Visit Puglia Creativa: how to visit a territory and make it grow.

Leggi in italiano.

The matter of sustainable tourism, you know, means much to me.
Even more so, when we talk about my homeland.
I recently participated in a press tour organized by the productive district (ie, the network) Puglia Creativa, which created the new local brand #VisitPugliaCreativa. I’ll tell you what I learned and what you can do to make this land grow while visiting it.

The project is part of the ATLAS Adriatic Cultural Tourism Laboratories project, funded by the European territorial cooperation program Interreg Italy-Croatia 2014-2020.

This said, thanks to this experience I had illuminating ideas on how and what can be done to visit Salento and at the same time demonstrate love and care for this small but precious area of Italy.

1 – Learn about the coasts and the sea with an environmental guide

Even those who are not fan of extreme adventure activities, and you know that I am not at all, can live and enjoy a walk along some stretches of the diversified Salento coast. This is a wonderful way to really get to know the area and live it in its deepest breaths.

Relying on an expert environmental guide, with a degree in biology, marine biology, caving, etc. is not only a way to learn more about the place we are observing, but also to change the point of view on the narrative of the territory itself.

Each land is much more than its “typical landscape”; also its most hidden biodiversity is what makes it rich. Be curious, always and everywhere, to know this biodiversity.

Contact G-local tour (I guarantee for them) to enjoy a tour of this kind.
After a trek with their environmental guides, regardless of the level of difficulty, your way of seeing Salento (and telling it) will never be the same.

2 – Learn about the tradition, become curious about modernity

This is not just about Puglia: the whole of Italy tends to emphasize the glories of the past as if the present were a plasterboard wall resting on the only supporting wall of history.

That’s a mistake.
Every tradition is accompanied by innovation, in Italy in general and above all in Puglia (thanks to the regional policies implemented in the last 20 years).

Let’s talk, for instance, about the lights of the Apulian local festivals.
I met Mariano light and I saw how their partnership with the start-up Arte Amica allowed them to combine the ancient art of illumination with modern mobile and wireless technologies.
Imagine walking under a gallery of lights that change color and themes, rhythm and even music, as soon as you give a command from an app.

Don’t forget that Salento is also a concentrate of Street Art spread everywhere. Find out where to find Street Art and the scratches of Lecce.

3 – Watch the sunrise from the Punta Palascia lighthouse

Up early are not the thing I love most in the world.

Still, getting up at four am to wait for the sunrise at the Punta Palascia Lighthouse is worth the effort.
A rarefied and silent area, almost lunar, populated only by a few people who are willing to wake up before the others to see the first dawn of Italy (it’s the easternmost point of the country).

That’s what I mean when I say PugliaCreativa is not simply a productive district, and the official hashtag #VisitPugliaCreativa is not just an call to action.
It is also an alarm clock, a warning, an invitation to see not only the beauty of new creative business but also the wealth they already take and that they can take in the future, especially through the consortium and network activity.

As soon as the sun is a higher, you can ask for a coffee and a breakfast in the café-showroom-with-sea-view and event container designed and curated by Apulia Stories. On this terrace overlooking the Adriatic Sea you can do many things, including booking a deckchair and reading, for hours.
You don’t pay, but you book. Because not everything has a price but time has value.

I thank Puglia Creativa again for asking me to live this experience.