APUGLIA - HEART OF APULIA BIKE

HEART OF APULIA BIKE

 

 

A full experience of Apulian Life A fascinating loop trip into the traditions, the habits, the culture and the language in Puglia when the everyday life still follows the rhythm of the seasons.Moving daily from Mesagne, the heart of our trip, we will experience a different itinerary which will make you experience the authentic Apuglia. Food, wine, music, dancing, friends…at the end you will be one of us. You will be an apulian too!. Cycling you will taste our typical cuisine, will learn how to make home-made pasta, will take part in a daily farmer work with mozzarella -making, will be “pizzicato” by the sound and dance of local folk music, will have a dinner with a local family and friends and much more. Find it out with us!

TRIP ITINERARY

8 days – 7 nights

 

Day 1
Arrival in Mesagne…the town with an ancient heart

Upon your arrival Mesagne will welcome you with all his “heart.” A walk through the narrow streets of the old town, with its characteristic shape of a heart, will be a journey back in time, by the Messapians the first inhabitants of Apulia to the Romans, the Lombards, the Normans and the the Swabians up to the powerful feudal lords, owners of the land and its citizens. The imposing Castle, over the centuries become a skillful blend of sophisticated military fortress and Renaissance mansion, is a good company of the imposing Cathedral Church, St. Anne’s Church and St. Mary’s Church in Bethlehem that make the ancient Messapian center the most important example of Baroque architecture from Apuglia in the Brindisi province of, second only to Lecce.

Your experience in Apuglia will start with a beautiful cooking lesson: all together to make home-made “orecchiette” pasta … the main course of dinner with friends who will welcome you among us!

Overnight: Mesagne

Day 2
Mesagne – Ceglie Messapica…pedaling along the "Via Lattea"

Cycling about 60 Kms Overnight: Mesagne

The “Murgia dei Trulli” is not only a fairy area of Apuglia, with its typical houses in cones, but is primarily an oasis of livestock production in the heart of Apuglia cultivation of fruit trees and cereal. For centuries the Murgia region has been conformed to this vocation, as evidenced by the locks, fences of stone walls for the animals, the tracks of transhumance, tratturi and tratturelli and the impressive stables of trulli in the farms of stone. Especially this vocation has given life to a unique dairy tradition and prestige with excellence in the production of string cheese, mozzarella, cheese horse, burrata, stracciatelle, and other delicacies: ricotta, cheese, Sheep and Goat cheese.

The cycling route will take us from Mesagne, to Ceglie Messapica, capital of gastronomy where we will stop in a typical farm which is also a cheese factory at 0 meters, where will be a tasting of typical products, dairy products and oil , produced by the company. The return will be a pleasant descent to the land of Messapians … the ancient people come into our territory and that along to the Romans and Greeks helped to create that unique blend of history, culture and traditions that reflect the best of Apuglia.

Day 3
Mesagne– Guagnano… pedaling in to the "Parc del Negroamaro"

When man realized the ability of the wine to drunkenness, to alter the state of consciousness, to determine an explosion of vitality, not only gave impulse to the cultivation of the vineyards, but made it a myth considering a gift of God to men. The route today will be a continual explosion of the senses in the countryside of Brindisi and Lecce provinces used for the cultivation of the vines of excellence in this area and therefore for the production of its nectar. The lands of the Primitivo, Negroamaro and Malvasia, quality grapes which grow almost exclusively in Puglia and produce excellent local wines, form now the “Parco del Negroamaro” which, with its rural and charming landscape of vineyards that from September charge of delicious smells, will welcome us with its cellars where we will stop for a well deserved tasting of local products.

Cycling about 60 Kms Overnight: Mesagne

Day 4
Mesagne – Torre Guaceto …along the "Via della Civiltà Rupestre"

Torre Guaceto preserves one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline on the Adriatic coast, with marshes and dunes, beaches and coves, golden sand and Mediterranean plants and an impressive tower which was built to protect the coast from pirate attacks. To get there the “Percorso della Civiltà Rupestre” is one of the most gorgeous that may exist, a beautiful and equipped bike path that runs alongside the Royal Canal on the south shore, and that leads to discover the treasures of the Basilian Byzantine rock civilization, the crypt of St. Biagio in the first place . Here is preserved the pictorial cycle, unique in Southern Italy with Virgin Mary frescoes and Byzantine Saints, which represent the strong bond that was there with the countries and peoples of the other side of coast.

The stop will be in a farm of the place where it has been established a Slow Food Presidium of the typical product of the province of Brindisi, the “flask” tomato, expertly transformed into a luscious oil product.

Cycling about 50 Kms Overnight: Mesagne

Day 5
Mesagne – Ostuni…pedaling along "la Via degli Oliveti Secolari"

The ride today will take us to the White City. From its high position Ostuni overlooks the entire Plains of Olives in a succession of colors ranging from deep blue of the sea in the distance, the bright red of its land, the lush green of the foliage of the olive trees. After a walk in the historical center, a few shots to the whitewashed houses that make up its building characteristic, and a taste of the tomato focaccia, one of the pillars of the Apulian cuisine, you will return passing by the town of ‘Nzegna, which contains a small religious treasure in the rock of his Church of Belvedere and cycling along the Way of secular olive groves, majestic and silent witnesses that will protect your pace and provide shelter in case of stop.

Cycling about 60 Kms Overnight: Mesagne
Day 6
Mesagne – Torre S. Susanna …pedaling along "la Via dei Pellegrini"

Popular religiosity in Salento has been expressed over the centuries in the form of pilgrimages, processions, feasts dedicated to patron saints. Religious ceremonies were to match and beat the rhythm of nature related to the fertility of the fields at harvest. In the phenomenon of the “tarantism” popular religiosity blends with the music culture and with the components of a courtship full of charm and mystery. Along the route of today we will meet the “Chiesetta di Crepacore”, the medieval cathedral of Oria, including the famous Mummies crypt which houses the embalmed corpses of the members of the “Brotherhood of Death”, shrines and mills in Torre Santa Susanna, the crypt of Saint Lucia Erchie with the miraculous water . A stop at a company mill which produces extra virgin olive oil of quality will brighten the pedaling.

Cycling about 50 Kms Overnight: Mesagne
Day 7
Mesagne – Brindisi… pedaling along the "Via Appia"

Brindisi, gateway to the East, is an ancient city, a mix of cultures and civilizations and place of events become part of history. Brindisi has grown in the easternmost port of Italy which has determined the destiny, shaped the history and, in some respects, its city image. The last columns of the Appian Way, mirrored from the top of their staircase in the waters of the inner harbour, watch over what tradition says as the final resting place of Virgil and tell all visitors the glorious history of the Roman Way and the numerous events that made Brindisi famous in the world. Before coming back you will taste one of the most delicious home-made ice cream in the city.

Cycling about 40 Kms Overnight: Mesagne

Day 8
Departure

 

 

Info & Request: info@atmospheraitalia.eu

Apulia - Enotourism

Day 1
Arrival in Apulia, transfer by bus and hotel accommodation. Free time, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2
Breakfast in the hotel. The tour will start with a walk into the narrow alleys of the small Medieval town of Locorotondo, followed a tasting of the local wine “Locorotondo Doc” – namely “with Controlled Designation of Origin” – in a typical winery. The wine has a brilliant green colour and a slightly fruity aroma and is well accompanied by vegetables, risotto and fish. We will then proceed to visit the famous town of Alberobello, the most renown one of Apulia all over the world. The Aia Piccola quarters, the so-called “Sovereign Trullo” and the characteristic Cathedral are the peculiar monuments of a town which popular belief and traditions are its strong points. Here, we will refresh ourselves with a typical tasty Apulian lunch. A guided tour will lead us into the alleys of Alberobello and help us solve the mystery of the cone-shaped buildings, the trulli. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.


Day 3
Breakfast in the hotel. Today we will be moving towards Lecce, the town which best represents the Baroque art in Southern Italy. The Cathedral Square, the Church of Santa Croce, Sant’Oronzo Square and the Roman Amphiteatre are the main monuments that we will be discovering during our guided tour. The artisan workshops of earthenware and nice papier-mâché gift goods are must-see stops. The lunch will be served in a local winery where we will taste the well-know “Salice Salentino”, a wine of an intense ruby colour featuring a robust, full-bodied and smooth, harmonious flavour. After a walk in the vineyards, we will visit Otranto, we will admire the mosaic pavement (13th century) of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata and the Aragonese Castle rising close to the sea and surrounded by a wide and profound moat. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.
 
Day 4
Breakfast in the hotel. During the day, we will see and learn how bread is made and, why not, we will learn to milk a cow. We will also spend unforgettable and unique moments in a typical farm on the Murge plateau. Lunch will be served in a place surrounded by the peacefulness of unpolluted nature. In the afternoon, the guided tour will take us to Castel del Monte, where the majestic castle looking like a ‘rocky crown’ towers over the Alta Murgia National Park. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.


Day 5
Breakfast in the hotel, departure to Matera. Walking around Matera is like being taken back into forgotten past. The ideal place where several movies about Jesus Christ’s life were set, Matera was, nevertheless, considered the ‘shame of Italy’ for many years. Its earthen, rooster-shaped whistles, its ancient rupestrian churches and cave dwellings have made Matera a unique place in the world for you to discover, listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In Matera we will enjoy the pleasures of the local wine-and-food traditions during the lunch served in a typical winery producing much appreciated organic wines. After a relaxing walk through the vineyards, our tour will continue in Altamura, the town of bread. Altamura, indeed, was awarded the “Protected Designation of Origin” status for its famous bread. During our visit, we will have the chance to see an ancient bakery located in the characteristic old center of the town. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 6
After breakfast, we will be visiting one of the most beautiful, monuments from the Bronze Age, the Dolmen of Bisceglie. It was declared “Culture of Peace Messenger Site”. The tour will go on with an interesting visit of a typical olive-mill where we will be captured by the process of extracting olive oil, which is the real drive of the Apulian economy. Our morning tour will finish in a restaurant fronting the port of the fascinating town of Trani. After the lunch, a walking tour will lead us into the Suevian Castle and the Cathedral, the true ambassador of Trani all over the world. Further on, during the visit of a local winery, there will be a tasting of the local “Moscato of Trani Doc”, a muscat wine going well with the typical sweets of the region and fruit salad. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.


Day 7
Breakfast in the hotel, during our last day in such a traditional region, we will learn to cook some of the typical dishes of Apulian cuisine. The subsequent lunch will be based on the dishes prepared by the participants. In the afternoon, we will arrive in Bari and visit the Basilica of Saint Nicholas. A walk along the elegant street of the city center, Via Sparano, will make shopping and relaxing possible. In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 8
Breakfast in the hotel. It is time to say goodbye to this wonderful region, well aware that one day we will see each other again. Ckeck-out hotel. Tour end.



 





Price per person starting from: € 1.500,00

Rate valid for minimum 8 people and include:

• Private bus transfer during the tour
• Guided Tour in Foreign Languages
• Accommodation in Hotel 4**** (or similar)
• Accommodation in double room, daily half-board (excluding beverages)
• Lunches in the restaurant as the program
• Wine tastings
• Cooking lesson and teaching activities on the farm
• Tickets
• Technical assistance services during the whole tour
• Rates do not include:
• International and domestic flights
• Tips and extras
• Beverages
• Single room supplement
• Any personal extra charge
•  

Self drive tour for 2 people, price on request

Info & Request: info@atmospheraitalia.eu

 

Self drive tour Matera and Altamura

Self drive tour Matera and Altamura

 

Day 1

Arrival to Matera and hotel accommodation.
In the afternoon guided visit through an articulated and unusual walk inside the characteristic “sassi”. The walk is articulated by numerous standstills of multiple sites. The visit includes entries to some characteristic structures as the churches, the houses cave, the systems of harvest of the waters, the wine cellars dug in cave useful to understand some conclusive aspects the style of life in the Stones. At the end of the tour a tasting of typical products “lucani” will be offered.
In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2

Breakfast in hotel.
In the morning visit to “Matera underground”. A wide part of the city until then entirely ignored composed from numerous residences in the cave, tanneries, wine cellars and “palombari”.
Lunch in the restaurant.
In the afternoon free time.
In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.



Day 3

Breakfast in hotel and departure to Altamura Altamura, guided visit of the ancient town and the imposing cathedral. During the walk visit of the ancient oven to assist to the preparation of the “Bread of Altamura” the first product in Europe to confer upon some mark DOP in the market category ” Bakery and oven products ”.
Lunch in the restaurant.
In the afternoon excursion near the center visits of Lamalunga where it’s possible to observe the images of the Man of Altamura (Homo Arcaicus).
In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4

Breakfast in hotel, all day for to discover of the Lucania gastronomy with visits to wine cellars, typical products tastings and traditional dishes.
In the afternoon cooking lesson with the preparation of typical dishes, soups of vegetables, peppers “cruschi” and other culinary specialties.
In the evening return to hotel, dinner and overnight stay.



 
Day 5

Breakfast in hotel.
Tour end.



 






Price per person starting from: € 530,00

Rate valid for minimun 2 people and include:

Accommodation in Hotel 4**** (or similar)
Double room accommodation, daily half-board treatment (excluding beverages)
Lunches in the restaurant as program
Guided visit as program
Product tasting as program
Support services during the whole tour

Info and Request: info@atmospheraitalia.eu

Milan - Fashion Expo Milan 2015

EXPO Milan 2015

 

 

From the 1st May to the 31th October 2015 more than 145 countries will participate to the Universal Exposition, to address an important issue for the future of Humanity: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
Expo Milan 2015 will be the first exhibition to be remembered not only for the manufactures produced but also for the contribution to education on nutrition, food, and resources at a global level.
For the occasion, Atmosphera Italia in partnership with Silk Gift Milan will organize tailor-made packages for visitors to the Expo who want to combine the charm of discovery with the knowledge of the Italian craftsmanship.
Atmosphera Italia and Silk Gift Milan will lead you in finding out and buying everything that can fulfill your wishes and best express your personality.
You can choose then between the shopping Tours that best suit your needs, whether you're alone or with friends (up to a maximum of 4 people).

 

 

 

Our suggestions:

• Shopping Tour Classic (total time 3/5 hours): the tour for the shops of Milan's fashion, from the "the Golden square the so called Quadrilatero" to the best shops of craftsmen and couturiers, to the outlets in and out of the city ... The important thing is to choose, thanks to our help, what is better and is more suitable for you. Drive your needs and your tastes!

• Shopping Tour "Atelier Experience" (total time 5 hours): Shopping for the Classic Tour is to be accompanied by a guided tour into the historical Milanese atelier to closely observe the tailor made phases and artigianality to create a dress of haute couture.

• Shopping Tour "Fashion runway" (total time 5 hours): to the Shopping at the "Atelier Experience" we join a typical 50' s style runway.

• Shopping & Design (total time 3/ 5 hours): to The Shopping for Classic Tour ,we link a tour in the new business hub "Milano Porta Nuova "born thanks to the EXPO 2015, to tell you the history, the most fascinating and cute news, and if you want to visit the artigianality in the shops of Corso Garibaldi and Corso Como boutique.

• All About Vintage (total time 3 hours): we're going to visit through the trunks and on the shelves of the many vintage stores opened in Milan, looking at to find items (like Chanel handbags of the 50's), or the many opportunities designer at very accessible price.

Anyway shopping is not just about Milan! We organize for you even shopping tours at the time of your visit to Rome, Venice, and Florence!

If you want to personalised your shopping by adding other services or special shops, you can contact us to create together your personalised shopping tour.

 

Info & Request: info@atmospheraitalia.eu