In a surprising small 15th C. borough close to the best sea villages, the B&B La Tana del Riccio is a most charming Guest House for rental hidden in the heart of Salento, in southern Italy, a boutique vacation home where you’ll feel back in the ’60’s.
Vaste’s Beauty
Vaste di Poggiardois a little jewel, postcard type of a Salento village with just 650 souls, hidden orange and tangerine gardens. In 600 BC was a messapic capital: remains are visible at the Museum by the “Piazza” and at the archaeological site, a 20 acres open-air museum.
Located at the gates of Poggiardo, Vaste is rich of quite small streets, baroque palaces and church, and gets lively in the fresher hours when people will gather and sit in the main Square benches, chatting and enjoying the freshly baked pastries. At any other time you will hear only the sound of the singing birds and the ringing of the church bells signing the passing time or calling the functions. Culinary traditions stay true to the time in this region, fresh bread is delivered daily warm, orecchiette the traditional pasta of Puglia are handmade served on broccoli rabe, and with the abundance of olive trees around you, you can bet the quality of the extra virgin olive oil has not changed.
The town is built around a main square of rare beauty, where the church, and the Baronial palace and Tower, all from the XIV and XVIII centuries, are linked by a defense wall that hides a small 14th century borough. The scenery is enhanced at night by a specially designed illumination.
The evocative and perfect picture perfect Salento style hamlet of Vaste can be reached crossing an opening of the walls, passing a beautiful mandarin and orange garden: walking thru the alleys, there will be a small square with a door highlighted by a stone arch and a coat of arms.
You have arrived. This is the entrance to the “Tana del Riccio” but also the beginning of your discovery of the pleasant lifestyle of Salento, of its bright sun, the large range of turquoise of its sky and sea waters, its stones and rocks, its flavors of a great and traditional cuisine, and its intoxicating beauty of the Baroque architecture. The strength of the olive trees and the ancient, or the swing of the winds from the south or the north, will make you wish to come back well before it is even time to leave.
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