Taste of Puglia, Food and Wine Tour
May 18 - May 29, 2015 (11 days)
Bringing homemade back, one recipe at a time.
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A Southern Italian food and wine cultural
experience
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Tour the wonderful towns of this southern
region.
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Puglia the top new travel destination for
international travellers visiting Italy.
Guided tours with food related excursions in
Bari, Matera, Alberobello, and Lecce
3 day cooking, food, wine and culture at The
Awaiting Table Cookery School in Lecce,
while staying at their castle location.
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Pasta made from scratch, visits to local green
grocer and olive oil producer
“Live Like Italians !” - Silvestro Silvestori,
The Awaiting Table Cookery
Included with the tour;
Flight from Toronto to Rome to Bari, return
All ground transportation by bus or van
All accommodations in either 3/4 star hotels or a
renovated palace or castle, including breakfast
All lunches including wine except on arrival day &
the free day
All guided tours with a local, English speaking guide
All meals with unlimited wine and excursions at The
Awaiting Table
All taxes in Italy
Not included;
Optional tours during free time
Meals during your free time
Gratuities for guides & staff of The Awaiting Table
Introducing Your Host
Silvestro Silvestori
@The Awaiting Table Cookery School
Introducing Your Hostess:
Natalina Campagnolo, Owner/ Instructor, La Cucina
di Natalina, Italian Cooking School
Natalina opened La Cucina di Natalina in September 2011.
She is a self-proclaimed “home cook with culinary
training”. For the past 3 years she has been sharing her
passion for Italian Home Cooking and her experience living
in Italy. Her hands on, communal style, cooking classes are
offered from Sept to May in her professional, teaching
kitchen. www.italiancookingschool.guelph.com
Every year she returns to Italy to explore the Food & Wine.
This coming May will be the launch of the “Taste of Puglia,
Food & Wine Tour”. After a year of research, this tour is
available for a limited number of participants in May 2015.
Each stop, guide, accommodation and excursion has been
hand-picked for you to experience Italian culture at its
finest. Fluent in Italian and having lived and travelled in
Italy for years she is the perfect travel companion to guide
you on your way!
In 2003, Silvestro Silvestori opened The Awaiting Table
Cookery School in Lecce, Italy, a small cookery school
based on the simple yet seemingly radical idea that a
cooking school in Italy could be much more than 12
students standing around watching someone stuff an
oven.
As the face of upscale tourism is changing, where
historically travellers used their money to buffer their
comfort zones from the things they came to see, to a new
model that favours connection, hands-on learning and
enjoying a participatory role with the people and places
they visit.
He held his small classes in the middle of the gorgeously
baroque city of Lecce, the city considered a national
treasure here in Italy. The classes quickly blossomed,
earning an international reputation within the first two
years. Combining forces with a local baron in 2008,
Silvestro created a larger kitchen, held in a private
castle, again, just meters off the main piazza, this time in
a small provincial town, in the deep Salento (southern
most region of Puglia). The larger kitchen allowed for
special, once-a-year courses featuring larger classes,
which are often themed.
After three years of training, he graduated as a
nationally-certified sommelier here in Italy, and in 2010
opened, Terronia: the New Wine School of Southern
Italy, held at the castle, an hour south of Lecce.
“Immerse yourself in a
true Italian
cultural experience that will ignite
your senses. ”- Natalina
Daily Itinerary
May 18, 2015; arrive at Toronto Pearson International
Airport for our flight to Rome, Italy. Meet our group in the
boarding area. Flight departs Toronto at 10:25 pm.
May 19, 2015; arrive at Rome Fumicino Airport at 1:00pm,
local time. Just enough time for a quick espresso or
cappuccino before our 2:45pm, flight to Bari.
Arrive in Bari at 3:50pm local time.
We meet our hotel shuttle and are transported 10 minutes
away to our 4 star hotel (Hotel Riva del Sole, http://
www.rivadelsolegiovinazzo.it/) which is located at an
outstanding seaside location! Just the right backdrop to rest
and relax. Enjoy the pools, beach and restaurants for your
first evening on your own.
May 20, 2015; we will meet Silvia, our local guide and bus
at the hotel in the am and the adventure begins….
AM: we will tour the historic centre of Bari, Puglia’s
largest city, by foot. We will then stop at Eataly, Italy’s
premier food emporium. We will have time to shop and
have a group lunch (included).
PM; we will travel by bus to Matera, Basilicata. We will
check into our 3 star, award winning hotel, built right into
the rocks (Matera, Hotel Sassi, http://www.hotelsassi.it/).
You may enjoy your first night here on your own.
May 21, 2015
AM; we will meet Silvia for a tour of this magical city
bursting with history. We will enjoy a quick, antipasto style
lunch before we board the bus (included).
PM; we will travel from Matera to Alberobello, Puglia.
Silvia will guide us through this wonderful, “fairy-tale”
like, town. We will stop at a local business to sample local
specialities. Cosimo is a passionate local that carries the
region’s best products. Here you will have an opportunity
to purchase items and/or ship home. (olive oil, wine,
balsamic, vincotto)
We will continue our journey on to Lecce, Puglia, our home
for the next 4 nights. Lecce is known as “the most beautiful
city in the south”. It is famous for its baroque architecture,
history and wonderful food. Our accommodations are a
recently renovated palace in a great location in the old
town. Evening on your own. (Lecce, renovated palace,
http://www.dimoravicolocorto.it/)
May 22, 2015; AM; we will travel by bus to a local winery
for a tour and annotated lunch (included). There will be an
opportunity to buy wine and/or ship home. Evening on your
own.
May 23,2015; Silvia will be joining us for a Tour of Lecce
and traditional lunch. We will say “arrivaderci” to Silvia as
we will be starting the second leg of our trip! Evening on
your own.
May 24, 2015; FREE DAY….enjoy this day as you wish.
Some suggested side trips are shopping in Lecce, a trip to
the beach or a bicycle tour. Natalina can help you make
plans with the help of her Lecce contacts. (Please request
this in advance)
May 25, 2015; we will check out of our Lecce
accommodations and meet Silvestro from The Awaiting
Table. We will drop off our luggage and join him and his
staff at the Lecce location for lunch. We will then be
transported 1 hour south to the Castle location in Spongano,
Puglia. (renovated castle, http://www.palazzobacile.it/)
May 25, 2015- May 28, 2015; 3 day program at The
Awaiting Table Castle Course
www.awaitingtable.com
May 28, 2015; we will be transported back to Lecce with a
packed lunch to the train station where we will meet our
bus for the ride back to our airport
accommodations. The same, seaside hotel we stayed on our
first night, will be our final accommodation. The rest of the
day is on your own. Choose to end our tour by the pool or
by the sea. The town of Giovinazzo is close by and worth a
look. The hotel could arrange a shuttle there for a group.
This is optional, so the cost is yours.
May 29, 2015; we are shuttled to the airport for our flight
from Bari to Rome departing at 12:10pm. (You may have
an option to stay in Rome here if you wish, please inquire)
Flight from Rome to Toronto departs at 3:15pm.
Silvestori’s cooking school has been praised in The New York Times, Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, Wine & Spirits,
Travel+Leisure, The Los Angeles Times, The London Times and countless write ups in the domestic press. He’s appeared
on Chinese, Belgian, Dutch and American television, and Italy’s most respected newspaper called him, ‘A national treasure’, for his work in preservation and promotion of Salentine cuisine.
Taste of Puglia, Food and Wine
Tour Cost
Price per Person: (Canadian Dollars)
Not included in the tour cost:
2 to a room: $3,750.
*Airport departure taxes & fuel surcharges –
Single supplement: Add $450.
Approximately $595. (subject to change)
*Air credit available of $550.
*optional package insurance
Deposit: $300 per person and completed booking form is required for all bookings.
Note – name submitted on booking form must match your valid passport.
Final Payment: Due 60 days prior to departure or by March 30th, 2015.
Travel Documents: Canadian citizens must be in possession of a valid passport with not less than six
months validity remaining after departure date from Europe.
Cancellation Penalties:
Between date of booking and February 1st, 2015 no penalty.
Between February 1st and March 1st, 2015 - 50% deposit refundable
After March 1st – 100% of deposit non-refundable
**extended and or customized packages available. Please inquiry with GLP Worldwide Expeditions
To book your tour,
contact Mary Joy Morgan:
[email protected]
1-519-241-2123
Or
Kristy Goodale:
[email protected]
905-258-7778 ext. 246
GLP Worldwide Expedition Travel and Tours
1211 Denison Street, Unit26
Markham, ON
L3R 4B3
Telephone: 905-258-7778
Toll Free: 1-866-760-1987
Fax: 905-258-7779
TICO:50008899