PUGLIA NEWS

Serie A football club Bari is being sold to Texan businessman Timothy Barton it was announced yesterday. The preliminary deal has been signed and the transaction will be completed by 31 October. As part of the contract Barton will become president of the club, although current incumbent Vincenzo Matarrese will continue in the role until then. On his website Barton said ‘The Bari fans are passionate about their team, and with the new management, we hope to grow this franchise into one of the most successful and competitive in Europe.’

Puglia will be opening a new digital cinegraphic academy within the next few months. This continues the region’s policy of investing in cinema, music, theatre, dance and the arts, according to President Vendola . He was speaking at a press conference for the Sergio Rubini film L'Uomo Nero which was made in Puglia. ‘Film for us is a complex cultural and economic challenge,’ said Vendola. ‘Culture for us isn’t something ephemeral but galvanizes our determination to create a great industry in our region.’

Wine expert Angelo Maci, president of the award-winning Puglia co-operative Cantina due Palme has been elected the new president of the Negramaro Consortium for the protection and promotion of Salice Salentino doc wine. The Consortium began six years ago and is made up of 45 Salento wine producers. It aims to protect the territory in which the wine is produced and to set up a system to safeguard the negramaro grape, one of the most ancient of the Salento region. ‘Our objectives are to improve the product and promote it both nationally and internationally,’ said the new president.

Italian property portal immobiliare.it has announced the results of a recent survey and it seems that people are changing where they buy second homes. The seaside is consistently popular, but buyers are favouring newer destinations like Puglia over established favourites like Liguria. In fact, last year Puglia saw an average increase of around 15% in requests for information, whilst the Cinque Terre fell by 5%. The portal mainly targets Italians (primarily city dwellers with families) but is an interesting indicator of the direction the market is moving.

They are officially known as Caretta Caretta, these seven marine turtles, but to the people who rescued them they are Martedì, Mago, Tommaso, Calipso, Cristiano, Mononoke, Milly and Poliziotta. They have just been returned to the wild, released into the sea at Salento, Puglia after a long period of rehabilitation. The turtles were rescued after being found in difficulty off the Salentino peninsula and were given first aid by the Osservatorio Faunistico Provinciale di Lecce. Following the usual procedure they were then transferred to the Rescue Center della Stazione Zoologica “Anton Dohrn” at Naples. The staff there took care of them and helped them recover sufficiently for them to be returned to Salento and released. On Tuesday 12 May at 15.30 the seven intrepid friends were taken to the white sandy beach known as ‘La Strada Bianca’ which forms part of the Le Cesine Wildlife Park, a WWF site and released back into the wild.

Two photovoltaic energy installations producing 2.4 million Kw have started production at Masseria Rossa in Taranto. The energy, produced from PV cells powered by sunlight, will save the emission of 1700 tonnes of Co2 a year into the atmosphere and will meet the energy needs of about 700 families. The power plants have been built by energy company 9REN, who are also building four miniwind turbines in the same area. These will together produce another 100Kw of green energy.

The second Festival dell’Energia will be held in Lecce from 14 – 17 May. The strapline for this years’ event is ‘Decidere oggi l’energia di domani’ – decide tomorrow’s energy today – and will be open to the public free of charge. Two main themes will be explored at the festival, which will be a mix of discussions, debates, cultural events and exhibitions. The first them is ‘ what energy will we be using in 20 years’ time?’ and the second is ‘The global economic crisis and the effective management of energy.’ You can visit the festival site here.

The annual Fiera del Levante di Bari will be resounding to the sounds of Wagner this May. A new production of Valkyrie (Valchirie in Italian) directed by Walter Pagliaro and conducted by Stefan Anton Rock will be performed on the 7 and 10 May at the teatro Piccinni. Not to be missed if you are in the area.

Lecce was the place to be on 12 April when the popular tv show Amici presented by Maria dio Fillippi was broadcast from there.
Almost 50,000 young fans of the show, accompanied in many cases by their parents, helped make it an unforgettable evening of spettacolo. The evening started with a tribute to those who died in the terrible earthquake in Abruzzo, but then, with the motto via allo spettacolo (the show must go on) the festivities began.
Among the most popular acts was Leccese singer Alessandra Amoroso. Apart from being feted by the people in the region, Amoroso is also carving out quite a niche for herself in the rest of Italy too.
Claudio Baglioni was the guest of honour appearing in the finale of this amazing evening.

The joint project on outdoor solar powered swimming pools is concluding with three seminars in Lecce the final one being on Friday 3 April.
The project – named SOLPOOL, is part of the European Commission’s programme ‘Intelligent Energy for Europe’ and the Province of Lecce in Salento, Puglia is working alongside an international consortium including German, Greek, Slovene, Czech and French participants.
The programme which was started in 2006, aims to use renewable solar energy to heat outdoor pools, whether these be for private individuals, hotels, tourist complexes, or public pools, cost a lot of money to maintain.
Lecce’s Assessor for Political Energy, Gianni Sergi, said that they were now in a position to start putting into action some of the knowledge they have gained about state-of-the-art solar technology.
The three seminars are to pass on this expertise and to advise pool owners and swimming pool manufacturers across the province how the use of solar power can help them heat their pools whilst saving energy and money. The technology is easily incorporated into existing technology and in most cases installing a solar system costs the same or less than a standard heating system.
Then international consortium are convinced that with the right promotional push, there should be at least a ten percent increase in the number of outdoor pools being heated with solar power.

Enlargement plans for Puglia’s four airports at Brindisi, Bari, Foggia and Grottaglie have just been given the official go-ahead.
Vito Riggio, President of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority ENAC, Puglia’s regional president Nichi Vendola and the CEO of the Aeroporti di Puglia, Domenico di Paola have just signed an agreement which gives details of the 135.3 million Euro investment for the four airports, which will involve strengthening and enlargement as well as some reorganization.

For the first time in history, a women’s basketball team from Taranto in Puglia have made the Women’s Basketball EuroCup Final.
The Italian Club Cras Basket Taranto, coached by Roberto Ricchini, won 85-75 at Dynamo Moscow, assuring them a place in the final. They will play Turkish team Galatasaray for the cup on 2 April at home and on 9 April in Istanbul.

A dog managed to halt play for two minutes during the Serie A Lecce v. Atalanta game on Sunday. The wayward hound made its way onto the pitch and tried to play with the ball. Despite attempts to chase it away, the four legged interloper showed some nifty footwork and so play was halted for two minutes while it was given the red card and escorted off the pitch. It’s not know which side the dog was trying to play for, but the final result was a 1-1 draw.

Remember a few weeks ago we reported on a lottery win in Taranto, when local man won a million euros with a scratch card? Well, incredibly, lightning does strike twice!
In the San Remo 2009 Adotta Un Angelo Lottery, the second prize of 100,000 Euros went to a person in … you’ve guessed – Taranto. San Giorgio Jonico to be exact. The winning ticket for 500,000 went to a ticket-holder in Milan.
If you are a believer in third time lucky, then best set off for Taranto now and buy up all the lottery tickets in town!

Gallipoli’s Teatro d’Iitalia is the place to dust off those dancing shoes and hope smoke doesn’t get in your eyes as Raffaele Paganini’s spectacular show takes to the stage. With black and white film clips and a wonderfully nostalgic air, this is the story of Fred and Ginger’s career and recreates the magic of those dancing years. Tickets are Euro 25 and the show is on March 3.

For foodies everywhere, Sunday 11 March is a date to put in your diary as Nardo puts on the 8th edition of its festival in honour of the Santa Famiglia. As well as the traditional ‘pettule’ – which are fried golden cakes there will be lashings of local wine plus sausages, bread and oil to the sounds of local group Macara Salento.

Preparations are underway for the 2009 Carneval Ago which is being organised by young people’s associations in Otranto. The main costume parade takes place on February 22 and goes through all the main streets of the town. Among this year’s many attractions are face painting, trampolinists, fire eaters and mime artists. There will be contributions from local schoolchildren as well as the Misericordia and the “Azzurro Park” group from Palmariggi. The carnival has many prizes including ones for most original costume. As if all this wasn’t enough excitement, a group of Brazilian dancers will be there along with an hour-long cabaret from tv comedian Uccio de Santis. There will also be a prize draw with top prize of an electric bike worth over 650 euro. Although the main day of the spectacle is 22 February, it will go on until February 24. If you are in Otranto it is this year’s must-see event.

A local Puglia film studio, Big Sur, from Lecce are presenting their view of Puglia past and present from February 21 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany.
Part of the Cinema del reale project, the film combines cinematic images of modern Puglia with archive footage and even home movies to present a kaleidosopic account covering religious, social and cultural themes. The stories of Puglia’s men and woman, migrants and immigrants are all portrayed in this remarkable documentary.
The opening evening will be held at the Babylon Kino cinema and guests will be treated to a wine tastino featuring some of the region’s finest wines. The remainder of the showings will be at the Zeughauskino Kinemathek inside the Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum.
A number of well-known film and documentary makers will be there including the maestro of the Cinema del Reale - Paolo Pisanelli. The Cinema del reale project offers Italian documentary film makers of all types the opportunity to showcase their work and it encourages new talent, especially in the area of experimental film making.

He only went in to buy a lottery scratchcard, but came out with the top prize! The anonymous winner paid Euro 10 for a Mega Miliardario scratchcard in the Kaos Bar in the centre of Taranto, Puglia and lo and behold, when he scraped the silver paper off he discovered he had won.

Puglia’s University of Lecce has played a part in analysing the wrappings of a child mummy discovered at Giarabub in Libya in 2004. The mummy, thought to be of a child of around seven years old, has just been put on display at Tripoli’s Jamahirija Museum. After its discovery, the extremely well-preserved body was sent to Italy to Rome’s Università la Sapienza under the auspices of Professor di Lernia for paleo-anthropological analysis. It was while this was being undertaken that part of the wrappings were sent to Lecce for dating. The results from both sets of tests show the child lived between 120 and 260 BC and probably died of a liver infection.

A church sold to the city of Bari, Puglia under duress back in the 1930s has been officially handed back to Russia.
The keys of the St Nicholas Orthodox Church, built between 1913 and 1917, were handed back to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday, 6th December by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The date is significant as it is the day of Bari’s patron saint - Saint Nicholas - after whom the church is named.
The church complex covers an 8000 square metre site and was promised to former Russian President Vladimir Putin on a visit to Bari last year. It wasn’t a free gift though. The church was sold back to the Russians in April.
Now the property of the Russian government, it is not sure if the complex will continue to be used as a church or not. However, a spokesman said the property may be rented back to the Russian Orthodox church.

Regular visitor to Italy will know all about agriturismo – roughly translated as farm holidays. You stay on a working farm or agricultural enterprise of some sort, eat their lovely home-made food and enjoy the setting and the country activities.
It has now been announced that agritourism in Italy increased by 82.3% in the period from 1998 to 2007, with the figures for 2007 being 5.7% higher than the previous year.
As expected Tuscany is in top place, but agritourism in southern Italy including Puglia and Basilicata has increased by almost 20% showing the growing popularity of the area.

UK company Ultima Networks, which among other things produces solar panel equipment and electric bikes, has just announced that it is buying 22 hectares of land in Puglia. The £600,000 deal was made through three subsidiaries and the land is destined for a solar generated electricity park.
The location is perfect for the generation of solar electricity because of the high amount of sunshine in the region. This results in efficiently collected and generated solar power.
Although planning permission has still to come through for the project the company are hopeful of a sunny future in the south of Italy.

Alpitour World Hotels and Resorts has signed a deal with Italia Turismo to run two tourist villages in the south of Italy, bringing an added boost to the region’s tourist industry. The investment, which will be made by the partnership over the next three years, is for the villages of Alimini in Puglia and Floriana di Simeri Crichi in Calabria. The agreement with Alpitour forms part of a 200 million euro investment campaign by Italia Turismo to promote the south of the country.

The San Domenico golf course in Savelletri, Brindisi is getting ready for the Apulia San Domenico European Challenge Grand Final to be held on 22 – 26 October. The golfers should enjoy playing the challenging 18-hole course which boasts a view of the Adriatic from “every tee, green and fairway”. The challenge features the top 45 players on the Order of Merit and currently topping the list is England’s Gary Lockerbie closely followed by his compatriot David Horsey. At stake is a lucrative purse of €280,000. More info: PGA site and golf venue

USA newspaper The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports that last week the streets of Brooklyn, New York revived a popular week-long street festival (or festa in Italian) celebrating a Pugliese saint. The festa celebrates the Madonna Addolorata (Our Lady of Sorrows) - patron saint of Mola di Bari in Puglia. In fact the Puglia coastal town town celebrated its saint in the same week, as its festa is held on September 11 every year. The last Brooklyn festa was held 13 years ago and was revived by the Sacred Hearts/St Stephen’s church parish. The dates coincide with the 125th anniversary of the Sacred Hearts church, which was Brooklyn’s first Italian Roman Catholic parish. It also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the annual procession of the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Sacred Hearts parish used to be the heart of Brooklyn’s Italian community and the festa is the largest commemoration of the Italian saint outside Italy.

While the UK suffers with rain and floods, the weather in much of Italy remains sunny and hot. A heatwave is expected to hit Rome today, 9 September and continue until at least tomorrow. This hot spell will extend south and into the Puglia region where the region should experience temperatures of 35°C for the next few days. The summer is already one of the hottest on record.

The best of ‘Made in Italy’ style is currently being displayed at the Collection Premier Moscow. This is the 11th edition of the hottest fashion show in Russia and is on from 1 – 13 September. Twenty six fashion companies from Puglia are currently in Moscow promoting the best of the region’s designer talents. All types of clothes are represented, from children’s outfits to wedding dresses. The Russian federation is a growing market for the region’s clothes manufacturers. The companies are taking part in events including exhibition stands catwalk shows and press conferences. To mark Russia’s year of the Family, 150 children’s outfits are being donated to orphanages in Russia’s Rianzan region by the Pugliese children’s clothes manufacturers at the show.

The famous 120-year-old daily paper serving Basilicata and Puglia La Gazetta del Mezzogiorno has been updated using the latest 21st century technology. The paper is now in full colour tabloid format and one edition serves the four Puglia and two Basilicata provinces, instead of six separate editions. Thanks to new printing technology the daily can produce editions with up to 112 pages. The makeover was overseen by the paper’s director Carlo Bollino and managing director Giuseppe De Tomaso and took three months in total.

A southern Italian company based in Foggia, Puglia has created a new internet tv portal which offers you the chance to try before you fly! The portal, www.videoitalia.tv whose slogan is ‘ora c’è’ – (literally – ‘now there is one’, with the meaning ‘here at last’) shows films of all the main tourist honeypots like Florence and Rome, but also smaller villages and towns. Creators of the site Parcich, aim to build up a vast bank of video clips to be used as a resource by all internet users, but mainly targeted at tourists. In these credit crunching days, let’s hope that people also visit the places on show and don’t just settle for virtual reality!

Fans of the Salento team were bitterly disappointed on Saturday as their team lost 1-0 at home to Salernitana. All hopes that Lecce would make it to the fourth round of the Coppa d’Italia were dashed after Arturo di Napoli’s goal in the 64th minute of the game. It was the only goal of the match and not the result hoped for by the fans at the Stadio Via del Mare. Lecce has only just got back into Serie A and a win on Saturday would have been the icing on the cake. Salernitana will meet either Sassuolo or Reggiana in the next round.

Sven Goran Ericsson’s former squeeze Nancy dell’Olio enjoyed herself this month on the beach in Puglia. Pictures of the 46-year-old sunning herself were described by the Daily Mail as having been taken in ‘the beach resort of Puglia’. Well Puglia is a large region rather a beach resort as we all know! The Italian lawyer actually likes the beaches of the Salentine peninsula in Puglia, ‘where the Ionian and Adriatic seas meet’.

There’s been a marked rise in the number of passengers taking low cost flights to smaller airports in Italy. Passenger numbers are up across Italy by 10.1%, with an increase in Umbria of double that. In Puglia there has been an increase of 19 % reflecting the increased use of Bari and Brindisi airports by the low cost airlines.

You may not know the name Castellaneta, but it was from this city in Taranto, Puglia that film legend Rudolph Valentino left to find fame and fortune in the States. Anyway, make a note in your diary for 3rd August if you are in the area, because that’s the date of one of the largest sagre (foodie festivals) in the whole of Italy. There are two kilometres’ worth of local specialities to try – everything from wine and olive oil to mozzarella and pasta. Buon appetito!

Southern Italy is a treasure trove of prehistoric sites and more excavations have just started at the Cave dell’Erba, Apricena in the region of Foggia. The dig will last for five weeks and more than 60 students and teachers from five nations will take part. This is the second phase of the archaeological work, the first was in the summer last year (2007). The aim is to get more information about the fossilized animals as well as the flint tools used by early man a million and half years ago.

It’s official! The water in the seas around Salento has been declared officially clean by the environmental agency Legambiente. The results of the regular analysis are just out and confirm that once again the beautiful sea is as clean as it looks. Twenty three samples were taken, including the areas of  Nardo', Santa Cesarea Terme and Otranto. All just a stone’s throw from the Dream Homes in Puglia masserie projects, you’ll be pleased to hear.