Our perfect Puglian wedding

I have been meaning to write a short post about our Puglian wedding and as it is our three year anniversary today, I thought it would be a good opportunity! From the moment James proposed in Venice, we knew we wanted to be married in Italy – our first holiday together was in Rome and we had travelled many times to our favourite country both together and separately. While researching possible venues, all over Italy, it wasn’t until we were in Puglia and asking around that we heard about Masseria Salamina and went to visit before catching our flight home. The moment we met Filippo and Chiara and explored the Masseria in the early October sunshine, we were completely enchanted and to seal the deal, we found a picture outside the bridal suite of the exact location in Venice where we became engaged. We realised it was definitely meant to be!

Painting of our special place in Venice

Getting legally married in Italy can be difficult – yes there is a lot of paperwork and things take time but if you find a good wedding planner who is used to dealing with the process, and you are organised, it’s a breeze! We didn’t want a very complex or traditional wedding so were happy to go with the fabulous suggestions that our friends at the Masseria made. The area we took most interest in was food and wine and we enjoyed a wonderful evening trying lots of delicious Puglian food and wines to agree our feast! We were also lucky to have on board Lesley Lau, who not only found our wonderful photographers, Brushfire Photography, who came all the way from the US to work with her, she also created the simple but very evocative flowers and decorations to fit in with the landscape and feel of the Masseria. Their work was published on Once Wed shortly after our return to the UK: https://www.oncewed.com/real-weddings/organic-outdoor-wedding-in-italy/).   We also decided to have a classic Italian car to transport us from the Masseria to Ostuni and back, which we hadn’t originally planned but was actually a lovely touch and she was a hit parked outside the town hall while we were getting hitched!

Our wedding car in the centre of Ostuni

We had a simple service which was conducted in Italian by the Mayor of Ostuni, and translated by our wedding planner with a town hall official standing by. It was really special, if a little comical due to our lack of italian and knowledge of the customs, and it was so sweet when the Mayor wanted his photo with us and our wedding certificate afterwards! I think our guests enjoyed the opportunity to spend a few hours in the centre of Ostuni, enjoying drinks and gelato in the piazza, before heading back to the Masseria where we were all staying for three nights in total.

Just married with Ostuni cathedral in the distance

Since our wedding, the one piece of advice I have given to anyone I know who is planning their day – make sure you have some time, even only ten minutes, just to yourselves to really take in the day, realise that this has actually happened and enjoy sharing your love and joy together without any interruptions. We had some time back at the Masseria to do this, after some photos, and that short time is one of my favourite memories of the day

Time on our own in the olive groves

Our wonderful friend Hannah (#whilstjudesleeps) created our table plan and place settings, as well as other stationary and we were so delighted with how magical the central courtyard looked set up for our wedding breakfast. The Masseria is completely stunning in its own right, there was no need for anything more fancy than some flowers and olive branches picked in the fields and candlelight - just what we wanted!

Some beautiful details

After some stunning harp music over antipasti and drinks, our super, talented friends Jane and Darren performed ‘Summertime’ which brought the house down and made many of us rather teary!

Darren and Jane doing their thing!

We then headed for some hard core eating which didn’t finish until gone 11pm, in the Italian style, with everyone needing to loosen their belts/change into something more comfortable before proceeding to the outdoor pool area for more drinks and of course dancing.  We finally fell into bed at 5am the next morning (another perk of getting married abroad!), exhausted but delighted after such a wonderful day, in the perfect location in our favourite place in the whole world!

Making an entrance!

I am NOT a wedding planner but I have plenty of contacts and am happy to chat about getting married in Italy – please do drop me an email if I can help! If you are thinking about getting married in Italy, or anywhere abroad for that matter, I know one of the biggest concerns about doing so can be the logistics of getting your guests there and asking them to travel so far. This was the same for us but as long as you give everyone a lot of notice and provide clear instructions and help along the way, we found most people made a holiday out of the opportunity to travel to the sunshine and - we hope - they all very much enjoyed and will remember for ever our special day! 

All photos by Brushfire Photography http://brushfirephotography.com/

Agriturismi – Fantastic Puglia Accommodation Options

One of my favourite ways of enjoying Italy, and especially Puglia, is by staying in an ‘agriturismo’, essentially a farm stay. The agriturismi (agricultural tourism) movement was started in the 1980s as a way of helping farmers to make a little extra money by offering accommodation to tourists in spare rooms or converted buildings. They could do this as long as most of their income was still generated from farming, to ensure the farmland continued to be worked on and preserved. There are now over 20,000 agriturismi in Italy and they have become very popular with tourists; helping farmers and their families flourish in the modern world.

The type of accommodation you might experience varies hugely from basic, rustic lodgings, to luxuriously furnished rooms with all the mod cons and a guest pool and spa. Wherever you choose to stay, you can normally expect excellent value for money B&B accommodation, quite often with the option to dine in the evening. What I enjoy most about staying in an agriturismo is the opportunity to wake up each morning surrounded by countryside and tranquillity, especially welcome after a hard day of sightseeing! They also offer the perfect opportunity to sample food and produce straight from the land around you – what could be better! Staying in an agriturismo is the perfect way to sample the traditions of rural Italy and to meet people who work the land; to really immerse yourself in wonderful Italian culture.

In Puglia, agriturismi are generally called Masserie, (ancient fortified farms or country houses) and were mainly built between the 14th and 18th centuries to protect against invaders. Large structures with courtyards and surrounding walls, Masserie were mini-cities, housing small farming communities. Sometimes the isolated locations of agriturismi in other parts of Italy can result in difficult journeys trying to find your way. In Puglia however, the roads are very quiet and generally spacious, meaning you can stay in a rural idyll with a pleasurable drive to the more touristy parts of the region.

The land surrounding a Masseria usually includes olive groves as the Puglia region produces the most olive oil in Italy; the second largest olive oil producing country in the world! So at any Masseria in Puglia, you can normally sample delicious local and fresh olive oil, along with many other fruits, vegetables, milk, cheese, wine and meat, probably grown organically, if not at the Masseria but within a couple of miles. Considering the current trend of eating seasonally and locally, in my opinion, there are few other places on the planet where you can do this as deliciously and as effortlessly as in Puglia!

PUGLIA PEOPLE: Filippo & Chiara at Masseria Salamina

I would like to introduce you to Filippo and Chiara, brother and sister who own the wonderful Masseria Salamina. Their Masseria is in central Puglia, close to the towns of Cisternino and Ostuni, 10mins drive from the coast and slap bang between the airports of Bari and Brindisi. They aim to show their guests authentic Italian hospitality and to provide a rural experience, demonstrating original agricultural processes and the importance of tradition, organic production and biodiversity.

Here is their story:

Passage to Puglia: How long have you lived at Masseria Salamina?

Filippo & Chiara: From the early 1900’s Masseria Salamina was abandoned until our parents bought the property from a relative, Contessa Giuseppina Cenci, in 1986 to use as a summer house. We moved in permanently from 1989 and the Masseria was our family home. The buildings were slowly renovated and as our parents realised there were too many rooms and outbuildings to be used by just our family, they decided to convert these spaces into bedrooms and apartments for guests.

P2P: What do you grow on your land and what do you do with this produce?

F&C: Our family has owned land in Puglia and produced olive oil since the 1300s and now we yield 150,000kg of extra virgin olive oil each year. In addition we produce cereals, which we sell to a pasta maker in our local town to make fresh organic pasta; tomatoes from which we make tomato sauce to use and sell at the Masseria; vegetables that we use in our restaurant and almonds. We also produce some fruit (mandarins, oranges, lemons, apples, peach, apricot, prune) from which we make marmalades and jams. However, our first and most important production is our extra virgin olive oil.

Vegetables growing beneath an olive tree at Masseria Salamina (Photo: Brushfire Photography)

P2P: What other activities can you offer your guests and fellow Puglians?

F&C: We are a certified ‘Masseria Didattica’ which means that we work with schools to teach children about traditional agriculture and healthy food. In the Masseria, we also organise cooking lessons; classes about traditional processes (like harvesting olives, making pasta, focaccia, taralli, tomato sauce etc); team building sessions with agricultural activities; wine tasting; and olive oil tasting.

P2P: You have made a very successful business – would it be fair to say that you love what you do?

F&F: It is a busy life and Italian bureaucracy is always frustrating but we enjoy having direct contact with nature and people. We enjoy growing our produce, explaining processes to our guests and encouraging them to taste what we have grown. We can therefore not only sell a product but give an experience and a little bit of happiness - all from agriculture; it is in our DNA, in our past and we hope also in our future.

Chiara and Filippo end by saying that the best thing about Puglia People is ‘our passion for land, food, wine and hospitality … we love to produce, eat, drink and share with happiness and passion’ – I certainly couldn’t agree more!

The beautiful and majestic Masseria Salamina (Photo: Brushfire Photography)

(Photo: Masseria Salamina)

http://www.masseriasalamina.it/eng

If this post has sparked your curiosity for Puglia and its wonderful Masserie, please get in touch - I’d be delighted to have a chat and share some of my suggestions!