Bari

An early start in bright but cool sunshine sees us headed north to Bari. The Adriatic on our right is separated from the highway by beaches and by fields with fat round rolls of hay contrasted by little pointed trullli.

Its a pleasant drive of about an hour, then we enter the traffic madness of the biggest city we've been in for quite a while. While the traffic is of intimidating volume, the architectural beauty is my immediate first impression. This city is lovely! And amazingly, we find parking right on the seaside main road, a spot so convenient that I need to use translate to ask a local if we are really allowed to park here! We are, and the 1 euro an hour seems relatively standard. That's noticeable along all spectrums: gas prices, cappuccino, grocery....there's little variation.

Italy is in the top 10 of most expensive gas in the world, a list I'm a bit shocked Canada isn't on! Luckily our rental seems to take dainty little sips to keep us moving, at about 1.72 a litre, or $2.69 CAD.

Bari has some major points of interest, such as a Norman castle, a couple of glorious theatres, and of course cathedrals, convents, archives and museums. All have appeal, I always love a castle! But this one is under renovation, as you expect from time to time in a castle built in the early 1100s.

I don't mind because just losing myself in these streets is enjoyable enough. Wide boulevards showcase the boring, big name stores and brands. Large piazzas and small squares are highlighted with tall tropical palms underpinned with foliage and accentuated with brilliant red, orange, gold and pink flowers.

I'm on a search for just the right pastry, from just the right looking paneterria. My sisters will understand this immediately! My "any pastry is a good pastry" husband doesn't, but patiently comes along on the search.

I have found it, the Roman cream bun called maritozzi. It's absolutely luscious, and I enjoy every crumb of it! There is no doubt it's made on site, as large windows provide patrons with a ringside view into the bakery kitchen. I know how it feels to work in a fishbowl, but at least I don't have people snapping pics of me at work. Although if I were handsome young Italian pastry chef, that could be more of an occupational hazard 😅.

Thus fortified, we can begin to make our way towards Ceralacca, a restaurant where we have booked a pasta and tiramisu making class.

We walk through the famous pasta making street Arco Basso, just alongside the castle. The women roll and shape their pasta with incredible dexterity and speed, and trays of multi coloured pasta dry in the sun.

Ceralacca is rated #2 out of over 1400 restaurants in Bari, and is owned by a professional sommelier. We have the oversight and instruction of the chef with Aliseia as our interpreter. Our small group is led through the process of tiramisu making first, then the pasta. It's an art to getting the feel of the very basic dough of eggs and flour. After mixing and kneading, we get to roll through the pasta machine.

A few turns through, our lovely flat doughs get one last bit of flour, a change on the position of the rollers...and dough is magically transformed into tagliatelle! Now I want to make all the shapes!

We make also a half moon ravioli, filled with ricotta and spinach. The chef whisks our creations away to cook, and by time they are returned to us, they are enveloped in simple delicious sauces and we all enjoy as much of them as we can eat!

You wouldn't think we would have room for tiramusu, but much as the cream fills in around the ladyfingers, we all find enough room to fit in dessert. But not until after we are instructed by Alecia to do the final test of our tiramusu: a complete inversion. If its not set, this could get very messy! But it's perfect, and every last bit is savoured.

I could use a spatula to scrape up this creamy dessert - a tool Alessia calls a lecca paella - a pan licker !Read more