Jeff Barrington's Puglia Connection Blog

“The Worst of Puglia”

While tourism officials and travel companies are busily promoting “the best of Puglia” to potential visitors, a page on Facebook titled “La Puglia Peggiore” (loosely translated as “The Worst of Puglia”) is compiling information and photos documenting places where, to put it mildly, more work is needed (search for “La Puglia Peggiore” on Facebook.com). Trashed beaches, illegal dumping sites, garbage-strewn roads and other “devastated landscapes” are depicted in an effort to focus attention on places where efforts must be made to protect the region’s degraded physical and cultural treasures.
Sponsors of the Facebook page told the newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno that “In addition to significantly lowering the quality of life, this extreme state of disrepair is likely to seriously affect our tourism, because the first thing that catches the eye of Italian and foreign tourists visiting us is dirt: in summer the beaches turn into stretches of garbage of all kinds, the streets are full of papers, cigarettes and bottles thrown from moving cars while our countryside is now home to thousands and thousands of illegal dumping sites…”
While Puglia is famous for the high quality of its Blue Flag beaches and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, elsewhere it’s a very different and sad situation. Puglia has unequaled cultural, artistic and archaeological treasures that can offer visitors a very special travel experience, but that heritage needs to be protected. As one of the sponsors told La Gazzetta, the Facebook page is intended, in part, to deter “those who offend the landscape and the environment and in the summer turn our beautiful beaches into landfills.”

Fog Forces Rerouting of Some Puglia Flights

DEC.21 ‒ Airport officials at Bari-Palese and Brindisi reported today that poor visibility due to fog is causing some commercial airline flights to be diverted to other destinations. Some flights out of Bari-Palese and Brindisi have been delayed.

Bodies of American balloonists recovered off Vieste

The bodies of two American balloonists missing since Sept. 29 have been recovered in the Adriatic Sea off the coastal resort of Vieste. The newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno (

) reports the bodies were found 12 miles off the coast in their balloon’s gondola by the crew of a Manfredonia-based fishing boat. The balloonists, Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer Davis, were taking part in the “Gordon Bennett” international balloon race and had departed Bristol, England, on Sept. 25. They radioed that their balloon was plunging off the coast of Vieste just before they disappeared from radar. They were the subject of an intense search operation that involved numerous Italian Coast Guard, police and Guardia di Finanza vessels, along with Coast Guard, Fire Brigade, Guardia di Finanza, Air Force and U.S. military aircraft. The search was called off on Oct. 4 when authorities determined there was no hope the balloonists would be found alive. It is thought the balloon may have been struck by lightning before it fell into the sea at a rapid rate of speed.

Puglia Is No. 1 Domestic Summer Tourism Destination

Puglia is the leading enjoying summer tourism destination among Italians from other regions in 2010, according to the preliminary statistics from the hospitality trade group Federalberghi (http://www.federalberghi.it/). Among Italian summer vacationers who were surveyed, 10.6% are visiting Puglia, compared to 10% a year ago. Following Puglia are Sardinia at 9.7%, up from 9.6% last year, and Sicily at 8.8% versus 8.5% in 2009.
That Puglia is so attractive to domestic tourists is good news for the region’s economy, but officials and the tourism industry must be careful to maintain the cleanliness of visitor destinations and not allow them to be polluted or littered and thus threaten the future of these beautiful areas. Puglia has much to offer visitors, even beyond its beaches, but the environment is fragile and must be protected.

Heat Advisory in Puglia

Puglia’s civil protection authorities are alerting visitors and residents that a severe-heat warning is in effect in the region for the next few days. Temperatures are expected to be close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is four to six degrees above normal for this time of year. An area of high pressure from Africa is to blame.
The Regional Councillor for Civil Protection, Fabiano Amati, told La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno that people are urged to avoid going outdoors during the hottest time of day, protect themselves from the heat of the sun, drink a lot of fluids, eat fruit or light meals, avoid alcohol and caffeine, and wear light clothes and hats if you must go outside.

Puglia’s Historic Watch Towers Are Worth Preserving

Dotting the Adriatic and Ionian Sea coastlines of Salento stand a series of interesting structures that deserve more attention than they have been getting ‒ until now, the websites of Il Paese Nuovo and La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno report.
The structures are historic watch towers, some of which are believed to date back to the Normans. The towers were built within sight of one another as a coastal defense against invaders. On sighting approaching raiders’ ships, sentries would light fires atop the towers that would be seen and copied by other sentries manning the network of towers to warn inhabitants of Salento to prepare to fight off the attackers or seek shelter. This makeshift early-warning system was used through the medieval times, and more than 50 of them survive. Some are on public land, while others are privately owned.
In the centuries since, the historic towers have fallen victim to weather, vandals and, as one observer puts it, general indifference to their fate. But maybe that’s about to change.
A plan to restore and protect the towers as valuable remnants of Puglia’s past calls for linking the crumbling structures via a tourism route designed to attract travelers interested in learning more about the region’s history. National and regional tourism and preservation officials are on record as supporting the plan. Now it’s up to them to convince those who would finance and promote this effort that the often-neglected monuments to Puglia’s history are worth saving as historical, cultural and tourism resources.
You can learn more about this plan at these two websites:

http://www.ilpaesenuovo.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3330:sos-di-dagata-salviamo-le-torri-costiere-del-salento&catid=72:Territorio&Itemid=123

http://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/GdM_dallapuglia_NOTIZIA_01.php?IDNotizia=335994&IDCategoria=11

A Taste of Puglia at Disneyland

If you’re near Disneyland today, check out the “Fifth Annual Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival” and sample regional foods and wines of Puglia.
Loredana Capone, vice president of the Region of Puglia and Region and assessore for economic development, told La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, “It’s a new way to promote the image of Puglia and its excellent food. Despite the economic downturn worldwide, the sector of food and beverages in Puglia was able to conclude in 2009 with exports growing by 4.5% compared to 2008. We want to do more.”
For details about the festival, visit http://adisneyland.disney.go.com/media/dlr_v0200/en_US/calendar/specialEvents/foodWine/FoodWineDailySchedule2010.pdf.

14 Blue Flags for Puglia’s Beaches

The International Blue Flag Jury has just announced its 2010 Blue Flag awards for beaches in Europe, Morocco, Tunisia and Canada. The International Jury awarded the Blue Flag to 2,884 beaches and 627 marinas in 33 countries. The Blue Flag award is based on environmental education and information; water quality; environmental management; and safety and services. The Blue Flag is awarded only for one season at a time.
The new list includes 14 beaches in Puglia:
Castellaneta ‒ Castellaneta Marina
Castro ‒ Grotta Zinzulusa
Castro ‒ La Sorgente
Ginosa ‒ Lido
Ostuni ‒ Camerini Creta Rossa
Ostuni ‒ Costa Merlata Torre Pozzelle
Ostuni ‒ Lido Morelli Rosa Marina
Polignano a Mare ‒ Cala Fetente
Polignano a Mare ‒ Cala San Giovanni
Rodi Garganico ‒ Spiaggia di Levante
Rodi Garganico ‒ Spiaggia di Ponente
Salve ‒ Marina di Pescoluse
Salve ‒ Posto Vecchio
Salve ‒ Torre Pali
For more information, see http://www.blueflag.org/.

5 Puglia Hotels Featured in Expedia’s 2010 Insiders’ Select Rankings

BELLEVUE, Wash., May 4, 2010 – The online travel agency Expedia.com today unveiled the Expedia 2010 Insiders’ Select results, an annual ranking of the world’s best hotels for quality and value as determined mostly by traveler reviews. Hotels that routinely exceed customer expectations – in their customer service, amenities, competitive pricing and more – see that emphasis reflected in their rankings. And this year, for the first time, Insiders’ Select hotels are searchable during the booking process on Expedia.com, making it simple for travelers to maximize the value of their travel dollars.
Five properties in Puglia made the 2010 list. They are listed by rank, name, score (out of a possible 100), location and quality rating:
61. Risorgimento Resort (99.8), Lecce, 5 stars
1,110. Hotel Sierra Silvana (94.9), Selva di Fasano, 4 stars
1,524. Nicotel Barletta (93), Barletta, 4 stars
1,805. Tenuta Cocevola (91.7), Andria, 4 stars
1,821. Hotel Citta’ Bianca (91.6), Ostuni, 3 stars
The Insiders’ Select program, which debuted in 2007, ranks the top hotels from among more than 123,000 properties offered on Expedia sites internationally. The list is compiled using a mathematical formula that weighs three factors:
• More than one million traveler opinions from reviews submitted by Expedia customers after completing a stay at a hotel booked on Expedia sites. Traveler reviews are the most influential factor in the formula.
• A value rating that compares each property’s average daily rates to similar properties to assess the relative value the hotel offers, making it easy for travelers to identify hotels that deliver an excellent experience at a comparatively good value.
• The expertise of more than 400 Expedia market managers in cities across the globe, who work hand in hand with Expedia’s hotel partners to maximize the value they get from Expedia’s global online travel marketplace.
“Expedia.com travelers are among the most passionate in the world,” said John Morrey, vice president of e-commerce at Expedia Inc. “Every year, we help them book millions upon millions of hotel rooms, in every corner of the world. And in return, they help us pinpoint the hotels that deliver a truly world-class experience. Traveler reviews are a crucial part of the research and booking process for our travelers. We vet each review carefully to confirm that the author actually stayed at the hotel. Then we gather up more than a million of them, tabulate them and share the results with everyone.”
The 2010 list includes properties in 1,022 cities worldwide. Forty percent of Insiders’ Select hotels are in Europe, 30 percent are in the United States and 30 percent are elsewhere in the world. The top ranking went to the Galaxy Iraklio Hotel on Crete. Risorgimento Resort received the top score in Italy. For more information on Insiders’ Select, visit http://www.expedia.com/insidersselect.

A Virtual Tour of Puglia

Explore Puglia via the Italian Government Tourist Board’s English-language tourism video of the region, part of a set of videos highlighting Italy’s 20 regions and principal cities. The four-minute, 59-second video offers an overview of Puglia’s most popular visitor sites:

http://www.italiantourism.com/videoregioniindice.html