{"id":2989,"date":"2025-05-30T19:02:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T19:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2989"},"modified":"2025-05-30T19:37:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T19:37:14","slug":"monopoli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2989","title":{"rendered":"Monopoli"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So you\u2019re going to Italy on vacation.  You surely want to do some wine tasting while you\u2019re there.  If you go to Tuscany, you\u2019ll likely be sipping Chianti or Brunello and you\u2019ll want to visit Florence and Siena.  If your plan is to visit Valpolicella, you\u2019ll also want to stop in Verona.  In Puglia, you\u2019ll taste Primitivo and you\u2019ll also see\u2026 Well, there are no obvious destinations in Puglia.  So let us recommend Monopoli, on the east coast of the heel of the boot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, Monopoli has nothing to do with the board game.  In ancient times, Monopoli was a province of the Greeks, and the town\u2019s name means something like \u201csingular people\u201d.  Over time, the town has been ruled by Spain, the Saracens and the city of Venice, which had the most lasting cultural influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Monopoli has a split personality.  It is an industrial city of 50,000 people with a well preserved old town, or Centro Storico<\/em> in Italian.  It\u2019s that part of Monopoli that you\u2019ll want to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, we suggest that you just walk around to get the feel of the place.  Located on the Adriatic Sea, there\u2019s plenty of waterfront.  A stroll along the lungomare<\/em>, atop the old seawall, is very pleasant.  (Lungomare<\/em> means \u201calong the sea\u201d.  You\u2019ll see the pleasure craft in the harbor alongside commercial fishing boats.  If you keep walking, you\u2019ll reach the lighthouse guarding the harbor.  Turn around and take in the excellent view of Monopoli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lunch in Monopoli\u2019s Piazza Garibaldi.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point you may be ready for a meal.\u00a0 As in any Italian city, there are caffes<\/em> and enotecas<\/em> all around town.\u00a0 The main gathering spot, with restaurants all around it, is the Piazza Garibaldi, the general who led the fight to reunite Italy.\u00a0 (Be careful when you talk about him; some of the southerners still think the Italian north conquered the southern part of the country.)\u00a0 In good weather, which is most of the year, you can sit there sipping a variety of local wines.\u00a0 We especially enjoy a Fiano to accompany the abundant seafood, with Negroamaro or Primitivo to go along with the pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The cathedral in Monopoli.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to be missed is the Cathedral of Maria Santissima della Madia.  In its way it encapsulates Monopoli\u2019s history.  The front of the cathedral was built in the plateresque style typical of Renaissance Spain.  The interior is decorated in the ebullient manner that you can see in Venice.  But here and there are bits of evidence of the town\u2019s Greek past, particularly in the iconography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have the chance, take a boat ride outside the harbor.  There are many boatmen who are only too happy to accommodate you.  It\u2019s especially pleasant at the end of the day, when the sun goes down and the lights come up.  If you know Fellini\u2019s movies, you\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re in one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monopoli at sunset.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florence and Verona, as mentioned, are cities that have plenty of touristic interest.  Monopoli\u2019s Centro Storico comes very close to everyone\u2019s idealized vision of an Italian village.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you\u2019re going to Italy on vacation.  You surely want to do some wine tasting while you\u2019re there.  If you go to Tuscany, you\u2019ll likely be sipping Chianti or Brunello and you\u2019ll want to visit Florence and Siena.  If your plan is to visit Valpolicella, you\u2019ll also want to stop in Verona.  In Puglia, you\u2019ll … Continue reading Monopoli<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3010,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions\/3010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}