A Taste of Apulia and The Amalfi Coast

Day 1 - Day of arrival

Arrive at Bari airport, meet and greet by your personal driver and transfer to your hotel in Alberobello.

Alberobello is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to a dense concentration of Trulli limestone cottages with cone-shaped roofs built between the mid 15th and late 18th centuries. It is one of the best preserved urban areas of its type in Europe. Overnight at Grand Hotel Olimpo, Alberobello.

Overnight at the Grand Hotel Olimpo.

Grand Hotel Olimpo, Puglia

Day 2 - Itria Valley (Full Day)

After breakfast, you will be chauffeur driven through the Itria Valley, to the picturesque Locorotondo – known as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy; the baroque Martina Franca, the pearl of Valle d’Itria, a hilltop town whose historical centre is surrounded by stone walls, with prominent baroque gates that lead to piazzas and narrow medieval streets; Cisternino, a medieval walled city where you can stroll back through time on worn, stone-paved lanes between ancient palaces, towers, shops and homes that are mostly still in use today; and Ostuni, the old citadel is built on top of a hill surrounded by ancient walls and is commonly referred to as the White Town (Città Bianca) for its white walls and white-painted architecture. Lunch (included) will be at a farmhouse where the region’s celebrated olive oil and wine will accompany your meal.

Overnight at the Patria Palace Hotel.

Patria Palace Hotel, Puglia

Day 3 - Lecce (Half Day)

Today you will have a half day guided walking tour of Lecce. Affectionately known as the ‘Florence of the South’ due to its many Baroque buildings, Lecce has a Roman amphitheatre, more than a hundred churches and palaces and several designer boutiques. The city’s heyday was when it was part of Spain in the 17th century and the noblemen, merchants and religious orders of the city competed with each other as to who could build the most palaces. Carved from the local golden sandstone, the exuberant architecture looks like a sumptuous theatrical set. Afternoon at leisure.

Overnight at the Patria Palace Hotel.

Lecce

Day 4 - Lecce / Matera (Full Day)

After breakfast, depart Lecce for Matera (c.2 hours drive), a UNESCO World Heritage Site and nominated as the Capital of Culture for 2019. The town centre, the oldest part of town, was built on the edge of a bare plateau where a high rocky mount looms over the spot where a valley descends to the long deep river-ravine. This is where you will find the cathedral and the typical Italian town centre. As time passed, the rocky valley slopes below the town were dug out to create caves, used for housing, storage and stabling. These cave areas, where the poorest local peasants lived, fill a narrow valley and run along the side of the gorge itself. Matera was used as a film location for Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of Christ’. Your afternoon guided tour of Matera will introduce you to the town, its cave-dwelling area known as the ‘Sassi’ and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches. There will be a visit to a cave, some 20 feet high and 100 feet deep, adorned with images of a dozen giant saints and angels emerging on the stone walls. Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael float in the heavens, St Peter with St Andrew, the Virgin and Child in the company of two female saints. The most striking of all is a painting of Adam and Eve eating the apple that gives the cave its evocative name ‘the Crypt of Original Sin’.

Overnight at the Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita Hotel.

Sextantino Le Grotte Della Civita Hotel

Day 5 - Pompeii / Sorrento

Morning departure from Matera to Sorrento (255km / c.3 hours 30 minutes) with a stop en route for lunch (not included) and a two hour guided visit of Pompeii (14:00) before continuing on to Sorrento. Pompeii was a thriving Roman city before it was buried in volcanic ash after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The city remained frozen in time until it was discovered by a surveying engineer in 1748. Today the preserved site features excavated ruins of streets and houses that give visitors a real insight into the art, customs and trade of this early Roman settlement.

Overnight at the Continental Hotel, Sorrento.

Pompeii

Day 6 - Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast (Full Day)

Explore, with your driver, the 40km coastline road winding its way from Sorrento through to Positano, the coast’s most picturesque and photogenic town with steeply-stacked houses tumbling down to the sea and lined with wisteria-draped balconies, smart restaurants and fashionable boutiques; Amalfi which lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto, with its impressive Duomo and exquisite 13th century Cloister del Paradiso; and the enchanting town of Ravello, known for its annual music festival held within the celebrated Villa Rufolo Gardens, which is famed for being the inspiration for ‘Parsifal’, Richard Wagner’s last and possibly greatest opera. The annual Wagner opera festival takes place here between June and July.

Overnight at the Continental Hotel, Sorrento.

Amalfi Coast

Day 7 - Sorrento

Day at leisure. Sorrento is an ideal base from which to reach many of the region’s greatest treasures including Naples, Herculaneum, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. Excursions can be arranged and paid for locally.

Overnight at the Continental Hotel, Sorrento.

Sorrento

Day 8 - Day of departure

Transfer to Naples airport for your flight back to the UK.