Friday

 Today was another beautiful day in Polignano a Mare. We
decided to go to the cheese shop in Altamura that Stanley Tucci visited. It did not disappoint. The ride was a little over an hour. We found the cheese shop easily. It is a family business. The sisters are in the front selling. The brothers are in the back making the cheese. The one brother who was featured on Stanley Tucci’s show spent time in California and learned to make blue cheese. He talked his family into incorporating blue cheese into the cheese shop. The sister who spoke English was so nice. She kept giving us samples from her cheese bucket with chunks of various cheeses. Everything was so delicious. 

Now we needed to find bread to go with our cheese. Right up the street we found Di Gesi’ bread store. They are known for their  bread made with durham wheat. 

Next we found Old Town Altamura. There were beautiful churches from the 1600’s. It was a much bigger city than we thought.

We stopped at Ciccimarra for lunch. They had a vodka sauce gemelli special that we all had. The owners were so nice. They came to America for their honeymoon. 

He sent over St. Joseph’s zeppole for dessert. Jeff had his first espresso!

We came back to the house and played a quick game of Quidler.

It must have been a beautiful sunset on the other side of town because the afterglow that we saw from our terrace was exceptional. 

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. You wouldn’t know it in Italy. There is nothing green anywhere. They are waiting for St. Joseph’s Day on Sunday. They celebrate Father’s Day then too. There will be a big bonfire outside one of the churches in town. Steve and Jeff managed to find something green to have their own celebratory homage to St. Patrick.

 Time for dinner. We set out all the cheeses and meats and bread that we had bought today and had a feast. It was so delicious. A favorite was the soft runny blue cheese. Next was a hard blue cheese.

After dinner we were in a food coma!

Tomorrow is another day!

Buonanotte!