Puglia in September 2023 Lecce market and Copertino

We have visited Lecce twice. Once, several times, years ago, and more recently for a day trip when we were staying in Brindisi one November. So today we’re not visiting again, we’re just going to the enormous open air market near the stadium in via Bari. It’s a good market, particularly for shoes, I wish I had a size 37 but I don’t, but I still find a decent pair of sandals for 15 euros. We also buy the local cheese we love, similar to the Rodez, but not Rodez, from a stall where a very nice man bores out some from entire round for us to taste! And a few cheap mats for our apartments on lake Iseo and in the mountains. I nearly buy some cushions, but not quite. Andrea gets some flipflops. We enjoy it.

We get off to an early start and Lecce is only a 40 minute drive so by just past 11 we are back in Copertino. On the way in, we stop at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grottole. There’s a large park in front which would be nice for a picnic and the church is open so we look inside and chat to a local man about San Giovanni di Copertino before continuing into the centre to see at least the outside of the castle. 

There’s free parking near the castle or in side roads beyond it. The baroque portal of the castle is very nice. The castle itself is closed because it’s Monday. The historical centre of Copertino is very quiet, clean. The Santuario di San Giuseppe di Copertino is closed but we look into a couple of churches which are open: the Basilica di Madonna della Neve and the ex-church of the Clarisse which has a few frescoes. But lunchtime is looming. After much indecision and finding that many places are closed because it’s lunchtime or because it’s Monday or possibly both, we arrive at L’Arco Divino which is open. 

We have frittino misto as antipasto. One portion is plenty for two people: pettole (of water and flour), crocchette (of potato and mint) and polpettine di carne. Very good. Then an arrosto misto (Capocollo di Martina Franca, sausage, una bombetta, a spiedino. Plenty and good. Trippa, not very much but good. With coperto, a 1 litre bottle of water and a ‘calice’ of Primitivo (more a ¼ litre), an espresso and an espressino, we spend just under 40 euros. Good.

The coffee wakes us up enough to go to the supermarket and do some shopping and then we go back to base for a rest, and to do some washing. We venture out again for a walk along the sea front and the beach at sunset.