Lecce (still more)

As we start week 2 of our lessons here are a few important reflections on life in Italy. All plastic bottles (milk, water) have the cap attached by the plastic band-thing. VERY hard to detach. Most annoying, as pouring neatly is impossible with one hand. This is an EU regulation to reduce the huge number of small but dangerous plastic lids sullying the environment. Makes sense. Haven’t yet seen a screw cap on a bottle of wine. Tony is becoming very adept with the “Waiter’s Friend” corkscrew.
Many prices are amazingly cheap. Tony bought 2 cold beer stubbies yesterday. €1.60 each ($2.80 AUD). Morning coffee (a cappuccino and a latte macchiato): under $7 AUD total. Nice glass of red wine last night at a busy restaurant: just over $7 AUD. Clothes seem to be better quality and much cheaper than at home. We haven’t yet had a bad glass of wine. House wine is ok. Supermarket wine less than €5 (well south of $10 AUD) is very drinkable. This is despite the Australian dollar being at an all-time low against the Euro. Pity the unfortunate Australian pensioners. The only things more expensive than at home seem to be petrol and electricity.
Food shopping for ourselves, we find far more choices for preservative-free products. It is nice to be able to buy Norwegian smoked salmon which has much lower levels of antibiotics. In Tasmania it is impossible to buy anything but the local salmon.
We are very used to living here now. Familiar local cafés, supermarkets and corner shops. It is easy to wander across the main road (Vialle dell’Università) through the town walls into the old town where nothing is more than a 10 minute walk. On the second morning of the course Francesca (Tony’s teacher) took us to the local bakery, pointing out a café on the way. We have been using both regularly since. It’s nice to be recognised there.
On Monday 6th October after our morning classes, coffee and lunch we had an early evening cooking class at Restaurant Tipico, run by Gianna Greco. Individual preparation stations so nowhere for Tony to hide. We prepared from scratch focaccia and orecchiette pasta (little ears). Gianna showed us her ‘Mother’ for the bread which is over 60 years old. Gianna in short order then transformed our efforts into a really delicious meal. We were shovelled out the door just as the main dining guests were starting at the front of the restaurant. What a good business! See series of pictures.
There were more activities during the week. A Carta Pesta (Papier-mâché) class one day and a pizza night, followed by a visit to Saloon Keeper 1933, a bar modelled on an American speakeasy. Late night.
We visited Museo Faggiano which is an archaeological museum showing artefacts and structures from a time span of more than 2000 years, from Messapi (5 centuries BCE) to the Romans, and from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It opened in 2008 and had been a private residence. During a renovation the archaeological treasures started to emerge and now extend from the rooftop way down to subterranean wells and grain storage silos.
Another day Tony and a few others skipped class to visit the Quarta family coffee factory. Now 4 generations old, the business still prospers, bringing coffee beans from South America and Africa and roasting, grinding and packaging them using lots of science and automation. Very ‘green’, they make 97% of their power with solar panels and use only plastics made from renewables.
At the final Italian class we all ‘graduated’, and received ‘certificatos’. Tonight is the farewell dinner at Hotel Patria. Really pleasant upmarket drinks beforehand at Siri bar in the rooftop bar of the hotel. Dinner itself had really nice flavours but the occasion lost something compared with the opening dinner a fortnight before.
On Saturday 11th October was a bus trip visiting Alberobello, then Polignano a Mare. Guide Marcello gave us a good insight into the history of Alberobello and of the trulli which are its signature. Steaming with tourists. The trulli are everywhere. Made with no mortar, simply the weight of the stones keeps them intact. Walls about 1m thick! They look very ‘hobbity’. Original design was to avoid taxes. The no-mortar build meant that when a tax inspector visited they could simply knock them down. “No houses here, officer,” so no tax to be paid.
We had visited Polignano a Mare in 2017. Town now rather bigger and lots more tourists. We walked and looked with our guide, did some successful shopping then had a very late lunch in town. Didn’t arrive back in Lecce until about 5:30, then said a fond farewell to our fellow students of Italian.
Tomorrow we catch a train to Orvieto via Rome, then meet up with Connie with whom we will be staying for the next few nights.Read more