Learn Italian while cycling across Puglia – 8 days guided small group for every age & fitness.

Independent arrival in Otranto. Meeting the guide and Initial briefing of the trip.

After breakfast, you will begin with your first bicycle excursion on the soundings of Otranto.
Riding along the little river “Idro” (“water” in latin), which gives the city its name, we visit an ancient Byzantine crypt from the 13th century and then we arrive in Casamassela, where ancient looms are still being used nowadays at “Le Constantine” foundation. In Giurdignano, we cross a Bronze age megalithic garden to observe its “dolmen” and “menhir closely” –  prehistorical monuments.
We do the first test for dividing the group into levels among huge stones and majestic olive trees.
For lunch, visit and taste one of the most characteristic bakeries in the region, where a farming family has decided to transform ancient grains into baked goods with an ancient flavour.
Return to Otranto and have a free afternoon to visit the city. Possibility of a horse ride at sunset.

This day is dedicated to one of the fascinating aspects of the Italian coast.  Fantastic beauty is the Palacia Lighthouse in Italy’s Far East and a unique lake formed in a disused bauxite quarry. We are located at the easternmost tip of the peninsula. If the sky is clear, you can see the mountains of Albania and Greece across the bay. We ride only in the morning.
In the afternoon, take an Italian lesson on the hotel rooftop.

Continue through the Otranto Leuca coast, where various 16th-century defensive towers overlook the sea.
Upon arrival at Marina Serra, you will have an Italian language lesson in a coastal pine forest and a chance to chat with friends of the active civil rights association Copra he Tisza. In the early afternoon, rest in a picturesque bay (swimming is also possible). Arrive in Santa Maria di Leuca in the late afternoon to enjoy the sunset over the Ionian Sea.

A leisurely day without a bike. After breakfast, an Italian lesson in the old villa from the early 20th century where our group is staying.
Late morning sailing trip with lunch on board!

Today complete immersion in Italian lessons while cycling around the villages around the wonderful “Capo di Leuca” area.
We visit ancient towers, underground oil mills, the ruin of a pre-Roman city, a Mausoleum that holds traces of Byzantine frescoes, a semi-abandoned castle and an ancient pilgrims station with its incredible immense underground, used by the pilgrims to rest…; all while having a continuous Italian lesson with our teachers!
In the afternoon, we reach again the ionic coast until the St. Andrew’s island and Punta Pizzo Netural Park. In Gallipoli you could enjoy an aperitif on a terrace overlooking the sea. located on an island, this small fisherman village is striking by its light, its alleys and its fish market.

Today is the final test of our Italian course: cooking lesson and family lunch in a local farmhouse, where the mother of one of our partners teaches us (in Italian, of course!) to cook some of the typical specialties of this region.
We start in the morning from Gallipoli, and in a few kilometres, we reach Alezio (an ancient Messapian city with an interesting museum on pre-Roman civilizations) and then Sannicola. Then we reach “Tenuta mamma Anna” – a family-run “agritourism” where cooking class will occur. The products are harvested directly from the family garden and then move on to the preparation: “pitta di patate” (a kind of potato gateau, with a stuffing of tomatoes, olives, capers, onion, and tuna), “pittule” (some fried dough balls), filled with tomatoes and capers, or empty to taste with honey) and hand-made orecchiette (a typical local pasta shaped like an ear, prepared with fingers and a knife), the “pasticciotto cake” (a cake made with shortcrust pastry, filled with chantilly cream). These are some of the dishes that will be prepared, which will follow family lunch all together and then back to Gallipoli.