A sunny Sunday in masseria

On Sunday the weather in Brindisi was just so beautiful: sunny and warm.

The day before, I had got an invitation from Ryan to go for lunch in one of the masseria disseminated in the Apulian countryside.

“Lucia and I will come for sure” I replied by sms.

We catch up on Sunday at 12.30 in a bar by Porta Mesagne.

We are nine of us.

Elis has booked a table in Masseria Parco di Castro.

Frankly, I begin to feel hunger, like, I reckon, all the others.

So, after a quick chat, we decide to make a move. The masseria is not that close, indeed.

We drive along the SS16. 

The masseria is located in Speziale di Fasano between Cisternino and Fasano.

I am an easy driver.

It’s my habit to drive slow. 

The reason is because I just get distracted by the landscape.

Or alternatively, because I have just seen too many times Easy Rider. 

Who knows?!

I have in my car Lucia, my companion, and Franco, a very good friend of mine.

Ryan and I call him Frankie boy because despite of his age, 49, he looks younger.

Finally, we arrive at the masseria.

We sit down on. The others order some food.

I ask for some red local wine.

The food is gorgeous.

We have some antipasti.

Then, for main course we have pasta, or alternatively, meat.

The company is great. We have some good laugh.

Laughing is therapeutic. I laugh as much as I can.  (My laugh is roaring, though. What can I do?)

According to the ancient Romans, laughing was sign of silliness: risus abundat in oram stultorum.

From this perspective, I guess the ancient Romans were just eager to conquer the world instead of enjoying their short life.

After lunch, I get out to sit down and get inebriated by the sunshine.

Masseria is a place where till 40 years ago, the landowners used to host peasants hired to work the land or just to pasture the animals.

In other words, masserie are the symbols of the peasant civilisation.

Nowadays, most of them have been converted to restaurants and B&B.

It is time to leave.

We pay our bill, 25 euros each, and get off.

I take a quick look at the chapel.

It is 5 pm.

We gotta go.

Some donkeys seem to cheer us up.

Eventually, we decide to move to Torre Santa Sabina for a quick walk by the sea.

We won’t be returning to Brindisi before 7 pm.

Today we celebrated the “art of conviviality”.

And we, in Apulia, are master of it.

Once upon a time Torre Santa Sabina...

This time, me and Lucia go to visit Torre Santa Sabina, a village by the sea, a couple of miles far from Carovigno.

Walter and Ryan, two friends of us, invite us to go to the beach there.

The coast alternates a mix of rocks and sand. It offers several places where to sunbath and swim.

The sea is just limpid and clean.

Walter knows very well this place. Therefore, he leads us to view what originally was supposed to be a small port used since the Bronze age.



The potholes in the bedrock are still visible. Filled by wooden poles, they were used to moor ships.





Torre Santa Sabina was the dock of Carbina Messapica (the actual Carovigno) since the 7th century BC






Archeological researches have been resumed in 2009 to investigate further on shipwrecks of different ages.
The shipwrecks lies at just three metres on the bottom of the sea.

The historical richness of this place includes something else, pretty unique, I would say.

That is the tower, from which the village takes its name.

Tower "a cappello di prete" (priest hat).

With a star shape, it has its edges oriented towards the cardinal points.

This tower is one of dozens built up along the Apulian coast during the 15th and 16th century.

The purpose was to defend the coasts from the Saracens' attacks.




In the evening, we all go for a relaxing walk.

Lots of people are around.

kids play football on the beach.

The old people are sat down, looking at them remembering the green years.