Sara wasn’t actually a ‘stranger’, but she used to be. I stayed at her house in York through Couchsurfing two years ago, and we had never met again until I moved to Bologna. We became friends and had lunch together almost every week. She would cook and I would take photos, for our ‘Pranziamo?’ cookbook project.

This time, we went to Puglia together and our main purpose was probably to eat, especially the famous ‘Pane di Altamura’

The reason we got on so well probably wasn’t only because of our love for food, but also our obsession with bread and chocolate.

Finally, on the third day of our stay in Altamura, we got to try the famous bread. Viviana told us to go to a small bakery on via Torino. She said it was a little bit hard to find and we didn’t even know the name of this place. But out will was strong and we managed to find this place.



We entered Ninivaggi, where the smell of freshly baked bread infused into the air, and bought a small loaf of Pane di Altamura and half a focaccia. All for less than three euros. Then we headed to the train station with excitement.

Perhaps more because of the warm bread in the paper bag than going to Matera.

So while we were sitting on a bench, waiting for our train to arrive, the bread-tasting session began.



I took some photographs, as I always did with all the food I ate, and then Sara tear the warm, crusty loaf apart. The yellow-tinted crumb was so soft and the crust so crispy. It was good, so fucking good. We were over the moon as we tried the bread and smiled at each other, then we started laughing.

Everyone in the station who saw us must have thought the we were crazy. But we couldn’t care less. We also tried the focaccia, softer and less oily version of the Barese one, which we agreed we preferred.

It was hard to stop eating bread when it was so warm, and after a while I was breaded-out for the whole day.

Matera wasn’t actually in Puglia, but in the neighbouring region called Basilicata. It was one of the oldest caved cities in the world. We found ourselves there in the afternoon (again), so everything was pretty quiet. Nevertheless it was nice to just stroll on these ancient streets and walked up and down stairs. This was a town like no others and every corner was incredibly unique (and very old) in its own way.



It was such a long city, and we walked on and on forever. Until at some point we thought it was time to go back up to the upper part of the city to get some gelato. Still siesta time and everything was still closed, there wasn’t much to do otherwise and no chocolate shops were open. So we decided it was time to go back to Altamura and have some ‘cioccolatini’ there.

We were lucky to stumbled upon this wonderful Antico Castello Pasticceria when we were craving chocolate so badly, and the had exactly what we were looking for: chocolate pralines filled with pistachio and sea salt!



This was no exaggeration, but we were literally like the happiest 5 year-old children opening their birthday presents, as we went over to a bench opposite with little pralines in hands. They were as good as the best one we found in Bologna, but for half the price.

See? The perfect combination of bread, chocolate, Sara and me. I couldn’t think of anyone else who I would rather visit this place with but her.

When I was in Leeds, people looked at me weirdly when I told them that I went to York, a town half an hour away, and Couchsurfed there. But I glad I did weird things like that out of boredom, because that was where our friendship began, and probably also why I decided to come to Bologna and be here now.