Ali del Levante N.56 Maggio 2013 - Aeroporti di Puglia

are illuminated.
Lots of things to see and do for first
time visitors are to be found in Georgetown,
Washington DC’s most historic
neighborhood, known as one of
Washington DC’s best destinations for
dining and nightlife. Restaurants range
from fine dining to casual eateries
serving cuisine from all over the world.
During the warmer months of the year,
restaurants on the Georgetown Waterfront
are very popular and offer outdoor
seating with great views of the Potomac
River. You’ll find everything from
singles hotspots to romantic wine bars
to lively collegiate gathering places.
Georgetown is a popular Washington,
DC neighborhood for shopping, dining
and nightlife. This shopping mecca appeals
to the younger crowd but also has
plenty of boutiques and antique stores
for all ages. Most of the shops in Georgetown
are centered along M Street
and Wisconsin Avenue. Georgetown is
also one of the oldest neighborhoods in
Washington and has many interesting
historic homes. A few of them are museums
open to the public for tours.
Salento, a Legendary Beauty
by Angela Altomare
The Salento Peninsula in southern
Puglia is the heel of Italy’s boot. The
peninsula is known for its quality olive
oil, wine, and good beaches with clean
water. Salento also has remnants of
its Greek past and its main city, Lecce,
is sometimes called the Florence of
the South. Lecce was the center of the
ornate architecture called the barocco
leccese and the city is filled with Baroque
monuments. Lecce is also a center
for traditional paper mache’ crafts and
its castle has an interesting museum
of paper mache’. The historic center is
good for walking and there are plenty
of places to taste the typical cuisine of
southern Puglia. On the Ionian seaside,
Gallipoli is a charming town on the
peninsula’s east coast. The old town was
built on an island that’s now connected
to the mainland by a bridge and it still
retains some of the medieval walls. Its
picturesque historic center is a pedestrian
zone with a maze of alleys. In the
center is the 17th century Baroque Sant’
Agata Cathedral. Otranto is another
charming seaside town, this time on the
peninsula’s west coast. Its pedestrian
streets and small alleys are lined with
whitewashed buildings reminiscent of
Greece. Most of the old town is still
partially enclosed within medieval walls
with a castle at one end, said to be the
inspiration for the first Gothic novel ever
written. Be sure to visit the 11th century
Cathedral to see the stunning 12th century
floor mosaics and unusual chapel
of skulls. Between the town’s walls and
the sea is a wide pedestrian street, the
Lungomare, with cafes and a park, and
within walking distance of the center
there’s a sandy beach. Much of Salento
is on the coast and is known for its
many clean beaches with good swimming,
sun-bathing, and water sports.
Porto Cesareo, also on the Ionian Coast,
is a popular beach area with thermal
springs set in a nature reserve. Porto
Selvaggio is another good beach in a
nature reserve.
Santa Maria di Leuca, the peninsula’s
southern tip where the Ionian and
Adriatic Seas meet, is a top beach destination.
White buildings fill the town
and the seaside promenade is lined with
villas and trendy nightclubs. The area’s
mild climate gives swimming and sunbathing
a long season and the beaches
are very popular. Another good beach
in the south is Marina di Pescoluse, with
white sand dunes and shallow waters,
making it a good choice for families.
The so called “Salento Greece” or Grecìa
Salentina is a group of towns in the
interior of Salento where a Greek dialect
is still spoken, written on signs, and
taught in schools. Some of the architecture
is reminiscent of that of Greece,
including whitewashed buildings
and houses. Several of the towns have
interesting historic centers and churches
and even impressive castles like the one
in Corigliano d’Otranto.
One of Salento’s best known musical
traditions is the Pizzica. Today an attraction
of international renown, the pizzica
as danced by Pugliese grandmothers
was not merely a dance, but a type of
therapy; like the dances of the baccha-
62
nals of Dionysus – the Greek god of
wine and drunkenness – the dance was
an act that unleashed a certain sense
of oppression shared by these women.
In summer the pizzica makes its way
through the entire heel of the Italian
boot (Calimera, Carpignano Salentino,
Soleto, Sternatia and Zollino) until it
concludes around the end of the month
in Melpignano. Late into the night, a
folk orchestra accompanies the Notte
della Taranta (Night of the Tarantula)
and its various exhibits from both the
International “world” scene.
The Salento folk music and especially
the pizzica pizzica have experienced in
the last fifteen years a veritable explosion
of media attention and interest
from an ever growing national and
international level. Pizzica dancing is
a subset of tarantella dances that has
its nexus in the Salento area of Puglia.
These frenetic dances were thought to
be the only cure for the spider’s poisonous
bite when the symptoms started:
melancholy, stupor, madness and an
uncontrollable desire to dance. The patient
(tarantata) then danced for hours
in the grip of the epilepsy caused by
the poison, until totally exhausted and
spiritually drained. Today, the Pizzica is
a newly emerging art form. No longer
having roots in superstition, the dance
is now largely about love, eroticism and
passion; a woman dancing to the frenetic
rhythm of tambourines waver her
scarf and invites men to dance until she
tires of them and invites someone else.
De Nittis:
a Painter without Borders
by Stefania Di Mitrio
The internationally acclaimed Apulian
painter Giuseppe De Nittis will have
his deserved world exhibit in Padua at
Palazzo Zabarella. As a reference to the
recent exhibition at Petit Palais in Paris,
the exhibition of De Nittis paintings
in Padua wants to provide additional
insights for the understanding of this
great European artist of the nineteenth
century, presenting some of Giuseppe
De Nittis not shown in Paris. Regarded
as one of the most important exhibitions
ever devoted to the De Nittis artist