Puglia and Matera
15th – 21st April 2026
Situated in the heel of Italy and bordered by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, Puglia boasts spectacular coastlines and glorious scenery on top of its incredible history. Conquered repeatedly, this region bears the legacy of the Greeks and Romans, through to the Byzantines, Normans and the Spanish. Highlights will include great fortresses of Holy Roman Emperors, Romanesque churches and medieval frescoes, spectacular Baroque cathedrals, as well as fascinating cave towns and whitewashed trulli villages.
In addition to the main sites in Puglia, we will be staying in Matera in the region of Basilicata to explore this fascinating cave city. Once the shame of Italy, Matera has now renovated and opened its churches and converted old buildings into lovely hotels and restaurants.
Puglia boasts wonderful local food and wine, and we will discover the secrets of its main export with an illuminating olive oil tasting. April will be the perfect time to visit this fascinating region before the summer heat and crowds arrive.
Itinerary
Wednesday 15th April
We will fly to Bari and take our coach to our Masseria, arriving in the afternoon. Once we have settled into our hotel we will visit the nearby town of Monopoli, a perfect introduction to the history and architecture of the area. We will explore the maze of narrow streets, leading us to several churches, all with a fascinating story. We will stay in town for aperitivi and supper before returning to our hotel by taxis.
Thursday 16th April
We will set off early to Alberobello in order to escape the crowds. We will discover the history of this unique town known for its trulli, the characteristic, white-washed, conical-roofed houses of the area and look at a couple of the churches. After a coffee we will drive on to Martina Franca to visit the Palazzo Ducale, built in 1668 and frescoed with mythological and biblical scenes in 1773. We will look at the quirky architecture of the piazza and discuss the marvellous baroque façade of San Martino. The charming winding streets, lined with white palaces boasting beautiful balconies, lead to an excellent lunch spot with the best antipasti in Puglia.
In the afternoon we will learn about the main produce of Puglia, olive oil with a tour and tasting among the beautiful olive groves in the grounds of the hotel. There will be an excellent dinner at the hotel, which prides itself on fresh local ingredients.
Friday 17th April
In the morning, we will drive along the coast towards Lecce. First, we will visit the small town of Galatina, whose church of Santa Caterina houses a vast and beautiful series of fourteenth century frescoes by unknown artists inspired by Giotto working in Naples. Continuing on to the picturesque city of Otranto, we will visit the cathedral, famous for its extensive floor mosaics created by a group of artists led by a Basilian monk from a nearby monastery. This mosaic programme is staggering in its scale and scope, encompassing a Tree of Life along with biblical stories and medieval depictions of beasts, horoscopic symbols and medieval heroes. In this cathedral we will also be reminded of the “Martyrs of Otranto”; the 814 inhabitants massacred by the Ottoman Turks after refusing to convert to Islam.
Lunch in Otranto overlooking the sea, before driving on to Lecce. Once checked into our hotel there will be time for a rest before we head out to explore the city. We will discuss the early Roman history by taking in the amphitheatre and theatre on our way to supper at a lively trattoria.
Saturday 18th April
Today will be spent in Lecce, full of beautiful Baroque buildings built with the soft, workable Lecce stone, earning the city the nickname the “Florence of the South”. We will start with a visit to the remarkable Museo Faggiano. Originally a house, the building was bought by a family intending to open a restaurant. Upon digging beneath the house to fix the sewage pipe the family unearthed a treasure trove of secret passages and caverns and artifacts that are now preserved in this museum. After a coffee we will see the Cathedral of Lecce, a beautiful Baroque building by Giuseppe Zimbale, author of many great works in the city. Outside the Cathedral is the magnificent Piazza del Duomo where we can see Zimbale’s towering campanile, as well the Episcopal Palace and fantastic Seminary Palace built to Giuseppe Cino’s design.
After lunch in a small piazza, we will continue our walking tour to take in more of the city’s great Baroque buildings including Santa Croce and Santa Chiara. We will finish the day with an optional visit to a workshop of a maestro of Cartapesta, the local craft of a complex version of papier-mâché. Supper will be at the restaurant connected to our hotel, which happens to be one of the best in town.
Sunday 19th April
In the morning, we will leave Lecce to travel to Matera, stopping en route for a quick coffee break. Just outside the city we will follow a track to what has been called the Sistine Chapel of the South. This little chapel carved into the rock, better known as the ‘Crypt of the Original Sin’, contains frescoes of scenes from the Old and New Testaments, dating back to the ninth century AD. Beautifully restored, these are a delight to see. We then hope (weather permitting) to have a delicious picnic in the olive groves of a local Masseria.
In contrast to our morning, we will visit the Palomba Sculpture Park, a remarkable place housed in an abandoned quarry with few visitors. It is home to the work of Antonio Paradiso, one of the few artists given permission to create art from the remains of the World Trade Centre. The work is poignant and is suited to the atmosphere of this strange place. We will drive the short distance to our hotel perched at the top of Matera. Once settled in we will go out for dinner in the old town.
Monday 20th April
The day will be spent exploring houses, churches, monasteries and hermitages dug into the sassi (stones) of the town. Beginning with the Civita, the central part of the town, we will visit the wonderful thirteenth-century Romanesque cathedral. From here we will move on to the Sasso Caveoso where we will find rupestrian (rock-hewn) churches such as Santa Lucia alle Malve, the first female monastic Benedictine settlement, dating from the eighth century and the church of the Madonna de Idris. We will finish the morning with a visit to the ‘Palombaro Lungo’, an extraordinary feat of ancient engineering to create cavernous cisterns far below the city.
After lunch we will take our coach across to the other side of the gorge to the Parco Archeologico Murgia. Here a local guide will lead us deep into the dramatic landscape to discover a handful of the 150 frescoed churches dating from the 14th century, hidden within the rock. There is also a fabulous view back across the gorge of Matera. We will return to our hotel in time for a rest before heading out for dinner. We will begin our last night together with a wine tasting and dinner in Sasso Caveoso at the sister winery to Palazzo Zimara.
Tuesday 21st April
Leaving Matera, we will drive to one of the most magnificent monuments in all of Puglia; the colossal Castel del Monte. Built by Frederick II, the fascinating and enlightened Holy Roman Emperor known by many as the Stupor Mundi, the castle crowns and commands its surroundings. Due to the removal of the interior furnishings and marbles in the eighteenth century, an air of mystery lies around its exact usage. Lunch will be at Masseria en route to Bari for our flight home.
Further Details
Tuition – Charlie Winton and Ed Aspinall will lead the trip, both have a love and fascination for this area of Italy.
Hotels – First two nights in the Masseria Melograno, a 17th century white-washed farm estate set within an olive grove. The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, pool and small spa. Second two nights are in Lecce in the fabulous 16th century Palazzo Zimara, a recently opened hotel lovingly restored retaining the original frescoes and terracotta tiling. It has a small wine bar and restaurant. You can upgrade to a Design Room for an extra £100 per room in total. The last two nights are in Matera in the Albergo Italia, a beautiful renovated hotel in a perfect location.
Flights – We do not book the flights thus allowing you to travel to suit your budget, use airmiles, travel between different airports or on different dates. However, we recommend buying the following flights with Easyjet:
Wednesday 15th April London Gatwick 12:20 – 16:15 Bari EZY8281
Tuesday 21st April Bari 16:55 – 18:55 London Gatwick EZY8282
Transport – There will be airport transfers to meet the recommended flights. Please note that due to the nature of this trip with three centres there is quite a bit of driving.
Ability – You need to be very fit for this trip due to the steep streets and unavoidable steps of Matera. The afternoon in Parco Archeologico is spent on uneven tracks and a bit of a clamber to see some of the churches. There is a lot of walking on this trip, as many of the towns are pedestrianised and so we need to walk from the coach to the centre. As is the case for all our courses, there is a lot of standing while we discuss the works we are looking at.
Lunches and Dinners – Lunches are a set menu of two courses to include drinks. Dinner is by no means compulsory, but we book a table for the group each night at different restaurants and divide the bill equally between everyone. Sometimes these may also need to be a set menu but we try our best to avoid this. We will adjust the bill for those not drinking alcohol.
Cost – The fees are £3250 which includes accommodation and breakfast, two dinners (second night excluding alcohol and last night with wine-tasting), all lunches, olive oil tasting, wine tasting, transfers for the recommended flight, transport when connected with teaching, entrance fees, private visits, tuition, reading lists and local advice. The single occupancy supplement is £230 (double room for single use). Room upgrade at Palazzo Zimara is £100 per room in total. Not included are the flights, all suppers, travel insurance. The group will not exceed 16 people and we will divide into two smaller groups wherever possible.
To register – Please complete the online registration form, having read our terms and conditions and pay a deposit of £600 via bank transfer. Your place is not confirmed until we have received the deposit.
If you have any queries, please email [email protected] or call 01379 871800 (302)
NB you must buy your own flights.
