enjoy your breakfast and get ready to discover the Ionian Coast.

Deep in the valleys of Basilicata, stands the abandoned town of Craco, set amid the lunar landscape of the ‘calanchi’ (badlands) made famous by Carlo Levi’s novel Christ Stopped at Eboli. Exposed to the elements along with earthquakes and landslides, Craco finally caved in near the millennium. The inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes after a landslide in 1969, leaving the town completely uninhabited. Since 2010 Craco has been part of a conservation project of the World Monuments Fund, as world cultural and historical heritage.

We'll continue towards Metaponto, founded in the 7th century BC. The birthplace of philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, Metapontum was a rich and prosperous outpost of Magna Grecia, the coastal areas of southern Italy settled by the Greeks.

Walking through the remains, you’ll meet the popular “Palatine tables”, the remains of a Doric-archaic temple devoted to Hera which was built from domestic limestone. We'll admire the ruins of the Temple of Apollo Licio before exploring the National Archeological Museum of Metaponto. The museum, through its artifacts, we'll give you a good idea of the historic and artistic development of this area, one of the most important sites of Magna Grecia.

We'll end the day taking a dip into the blue sea of Basilicata.

Meals: B,L,D
Accommodation: Sant'Angelo Luxury Resort***** or similar.

Transfer to the Bari International Airport for your return flight or you may choose to extend your holiday.

Meals: B