Guitar Festival in the Schiavonia

What is a Schiavonia? Well, when we went to Mottola for the first day of the guitar festival — an event that has held sway in Mottola and its surroundings for about seven days each year around the first week of July, from Saturday to Sunday — a gentleman we asked where the event was being held replied candidly: "In the Schiavonia, where the streets are narrow because it's a Schiavonia." The Schiavonia is the old quarter of Mottola, a town in the province of Taranto perched on a hill and therefore rather cool (a light jacket and good shoes are recommended). The town is pretty, with cave churches in the surroundings, a fine mother church and an enchanting old quarter made up of little alleys, flights of steps and white lime-washed houses.

Moreover, on the floor of the main square, laid recently (that is to say about ten years ago, since the visit dates back to 1999 but we went back in 2003), there is a mosaic of events dating from the time of Norman rule. For those thinking about the food, there are several restaurants and pizzerias and you can try the puccia, a sort of slightly thicker piadina to fill as you like, a speciality of the Salento and of the province of Taranto.

p.s: I was in Mottola on 7 July 1999 even though it shows 7 October for me, I don't know why:-(((