Salento · Lecce · Puglia
Between warm stone and silvery-green leaves lies a corner of Puglia close to our hearts. Join us among our olive trees and beside the beautiful sea.
Discover our SalentoA little of the South. A little of us.
The light between the leaves. The warmth of the stone. The blue that begins on the horizon. For us, it all belongs together: our olive trees and the sea of Salento. Here we want to share the little moments that make this place so special to us.
Benvenuti nel nostro Salento.Our grove before the disease
These personal photographs show our old olive grove before the disease caused by Xylella fastidiosa. The canopies, the long rows and the olives held in a hand preserve a piece of our Salento that we do not want to forget.
Enlarge image ↗The broad canopy, the warm earth, the light between the leaves. This is how we remember our old grove.
Enlarge image ↗A view through the old rows of trees, before the disease changed our grove.
Enlarge image ↗A branch, green olives and a familiar touch. Sometimes a photograph holds an entire feeling.
Our roots. Our new beginning.
In memory of the old olive trees that shaped this place.
Where young olive trees grow today, trees that had stood for centuries once grew. They shaped our grove and were part of the Salento we love.
All our old olive trees were infected with Xylella fastidiosa and had to be removed. With them, an irreplaceable part of the landscape and its history was lost. What remained was our connection to this place.
The young trees in our recent photographs have been newly planted. Like many other people in Salento, we are starting again. With patience and care, we want to bring greenery and life back to our little piece of land.
We hope that a landscape will grow here again that moves people: as beautiful as we remember it, and with a new beauty of its own for the generations to come.
Our hope grows with every new tree.
Xylella fastidiosa is a bacterium that colonises the water-conducting vessels of plants. It is transmitted by certain sap-feeding insects, including the meadow spittlebug. In susceptible olive trees, infection can cause drying out and death. The outbreak in Puglia was identified in 2013.
Factual information from the plant protection organisation EPPO ↗
01 / Our olive trees
Our young olive trees are at the beginning of their story. We watch the green fruit on the branches and the rows stretching through the grove. Each tree carries our hope forward: that this place will flourish again and bring joy to future generations too.
New roots in soil full of history.Explore the moments
Memories in motion
A short glimpse of our olive grove.
18 seconds among the rows of young trees marking our new beginning.
02 / The sea
From olive green to sea blue. To salt on your skin and water brushing against pale rocks. For us, the sea is as much a part of Salento as the trees and the warm light. It opens up the view and brings a quiet of its own to the day.
In southern Italy
In southern Puglia, in the province of Lecce, lies the part of Italy we would like you to get to know. Among olive trees, along the coast and on evening walks, we collect impressions we wish we could hold on to. A few of them find their place here.
Explore the map ↗Italia / Puglia / Lecce / Salento
Discover Salento
Twenty places among old-town streets, coast and nature. Choose a symbol or category and discover what makes Salento so special.
The overview also shows main roads with European route numbers, railways, the ports of Taranto and Brindisi, and built-up areas. A thin line connects a name to its symbol where there was no room beside it.
The markers show the approximate location of each place. The map is for orientation, not navigation. Natural Earth · © OpenStreetMap
Towns & culture
Pale stone, baroque façades and squares to linger in. Lecce invites you to discover the urban side of Salento.
External website · Italian
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
A baroque old town with the spacious Piazza Salandra at its heart. Nardò lies between the inland countryside and the Ionian coast, often away from the busiest routes.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
The Basilica of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria is covered in frescoes. Galatina is also considered a centre of pizzica, Salento’s music and dance tradition.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
An imposing 16th-century castle with a moat and bastions rises above the town. A glimpse of Salento’s fortified side.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
Old-town lanes, the cathedral and the castle close to the sea. In Otranto, history and the coast lie side by side.
External websites · Italian
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
A small village of pale stone in southern Salento, listed among the “Borghi più belli d’Italia”, Italy’s most beautiful villages. Narrow lanes, a castle and plenty of peace.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Towns & culture
The old town stands on a small island in the Ionian Sea. Between the lanes and the waterfront, the view keeps returning to the water.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
Pale sand and shallow, clear water at the northern end of the Ionian coast. Behind it lie dunes and low Mediterranean scrub.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
A town on the Ionian coast, known for its beaches and protected marine area. Here, blue takes on many shades.
External website · Italian
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
A sandy bay between rocks on the Adriatic coast. The twin rock formations of “Le Due Sorelle” are among its best-known sights.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
Italy’s easternmost point, south of Otranto. A white lighthouse stands above the rocky coast; on a clear day, Albania’s mountains appear on the horizon.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
A town on the Adriatic coast with villas overlooking the water and warm sulphur springs in coastal caves. Here the rocks drop steeply into the sea.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
A long, pale sandy beach in the south of the Ionian coast, often called the “Maldive del Salento”. The water stays shallow far from the shore.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Sea & coast
Wide sea views at the southern tip of Salento. The lighthouse and sanctuary shape the headland above the coast.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
Pines, Mediterranean scrub and a rocky coast near Nardò. A natural area for anyone wishing to explore Salento on foot too.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
A low-lying island with a lighthouse off Gallipoli, part of a protected area. It is a protected nesting site for seabirds.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
A regional park north of Lecce with a remnant of ancient oak woodland, wetlands and dunes. Here you can glimpse what this coast once looked like.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
A wetland between dunes and pinewoods on the Adriatic coast, managed as a WWF oasis. A stopping place for migratory birds and a quiet counterpoint to the beaches.
External website · Italian
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
Two lakes north of Otranto, surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation. Another side of Salento, between water and greenery.
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
Nature
A sea cave near Castro with formations hanging like rags from the ceiling. Its name comes from the Salento word “zinzuli”.
External websites · Italian
Google Maps opens a search for the place. It does not identify a specific entrance or car park.
03 / Moments
Light, landscape and the little things in between. Our personal photo album is growing here, little by little.
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Enlarge image ↗Memories in motion
Figs by the wayside, four paws among the trees and a tractor ride through the rows. Little moments from our everyday life in Salento that stay with us.
A little glimpse between the leaves.
A curious companion among the trees.
A tractor ride among our young olive trees – a little glimpse of everyday life in the grove.
Stay in touch
Do you share our love of olive trees, Puglia and the sea? We would love to hear from you.
Our contact details will be available soon.