If you hate historical architecture, paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, beautiful clothes and amazing wine there are still two good reasons to visit Rome…food and food. Which would explain why I could barely button my jeans over the newly formed muffin top around my waist. Jogging through the Borghese gardens, tracing the emperor’s footsteps through the Forum and Coloseum and endless walks from the Spanish Steps to Trastevere to the Vatican City still couldn’t burn through all the bread, cheese, pasta, aged meats and pizza quattro formaggio I consumed (that I washed down with wine). After 5 days in Rome we drove south to Puglia, the “heel of the boot” only to discover another lovely land of fine food and wine. The Puglia region lies between two beautiful coasts, the Ionian and the Adriatic sea and running down the center are waves of vineyards, olive trees, fruit trees and farmland dotted with Trulli houses, unique to this area. We stayed in the center of the two coasts, a short distance to both, at the Villa San Martino in the town of Martina Franca. It’s a 5 minute drive just outside the city center in a beautiful neighborhood and has one of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten in. I’ll let the pictures do the rest.
A roman bride, complete with her Marie Antoinette purple explosion gown
The zoo at the Villa Borghese
Like clowns and mimes, these things scare me
Piazza de Spagna
Inside St. Peter’s Basilica
The outside of St. Peter’s (but mostly I wanted to capture the shaded goddess posing in front)
The Arch of Constantine
La Dolce Vita at the Trevi Fountain
Puglia
Monopoli, Adriatic Coast
Inside the Grotte de Castellana
Ionian Sea
Alberobello
My next car
