We visited Tabisca, an innovative concept for the restaurant in Lecce: tastefully and carefully furnished restaurant, selection of excellent raw materials, first quality cold cuts, wine cellar well assorted with exceptional wines.
The interior design project is interesting: high seats (whose backrest recalls the “t” of the logo) comfortable and custom-made furniture in wood and wrought iron.
The soft lighting gently highlights the leccese stone vaults and wooden boxes on which the bottles of wine are placed.
A unique and cozy place that invites you to relax and unplug. A small pearl sheltered from the noise and chaos of the nightlife of Lecce in the historic center.

Welcoming us, Ian Franco Bauzulli, the gourmand and Danila Do, the room manager. Two special people, the soul of Tabisca.

For those who do not know it, the tabisca, from the Arabic “Tabisc”, is the shape of the chopping board on which the cold cuts were laid and a delicious pizza dough, typical of the area of Sciacca, in the province of Agrigento.

Check out our video to get to know this new reality of the restaurant in Lecce.

Floriano Pellegrino: the reason for the present

27 years old, he starts to discover the cuisine immediately after graduating from the hotel.
His most significant experiences are associated with great names in gourmet cuisine: Ilario Vinciguerra, Martin Berasategui (considered a father by Florian), Luis Andoni Aduriz, Eneko Atxa, Alexandher Goutier, Rene Redzepi and the French Cloude Bosi in London.

Giovanni Pellegrino: the strength of the future

At the age of 17 he left Salento and arrived at Martin Berasetegui. Driven by a strong desire to know the world, he collects a series of unique training experiences at the world’s best starred kitchens: Pierre Gagnaire, Paco Perez and Yamamoto.

Isabella Potì: the beauty of imagination

The only woman in the kitchen, able to keep up with a brigade of men only, responds with experience, method and meticulousness.
a real enchantment to see her at work.

Bros uniqueness: the real secret of Bros.

The futuristic and eclectic cuisine of the Bros. is deeply rooted in the territory, the territoire, as Floriano likes to call it.
Dish to taste with the eyes and the palate, recipes with two, maximum three ingredients from the land of Salento.
A unicum that follows the laws of Mother Nature: the seasonality of raw materials dictates the times in the kitchen.
You will never see a dish with an ingredient that does not respect the seasonality and microseasonality of the territory.
Everything is good, tasty, unique.
Prepare incredibly good dishes and amaze the most demanding palates with the simplicity and cleanliness of flavors, this is the Bros Uniqueness

Thanks to this modus operandi, the Bros have received national and international awards and honors.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of the most important prizes received in 2016.

l’Espresso
1 cappello

Gambero Rosso
78/100

Passione Gourmet
16/20

Identità Golose, Guida 2017
Sorpresa dell’anno

Arbiter
I 10 migliori chef emergenti

Touring club
Cucina d’Autore

Touring club
Top di Domani, Floriano Pellegrino

Luigi Cremona
Chef Emergente Sud, Isabella Potì

_Forbes
Under30

In the heart of Lecce (we spoke about Lecce baroque here), at the MUST Historical Museum, Antonio Sansò (Area Leader Alumni Bocconi) and the staff of Alumni Bocconi Association Lecce-Brindisi-Taranto, organized a meeting with Matteo Stifanelli, Country Manager of Airbnb for Italy.

The evening’s talk, focused on “Sharing Economy and tourism development“, was very interesting.

Matteo Stifanelli spoke about his professional career: from a simple passionate about the world of innovation and start-ups, he became Airbnb’s country manager for Italy. Not without perseverance, sacrifice and passion.

For those who don’t know, Airbnb is a portal that helps the traveller to find the right accommodation worldwide.

For the microphones of Foodism, Matteo spoke about tourism development and the initiatives of Airbnb designed for Italy and our land, Salento, a tourist destination that attracts and meets increasingly international interest.

Look at the video report of the evening published here.
We look forward to your comments.

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Lecce and its elegance

There are several monuments and stately palaces that in Lecce can be defined as a symbol of baroque. The Duomo in the square of the same name is one of these, but also the church of Santa Croce, innovative in its loggia supported by animalesque figures that acts as a watershed with the lower part of the facade. The façade itself is a triumph of symbolism and decorations, with cherubs, statues, small rosettes beneath the largest and most majestic and countless columns. All this is due to the architect Francesco Zimbalo, the same architect who also built the former Celestini Palace adjacent to it.
In Galatina, another example of Baroque architecture is the mother church of the apostles Peter and Paul, built in the 1300s, which underwent a rebuilding of the entire facade in the 1600s. Inside you can admire polychrome marbles and double columns, which support a ceiling frescoed only in the 1800s.
Other examples of Baroque in Galatina are the Doge’s Palace, the Seat and Palazzo Orsini while in Maglie, an amazing example of Baroque Art is Madonna of the Sorrow church.

the Baroque of Nardò and Galatone

In the town of Nardò, there are several Baroque works, including a curious monument called “dell’ Osanna” whose motives for the construction were for a long time a mystery. It has eight side columns and one in the centre and dates back to the 17th century. Only later it was discovered that it was built to avoid pagan rituals at the pre-existing central column. Today it is the place where on Palm Sunday the blessing of the branches is done.
In Piazza Salandra you can admire several Baroque churches in Salento, such as Sant’ Antonio, San Domenico, San Trifone and, not far away, those of Santa Teresa and San Giuseppe. The latter were faithfully rebuilt in Baroque style after the devastating earthquake of 1783, which damaged all of Apulia and southern Italy seriously.
Galatone is home to the Sanctuary of the Most Holy Crucifix of the Pieta, the most beautiful example of early baroque in the province of Lecce, always due to the architect Zimbalo.
The facade is arranged on 3 levels on which there are 4 statues of the Evangelists and Jesus’ statues in the center, plus those of Saints Peter and Paul placed in niches richly decorated with floral motifs and divided by pilaster strips.
In Galatina there is the cathedral of Sant’ Agata which replaced a previous Romanesque church. The façade immediately impresses the visitor with its elegance and rich baroque motifs. There are several statues, floral and leafy motifs, a central grille and two side panels and monumental gates. Inside, a very rich production of paintings, 106 to be exact, that make it a sort of museum of baroque figurative art.
The Seminary Palace is also one of the exquisitely Baroque and dates back to 1756. Designed by Adriano Preite, it has a monumental portal that leads into the diocesan museum.

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BAROCCO SALENTO
ITINERARIO BAROCCO NEL SALENTO

Baroque in Apulia: artistic expression of two centuries of history

Baroque in Apulia came thanks to the Spaniards and it is no coincidence that Salento and Lecce are the undisputed symbol of it, precisely because they are the places where there is a greater concentration of these wonderful works of art.
Defining Baroque in Apulia is not simple, because its expression is dominated by excesses and allegories that in any case exalt the artistic talent of authors such as Francesco Antonio Zimabalo, Cesare Penna, Emanuele Manieri and many others.
It is no coincidence that, when one speaks of baroque in Apulia, one refers to genuine stone chisels, very similar to embroideries that can be admired in the decorations of churches and public buildings or in private ones.
Baroque was not only a cultural movement, but also a response to the heresy of the Protestants and the Counter-Reformation, to emphasize the power and willingness of Catholics to pursue their faith.
This is where all this magnificence comes from, which has brought Baroque in Apulia to the highest peaks of artistic beauty.
In Apulia, the city of Lecce is the symbol of the festivity and prominence of Baroque and coincidence was happy, when many bankers from Tuscany and Liguria found themselves in Salento, to realize important projects. This is how the artistic palaces were commissioned with balconies kept by lion’s heads, the “embroidered” rosettes of churches, the monumental portals and the rich decorations inside and outside basilicas, which become real treasures that never tire those who admire them.

Lecce, living room of Apulia

The city symbol of baroque in Apulia and Salento has been defined in the most diverse ways:”the Florence of the South”,”the city with filigree architecture” as Michele Paone himself said, one of the greatest scholars of this artistic current in Apulia, or “city-church”.
All to say that Lecce is of an overwhelming beauty in its straw yellow light reflected by the palaces built with the famous Lecce stone.
This stone, its malleability and “softness”, is the reason for the decorations of so many precious details and at the same time the robustness and imperiousness that the palaces and churches can transmit to the visitor.
Lecce with its baroque never tires, invites you to be continuously discovered in its majesty, starting from the square which is also a living room of extreme elegance.
Piazza Duomo, where you can see the side of the religious building, is already shown in all its typical Baroque style. The church, however, considered perhaps the most beautiful and rich artistic of all the Baroque in Apulia, is that of Santa Croce: rose windows, cherubs, columns, pilasters, flowers and fruit, loggias, figures of elegant animals, confuse the gaze among a thousand details. The nearby former Celestini convent, where the Province is now located, is built in the same style.

the colourful play of Lecce stone

The stone from Lecce, which during the daytime shows a straw yellow color, can transform itself with the passage of hours and when it is illuminated by artificial lights.
If you are in Lecce, look at the golden colors that it assumes at sunset and what can become romantic and intimate in the evening, when buying orange tones, soft and delicate, similar to no other stone.

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BAROCCO LECCESE
LECCE BAROCCA
LO STILE BAROCCO

Baroque in Italy: origins

Baroque art is spread in Italy between 1600 and 1700 and it has been calculated that in the Belpaese it is concentrated at least 70% of the architectural and artistic works and treasures of world art of all time and is no exception to Baroque. Between’ 600 and’ 700 were Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini to “compete” in the design of works, which still amaze the entire humanity. Starting from the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square in Rome, to arrive at the famous canopy with its twisted columns, where the acanthus leaves are twisted, the Baroque expression has been brought to the extremes of art until then known.
In Rome there are spectacular examples of this so joyful and creative period of architecture and, among these, we cannot fail to mention Sant’ Agnese in Navona, Sant’ Andrea al Quirinale, San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane, Sant’ Ivo alla Sapienza. The two artists were able to express the beauty, sensuality, elegance and richness of Baroque in all its most representative forms. The term “baroque”, however, took on a negative meaning towards the end of the 17th century, as it was synonymous with “bad taste”, but it was fully revalued and rehabilitated by Denis Mahon, recently disappeared art historian.

The symbolic cities of Baroque in Italy

Among the symbolic cities of Baroque there is Noto, in Sicily, but above all Lecce, in Salento.
In Lecce, in Apulia, Baroque has certainly reached its highest, richest and riskiest expression, to transform the city into what is now called “Florence of the South” (with the baroque Chapel of the Princes), where the facades of palaces and religious buildings, such as the Cathedral of Lecce or the church of Santa Croce, are sculpted as if it were chiselling.
An incredible care and precision of the details is present throughout the Baroque period in Salento and this is mainly due to the quality of the stone from Lecce. This material favoured the creativity of artists because it was easy to model and, in any case, robust, lent to the hands of passionate architects who gave their best in a period when the power of the church was endangered by the Protestant Reformation.
The beauty of the churches was soon imitated in the palaces, as for the former convent of Celestini or for the offices of various modern-day town halls throughout Salento and diocesan sites, as in Nardò. The monumental portals, powerful but at the same time lightened by the most malleable stone ever used by an artist, were decorated with floral motifs, fruit, allegorical or animal figures, in some cases grotesque. The rich decorations, the use of different levels all masterfully adorned with statues, Bible scenes or historical scenes, rendered plastically the idea of what the architects wanted to communicate.
Still today, on some columns so richly decorated you can admire the “embroidery” work made with infinite patience and mastery.

Characteristics of Lecce Baroque

The careful observation of the facades of many churches, basilicas and cathedrals in Lecce highlights some of the typical characteristics of Baroque in Apulia and common to other cities.
Complexity has been brought to excesses, so much so that the observer who was and is led to wonder how such works of art can be made almost incredulous.
The virtuosities of the Baroque architects were so high that there was no free space left in the façades. This is a tendency that was called “horror vacui”, that is a sort of “fear of emptiness”.
The goal of an extremely elegant art, as the city of Lecce itself, has been widely achieved and you can see it walking through this magical city of the south.

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IL BAROCCO NELL’ARCHITETTURA
LO STILE BAROCCO

Nestled at the foot of the hill of S. Eleuterium, Supersano rises, a town in the province of Lecce, in the heart of Salento. Several comfortable apartments for bed and breakfast await you to stay in this charming municipality of the province of Lecce.

It is the ideal place to spend a pleasant holiday in total harmony to discover and learn about the history, sea and culture of Salentina. Thanks to its strategic position you can reach the most beautiful seaside resorts, Gallipoli, Otranto, Castro, Leuca, Riva di Ugento, Laghi Alimini, the towns of the hinterland, Maglie, Galatina, Cutrofiano, Ruffano, Casarano, Poggiardo, interesting to visit the Archaeological Park, the Grecìa Salentina, and taste the typical cuisine offered in the many farmhouses scattered throughout the territory.

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