Just like every time our English-language blogger visits the winery, he asks to be taken for a puccia — Salento’s famous “anything goes” sandwich (above).
Across the city of Lecce, you can find sandwich shops that serve just one type of sandwich: The puccia (pronounced POO-chah), a made-on-the-spur-of-the-moment flatbread that can be stuffed with a wide variety of ingredients.
Continue reading Puccia: Salento’s “anything goes” sandwich
In another era, Lecce — the ancient capital of the Salento peninsula — was one of the richest cities in the western world.
A hub between the east and the west, it was a major commercial center for trade and transport. And thanks to its stature, it was also a cultural center where Greek and Balkan traditions blended in with Roman and later Italian science and arts.
By the end of the 17th century, Lecce had also become renowned for its unique style of baroque architecture.
Continue reading Getting lost in Lecce, one of life’s great pleasures (photo essay)
Earlier this month, Paolo Cantele and Cantele’s English-language blogger attended the launch of a new and truly innovative app called Sottocuoco in Lecce (Salento, Puglia).
The concept is as simple as it is brilliant: The app allows users (known as forchette or forks) to connect with professional chefs and home cooks who, for a fee, will either deliver a meal to your home or visit your home to prepare a meal in your own kitchen.
The start-up was inspired by a new trend that is spreading rapidly across Italy and Europe: Mostly through word-of-mouth, career chefs and food professionals have been making extra money by working as private chefs and caterers; and talented home cooks, who abound in Italy where creative and traditional home cooking is considered much more than just a pastime, have been following in the footsteps of their career and professional counterparts.
Not only is the concept so promising and appealing that it has attracted major investment from Italian venture capitalists, but it has also received an endorsement from one of Italy’s leading high tech pioneers, Matteo Achilli, who has been dubbed the “Italian Mark Zuckerberg” by the Italian media.
Continue reading Sottocuoco: A new app from Lecce that connects food lovers with chefs and home cooks.
