One of the things I love best about Salento is I am always learning new information about my Italian side of the family. After compiling all this information for a while, I think it is safe to say that my grandfather was a rich man. Not just your typical rich person, but the kind of rich guy that everyone is the area knows, owns LOTS of properties (including villas & apartments on the beach) and manages to be successful even during the Great Depression and World War II. Basically, my great-grandfather was boss.

Don’t be getting your hopes up though. With 10 children, 29 grand-children, and no-one-knows-how-many great grandchildren, the wealth did not exactly make it down to me. Fortunately, my relatives are all generous people and it is due to their generosity that I was able to stay in one of the apartments originally owned by my great-grandfather.

Me in front of the house in Santa Maria

The house is located at Santa Maria al Bagno, a province located near Gallipoli. Back in the day it was one of the houses my grandmother grew up in and it was one of the places where my grandfather courted my grandmother. Cute, huh? Currently, Bruno (my dad’s cousin) and his two sons (Paolo and Pierluigi) are the owners of the house. They rent out part of it and live in the other side during the summer. Unfortunately, Pierluigi could not come down from London this year, so it was just me, Bruno & Paolo.

Me and Bruno

I loved every second that I spent with them at Santa Maria. Not only did I get to stay in a house right on the water, but Bruno & Paolo are just all around awesome people. Even though Paolo is twice my age and my third cousin (hopefully I did that genealogy right Mimi), we got along great and he become my older older Italian brother I never had. haha

Paolo is quite the adventurous guy. On my first day there I saw a huge raft on their balcony. I immediately got excited and started thinking how awesome it would be to float in it and suntan. Paolo saw my delight and asked if I wanted to take it to the water. I instantly agreed. So imagine my shock when it turns out the “raft” was actually an inflatable kayak, paddles included. Unfortunately, I did not get my floatation station. Fortunately, I did get to kayak in the Mediterranean Sea with a dog. No complaints there 🙂

On my second day there, Paolo and I went to a nearby town…by bike. I know there are some serious bikers out there and my question to you is, HOW THE HECK DO YOU DO IT? I haven’t ridden a bike in over ten years and I quickly remembered why. Bikes are not comfortable. It probably didn’t help that I was riding a bike in Italy. Riding a bike in Italy is like playing real-life Frogger.

I’m not joking. Cars do not care that you are on the road. And the roads in Italy are barely big enough for one car, let alone two lanes of traffic and a biker. Don’t even think about riding on the sidewalks either, no pedestrians are about to get out of your way. Have I mentioned how I was panicking the entire time? (No surprise there…)
Moral of the story? Bike riding in Italy is not for the weak-hearted, slow-movers or people with road rage. Bike with caution.

Eventually, (I think I only had to stop four or five times) we made it to our destination! It was definitely worth it. Paolo brought goggles and I was able to swim around and see all the underwater animals. The water was amazingly clear and it was one of the most beautiful and tranquil swims I have had.

Paolo, the adventurer, taking flight over Gallipoli. For real though, this is actually a legitimate picture that I took myself. Woo!

Later on, Paolo took me to dinner with his friends from elementary school. The group of five of them live all over Italy (and even in America), yet they reunite at Santa Maria every summer. It reminded me of Dad and his group of friends from Elementary School. Kind of makes you wonder who you’ll be friends with in 20 years 🙂

Even though I was only at Santa Maria for a short time (most of my time was spent in Alezio at Francesca’s), being there really gave me the desire to come back next summer. I’m kind of all for the whole summer house thing. Now if only I didn’t have that pesky work problem to worry abut. Rude.

The view from their third floor terrace