Italy's Sorrentine Peninsula and Torre Santa Sabina

Italy's Untamed East Coast

Take the time to travel up Italy's east coast and the Sorrentine Peninsula and you will realise that here it is the sea that rules. The towns and villages - as small as they are - which dot this coast, are there at the forbearance of the ocean; sometimes gentle and sometimes ferocious. There is no escape when the sea becomes angry and churns like a wild beast.

So many moods; sometimes soft and gentle with golden sands and lapping ripples, at other times moody and uneasily threatening

- ready to turn, ready to pounce. The surface heaves with a suppressed power yet scarcely a ripple breaks the taut surface.


Along the coast the shore dwellers thrive yet also suffer from the moods of the coast.









Everyone loves the sea. Tourists and holiday-makers flock to the summer seaside.





Restaurants flourish and hotels overflow. Yet in winter also, these coast dwellers must find ways to survive.

A beautiful spot such as Torre Santa Sabina has its history to fall back on. Impregnable watch towers guard the harbour and the coast as they have done for centuries. Once the beacon lights were lit on these towers to relay warnings along the coast of an approaching invasion. Today the only thing that these watchtowers still stand guard over is usually a small harbour fleet of fishing boats waiting for a favourable turn in the weather.




Brindisi - the jumping off point to the Aegean Sea and the Greek towns and islands, -  is little more than an embarkation point to many. Yet go north, go south ... there is so much to fall in love with. This east coast of Italy  -  facing out towards Albania - is sparsely populated and rugged. The settlements are small and unspoiled. Tourists are accepted but not a priority. Along such a beautiful stretch of coast this is bound to change. Already the population swells in tens of thousands during the weeks of high summer. However the dramatic beauty of this coast in winter has its own simmering appeal. It is this magnetic attraction to the sea in all its moods which ties the locals to their precarious coastal existence.

Apulia - or Puglia, another name for the same region -  is an area of small towns, rocky cliffs, sheltered bays and coves. It is historic and it is modern. It is the area of Italy to go to if you want to mingle with the locals as you dine on the freshest of fish and enjoy a limoncello. In the eighth century BC the first signs of inhabitants were recorded. These were the ancient Greeks, and they knew what they were doing.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

Website: http://www.unusualstays.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Stay-Somewhere-Strange-273777766054597/

Ostuni - the White City of Southern Italy

The White City

From an even plane and an ever expanding vista of green fields the white city of Ostuni rises up out of nowhere. It is just as they say, - pure and white, It flows over a tall hillside, its cathedral topping the hill in a moment of gleaming glory. It is eye catching, road-stopping, breath taking.














Ostuni is a clustered mass of pure and ancient urban architecture. It is about the forms and shapes understood hundreds, - maybe thousands - of years before tv programmes painted whole house interiors white to understand the spaces. This is organic architecture which has flowed out and over the available spaces and in a completely unselfconscious way created architecture which is memorable for all who come across it.






Inside Ostuni the sense of 'whiteness' is not so profound. The charms of Ostuni are not just about pure white architecture. They are about a town which flows and expands through arches and tunnels; through narrow streets opening to expansive plazas.; through layers of white on white. The flashes of colour in Ostuni may be subtle but they are all the more outstanding because of this. An artist who displays a handful of colourful canvasses in a small cul-de-sac of neutral walls catches the attention of all who pass by.

In Ostuni the town dwellers understand the subtle charms of their small town. Ostentation is avoided. A restaurant provides white settee seating under pure white gauze canopies. Many of the whitewashed older buildings have only the dun coloured flagstones in contrast.








Ostuni's streets are often narrow - too narrow for vehicles - made for foot traffic or for bicycles at most. These streets weave snake-like between the buildings and disappear around a corner in the distance. It is deceptively easy to get lost in Ostuni but also easy to re-find oneself, as a glimpse down the hillside to the nearby coast provides instant re-orientation.












Ostuni speaks of Mediterranean sun and summer skies. Bright clusters of bougainvillea climb up the sides of buildings. Geraniums and petunias flash from terraces and window boxes. In the plazas the time is always right for a coffee or a glass of wine under the golden sun. La Citta Bianca - the White City - is a seasonal town swelling significantly in size in the summer months.

 To enjoy the charm of Ostuni without the crowds of high summer it is late spring and early autumn that capture the White City at its best.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

Website: http://www.unusualstays.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Stay-Somewhere-Strange-273777766054597/