Polignano A Mare Is A Small Gem Of A Seaside Town In Puglia

The Italian peninsula is neither very long (736 miles) nor very wide (150 miles), not counting Sicily, so that the distance from one town to another may be less than five miles, yet they all have their unique charms, which differ radically from the foggy north to the sun-kissed south.

As a seaside province on Italy’s heel, Puglia has the Adriatic on one side and the Tyrrhenian on the other, accounting for 500 miles of coastline. Forty minutes south of the large city of Bari is the small city of Polignano a Mare and fifty minutes away is Monopoli, both of which can be visited in a day. From there other days can be languidly spent visiting Ostuni, Brindisi, Lecce and Gravina.

Polignano a Mare has a shadowy history, with some scholars claiming the Greeks settled it as Neapolis, while others say Julius Caesar founded it as a hub along the Via Traiana. Its situation on the Adriatic was a double-edged sword, on the one hand making it readily accessible for trade, on the other easy to invade. Thus, its occupiers have included the Byzantine Empire, the Normans, the Angioinians and the Aragonese, who pretty much stabilized the region.

On the way into town, stop to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art Pino Pascali on the Parco du Santo Stefano, a squat building with a Roman archway housing a remarkable array of the native artist’s work (along with a few others’) in every type of medium, from painting to sculpture to fabric to video. Opened in 2012, it pays homage to an artist who died in Rome at 33, yet who achieved international renown within the avant-garde community.

Polignano is such a pleasure to stroll through, for there really isn’t a lot of area to cover. Despite that, indeed, because of it, the town swells with tourists in summer, especially for the “Red Bull Cliff Diving Polignano” event that draws 50,000 people annually to watch professional divers plunge 65 feet into clear blue waters edged with rocky cliffs. The seashore is also pockmarked with grottoes in which the sea ebbs and flows, one of which, Grotta Palazzese, now holds a fine dining restaurant.

If you stroll along the Lungomare (waterfront), with its narrow streets weaving in and out of the Old Town, where people live in perched apartments and new boutiques and trattorias have popped up, you will eventually come to the statue of local boy Domenico Modugno, who became an international star with his song “Volare.”

The beaches below may be rocky or white sand, small and secluded, the most famous of which, the secluded Lido Cala Paura, can be viewed from the old bridge above.

There are, of course, numerous churches to drop into, the finest of which is devoted to Santa Maria Assunta in Piazza Dell’Orologio, consecrated in 1295 with a simple bell tower and housing Stefano da Putignano’s beloved Nativity sculpture (1530).

Given its history and various occupiers, Polignano’s architectural diversity can be seen in the palazzos, the terraced Governor’s palace, and, on the expansive Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, the Palazzo dell’Orologio, seat of the town hall until 1837.

Sitting along the main street, just shy of the Lama Monachile bridge, are several good spots to eat and drink. By all means you must have a cup of Polignano’s caffe speziale, made with espresso laced with amaretto liqueur. A good spot to try it is the oddly named FCAZZ Birra, with outdoor tables set under white umbrellas.

Just across the street is one of the region’s finest seafood restaurants, Casa Mia, on the Piazza Garibaldi. A smart looking place with outdoor tables, it has a fine wine list and ebullient owners in Vito and Michele Dragone. There you might want to start off with a puffy-crusted pizza, but the antipasti, including crudi of mackerel and shellfish, are difficult to ignore.

The menu changes with the tide, and whatever comes in fresh that morning will be on it: red shrimp with fried artichokes; tuna with pesto; spaghetti with seppie and a puree of yellow squash; tortelletti with scampi and basil. The fritto misto of seafood is impeccably cooked. The best way to appreciate Casa Mia is with a tasting of either three or six dishes, priced according to the day’s market.

If you end the afternoon early, you can also visit nearby Monopoli, a town blessed in legend by the visitation of the Madonna in 1117, arriving on a raft, as commemorated at the Cathedral di Maria Santissima della Madia. This is a medieval town, settled in the sixth century (although it is said pirates built a small church, San Salvatore, there in 313 in thanks for surviving a shipwreck), dominated by a fortress of Charles V, the Spanish king who kept the peace that led to Monopoli’s being free of further invasion.

Sunsets over the Adriatic offer dramatic vistas that indicate just how close the town is to the Near East. Then it’s time to walk through the small streets, all well-lighted to show off the whitewashed cleanliness of the city’s homes, as the people of Monopoli close their shutters and light their lamps.