We love jazz concerts.
We love contemporary art vernissages and experimental music, don’t we?
We love cinema events as well.
But culture is also pure pop and, let’s face it, we love even more the summer folk festivals!
Sitting at large tables to share with strangers who are not strangers anymore, being overwhelmed by the music of the square and the smell of food, wearing comfortable shoes and drinking wine and cold beer in plastic cups are essential stages of Italian summer and now that we are in, it’s time to keep track of the folks and food festivals of Apulia.
Let’s start from the North, in a possible itinerary that will reach the tip of the heel.
If you have the excellent idea to visit the area of the Gargano National Park, a gem not to be missed, you may also like to have a ride to Cagnano Varano (Area of Foggia). Here, in addition to the visit to the distinctive St Michael’s Cave and the district called caùt, with houses cut into the rock, stay for the “Sagra della Capra in Acqua e sale e dei formaggi”, i.e. festival of the goat cooked in salted water and of the cheese (July 26). The special preparation of the goat is very typical and you’ll hardly find it somewhere else.
Always talking about cities that are worth seeing for their unique beauty, Manfredonia is a special stage. Especially for lovers of blue fish, July 10th has the traditional feast “Mangiamare“, in which the fish is cooked in the port area according to the ancient tradition.
Going into Bari we meet the festival of the “focaccia” in Valenzano, July 23.
Largo Plebiscito welcomes music and crafts, an institution in this area of Puglia.
Flour, oil, crushed tomatoes, olives are the ingredients of Focaccia, that can be sold as Focaccia Barese elsewhere, to specify its local traits. Beware of imitations.
The village of Santerano in Colle, in the amazing scenario of the Murgia heels, hosts for 3 days (July 29-31) the roasted meat festival, for strong flavours lovers.
The area of Salento begins in July to light the constellation of local folk festivals that will culminate in August.
July proposes, in the final province of the heel of Italy, the Festival of Salento flavors( July 22 to 24) in Sternatia. Three nights with three of the best of the local folk music groups, that will make you enjoy this music – a national and European trend by now –at the top of its magic energy.
In this food festival you can enjoy the popular frise, the plammi (a variant of the bread with olives), aspri ce mavri (special preparation of frisa), souvlaki (skewers, variants of the Greek tradition as the term suggests), pittule and pasticciotto.
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Talking about Pasticciotto, the famous dessert… the town of Surano devotes to it a whole event on 28 July. The best typical pasticciotti with the experimental variants will be freshly prepared and distributed for free, thanks to the commitment and involvement of the local baker association.
The many local farms are present at this festival in order to ensure a good typical meal… before the free dessert.
For those who love starchy foods in all their best forms, the “Sagra te lu ranu” (wheat festival) in Merine – July 8 to 10 – is the right place to be. Interchange parking lots at the entrance of the village and excellent security and rescue services make this event one of the best in terms of organization. Of course you can eat, listen to music and you can buy handicrafts and local food and wine. http://www.sagrateluranu.eu/
The Sagra della Marangiana (eggplant festival), in Castri di Lecce, welcomes August saying goodbye to July (from July 29 to August 1st).
Pop, folk and rock music will accompany all the local dishes made with eggplants, from parmigiana to pasta and even delicious sweets.
Which one would you choose?
Why don’t you try the epic venture of “having it all”?
