The Murge: these unknown lands!

The Murge area covers a vast expanse of Puglia and stretches from the northern side of the province of Bari, pushing on towards the south-east inland until it grazes the neighbouring province of Matera, which still keeps a tenacious bond with Puglia in its colours and smells. The parks and oases that spring up in the area are often stormed by Sunday trippers in summer, above all to escape the relentless heat, and also on Easter Monday. On this outing we visited the WWF oasis of Mellitto, not very large but with a fairly established ecosystem, and the Mercadante forest (in the evening, so the pictures really don't do it justice). The Mercadante forest is artificial, created around 1927 to hold back the waste water that was causing tremendous damage to the city of Bari.

Today, after almost 80 years, it is a favourite spot for day trips and is also home to some nice fallow deer and ostriches. Continuing along the SS 96 you reach Altamura, the city of bread. Its old town is neat and full of shops and cafés, while the imposing structure of the Cathedral stands out, Romanesque in origin like almost all the important churches in the province of Bari. Two more stops on our little trip are Massafra and Laterza, the latter almost on the border with Matera. Here too there is a gravina to admire and, outside Laterza, a LIPU oasis. In Laterza there is a well-regarded ceramics trade and the bread is almost as good as that of Altamura. In Massafra we recommend "Dal buongustaio", a friendly restaurant where you really eat well...(see also the website