Watching Television Can Change Your Life.
Let me explain the title of this blog. About eight years ago I watched a TV series called Francesco's Italy: Top to Toe it is a four-part BBC television series hosted by Francesco da Mosto In the series he drives his Red Alfa Romeo Spider the length of Italy from north to south exploring the architecture and traditions in different regions. The final part in the series is about southern Italy and in one scene he is in the Puglia region which borders the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, Its southernmost portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy.
He walked through Alberobello a town which is famous for it’s unique trulli houses and he explained a little about how and why they were constructed. I was fascinated by these strange fairy-like looking dwellings and suggested to my wife we should have our next family holiday in Puglia. A few months later my wife, daughter, and me touched down at Bari airport the capital of Puglia. We had rented a trulo near a town called Cisternino for a week and then planed to drive north and visit Pisa. The next morning I opened the door and looked out on the Italian countryside and felt instantly at home.
When I left school I started working in the catering trade and cooking was my life for the next twenty-five years. Working in hotels and restaurants in he UK and abroad, I meet lots of Italians mostly waiters but some cooks. I always got on well with my Italian work-mates and over the years made some lasting friendships.
We didn’t go to Pisa for the second week and stayed in our little fairy house near Citernino. We toured the area in our hire-car with a few mis-haps but that is another story. When we arrived back in the UK, I couldn't stop thinking about Puglia and the little trulo we had stayed in. I came back to Cisternino a while later and rented an apartment in the old town, so that me and my family could come and stayed on and off throughout the next year.
The year after me and my wife decided to move to Italy and stay for a year so we could experience the four seasons and them make a decision on our future. We rented a villa with a four coned trulo attached and settled in. We live in the country with seven dogs, two cats, chickens a turkey called Debbi and a cockerel called Harry. Our home is surrounded by over three-hundred olive trees we have almond trees, pear trees, pomegranate trees and cherry trees. I could write chapters about the food and wine and about my mad Italian friends. There are lots of strange and wonderful experiences I could tell you about our life living in Italy but after being here for nearly six years now most of the time it has been a delight.
Puglia is like living again when I was a child, people sit on chairs in the streets on the warm summer nights, children still play outside their houses, everybody knows everybody else there is a real sense of community. Technology is starting to creep in and young people do use mobile phones but it is not as invasive as it appears to be in other places.
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We are quite settled here now and look forward to everyday with delight.
