Custom Travel Experiences to Italy
Savouring Puglia - a Journey of the Senses
Create your very own ceramic masterpiece
Regenerate your senses in stunning locations
Prepare and enjoy delicious local cuisine
Are you ready to rediscover your passion for life?
Are you looking to reawaken your senses in peaceful and beautiful surroundings?
The Runaway Italian presents:
‘SAVOURING PUGLIA - A JOURNEY OF THE SENSES’ EXPERIENCE
For women who are ready to embrace their passions and live life to the fullest!
IN UNDISCOVERED SALENTO, PUGLIA, THE HEEL OF ITALY
October 2025 - exact dates tbc
7 Days, 6 nights
Small group - max of 9 participants
Immerse yourself in the beauty of Italy and invigorate your senses with the sounds, textures, architecture, artwork, hands-on creative experiences and of course delicious Italian food.
‘Savouring Puglia - a Journey of the Senses’ Experience is designed to help you rediscover your passions, gain new perspectives and connect with yourself and others in a meaningful way. Get inspired to live your best life!
This Experience will not only delight your taste buds and allow you to enjoy all the very best that local cuisine has to offer, but will also take you through an exciting adventure of different sights, smells, sounds and tactile events like recreating ceramic art for example.
During this experience, you will benefit from the dedicated attention of an expert Italian Tour Manager and Guide, who will provide fantastic local knowledge and insider know-how. Nicla Marinelli aka the Runaway Italian is passionate about bringing you closer to authentic and undiscovered Italy and create memorable travel experiences you will never forget! I have created just for you a well rounded itinerary to help inspire and replenish all your senses.
This Experience is also about sharing the joy of travel, adventure and sisterhood with a group of like minded women, so come on this journey with me to indulge your senses, get inspired and celebrate the beauty of this amazing region!
PUGLIA
Puglia in the heel of Italy is a seriously underrated region. Yet, its breath-taking monuments, together with its dazzling coastline, scenery, and exuberant party atmosphere make it truly unique and beautiful.
Did you also know about the remarkable findings of some scientists that reveal that even a short stay of 3 days or more in Puglia has amazing benefits for your physical and mental wellbeing? I can truly say that I have experienced this myself as I have made Puglia my home!
While we will also be indulging on the yummy delights of Apulian cuisine, this life-changing experience will heighten all of your senses and revive your vitality and zest for life like no other! Each event, each class, each moment is carefully designed to deeply immerse you in the local culture and reignite your creativity and sense of wonder.
This unique experience will:
Reconnect you to your passions, creativity and self-care
Put you in touch with nature and restore your wellbeing, mental and physical
Reawaken all your senses and deepen your capacity to fully embrace life
Clear your mind and energize your body to fully open up to new possibilities
These are some of other highlights of this very special experience:
Feast your eyes on fascinating architecture, especially Norman and Baroque, on exceptionally attractive hilltop towns, charming fishing ports and dazzling coastline and beaches
Sample the fantastic local cuisine and delight your taste buds on the flavours of Puglia
Take part in unforgettable local experiences that put you in touch with the culture like no other
Allow the excitement and awe to resonate through your body as you see historical ruins spanning the centuries, including newly discovered historical areas
Bask in the beauty of the language and music. Everyday conversations playing out in Italian, music overflowing into the street from the local ristorante. It’s a gift to our ears!
The local cuisine
Puglia is a region of farmers and is famous for producing 40% of Italy’s olive oil. It’s also a huge producer of durum wheat, which has resulted in Puglia becoming the home of some of Italy’s most famous pasta dishes and breads.
This southern region has traditionally been a poor one, with cucina povera or simple peasant cooking responsible for most Apulian dishes. Vegetables are preferred over meat, while fish and seafood are enjoyed along Puglia’s coast. Hearty baked dishes, simple plates of pasta and wilted wild greens such as chicory or cime di rape (turnip tops) are among the region’s most famous foods, while the rich string cheese burrata and bread from Altamura are enough to justify a direct trip to the area.
During your time with us, you will have the opportunity to recreate some of the mouth-watering dishes with the expert help of a local chef and sample all the goodness of an Apulian’s homemade meal. I’m sure it will be an unforgettable experience for us all!
This Italian Experience is for:
Are you a woman who is ready to get inspired? Whether you are facing big decisions and want to feel inspired before making those decisions, you are figuring out what your next chapter in life looks like, or your kids have grown and you want to rediscover what you love and what truly makes you feel good, then our Journey of the Senses, Italian Experience will be perfect for you!
What’s included:
6 nights en-suite accommodation at the historic Palazzo Zimara in the centre of Lecce. The rooms occupy a former 16th century palazzo.
All transfers from and to the airport of Brindisi in Italy and all scheduled journeys throughout the stay including transfer by people carrier
All breakfasts
3 dinners, one provided by a talented local chef and 1 lunch
a full-time Italian Tour Manager and Guide, Nicla Marinelli
a cooking class to recreate 2 local dishes
a unique experience learning about the production of olive oil and olive oil tasting in an ancient olive mill
an unforgettable and lively performance of local musicians and dancers
a ceramic workshop in the famous town of Grottaglie, known as ‘Ceramic City’
visit to a Botanical Garden, extending over 35 hectares and housing a variety of different gardens
sound healing session
ITINERARY
Day 1:
Evening: Welcome Dinner at Boccon Divino in Lecce. Stay at Palazzo Zimara.
Day 2:
9:00am – 12:00pm: visit to sights in Lecce led by Nicla
12:00pm – 5:00pm: Lunch in Grottaglie, guided tour to ceramic shops and ceramic workshop
7:30 – 9:00pm: Independent dinner in Lecce
Day 3:
9:00am – 12:00pm: visit to sights in Lecce led by Nicla
12:00pm – 5:00pm: Lunch in Lecce and visit to Museo Faggiano & pizzica performance in Lecce
7:30 – 9:00pm: Dinner at Masseria Melcarne near Lecce
Day 4:
9:00am – 12:00pm: free time
12:00pm – 5:00pm: Lunch and visit to a local masseria for olive oil tasting in Ostuni
7:30 – 9:00pm: Independent dinner in Lecce
Day 5:
9:00 - 11:00: free time
11:00- 6:00pm - Cooking class by chef at Nicla’s villa, exploration of local area, reflection time on beach nearby.
6:00pm-7:00pm - Sound healing session
8:00pm – Independent dinner in Lecce
Day 6:
Am - free time
Pm: Lunch and visit to Botanical Gardens
Evening: Dinner provided at Nicla’s villa by local chef
Day 7:
Departure
THE HOTEL AND ROOMS
More details coming soon!
By now, I’m sure that you’ll be so spellbound by everything that Puglia and Salento have to offer, that you will not want to leave this slice of paradise and quite certainly you’ll want to join me on another custom tour or experience to discover all the other gems we couldn’t fit in the first time round!
For any questions about this experience, please contact me on niclamarinelli@therunawayitalian.com.
To secure your place on this special experience, send me an email here Contact me to arrange to pay a DEPOSIT by bank transfer and also don’t forget to fill in the booking form below and read all tour terms & conditions. I really hope to see you there and lead you on the adventure of a lifetime!
TOTAL PRICE OF ITALIAN EXPERIENCE:
COMING SOON!
Pay now a deposit of €… to secure your place and the rest for the sum of € …, 10 weeks prior to departure of the experience. You will be sent a reminder for the second and final payment.
What’s not included:
Any gratuities and extra drinks/refreshments
4 lunches and 3 dinners
Flights – I will be happy to help you with this. Contact me on niclamarinelli@therunawayitalian.com
Italian garden at La Cutura Botanical Gardens, Salento
Nicla is a curious traveller, forever looking to inspire to explore places off-the-beaten track. As the Chief Travel Adviser and Planner at the Runaway Italian, she is the creator and organiser of inspiring custom travel planning and experiences to Italy, always keeping in mind your interests and passions. She has travelled extensively throughout Italy and is especially passionate about helping people discover ‘authentic’ Italy and all it has to offer. Her speciality is to turn her tours into memorable travel experiences that will be remembered for the rest of your life.
If you have any questions about this Travel Experience and want to find out if it’s a good fit for your needs or you would like to join a group of like-minded travellers, then you can do so here: The Runaway Italian -custom travel to secret Italy. Also if you would like to be the first to hear about any upcoming Travel Experiences, sign up here for my newsletter: ‘20 Fun things to do in secret Rome’. You will also receive a FREE GUIDE ‘8 Life-changing travel experiences in Salento, Puglia’
I hope you will join me in a travel adventure of a lifetime in beautiful Salento!
