Pasqua in Puglia 2026

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. 03/06-April-2026.

Friday 03-April-2026.

Surprisingly for a Catholic country, Good Friday is not a public holiday, it is business as usual. My Easter usually starts with a chocolate Easter egg from Mary. One thing I like about this small town is that I even know the chocolatier personally. Antonietta from Chocolab customised this egg for me. This year she is experimenting with a fruity, dark chocolate, flavoured with red fruits. Crunchy and delicious!

Friday evening was a Processione dei Misteri (Parade of the Mysteries). It consists of several floats decorated with wooden, canvas, and glue sculptures representing the passion and death of Jesus. These are paraded around the town on the shoulders of the faithful.

Normally I observe the parade from our top terrace. This year I decided to go down and stand in our doorway for a ringside seat.

Another statue.

Heading for the crucifixion.

I’m guessing this is Christ risen.

And this Christ demonstrating the stigmata.

Saturday 04-April-2026.

Salento 04/06/26 24:24 [10/20].

Saturday in Italy means an early alarm for the hour and 10 minutes drive down to our nearest parkrun. We had to be especially early this week as we were picking up a couple of tourists from Lecce, holidaying there without a car.

Mary striding in at the finish.

As always, it’s a picnic in the park at the end of parkrun, today featuring a Colomba Pasquale a traditional Easter cake vaguely in the shape of a dove. It tastes very like the panettone that you get at Christmas. There was also a "Ramo di Primavera" - the Spring Branch - another typical Easter cake.

I get a volunteer credit for post event clear up: I drive round the course picking up the signs. I was pleased to see a hoopoe strutting along the track giving me this photo opportunity.

Sunday 05-April-2026.

A quiet day. We tried the special Easter menu at our local nearest restaurant Osteria Lagravinese. A ridiculous number of dishes and all excellent. We were completely stuffed by the end and had to go for a lie down.

Menu di Pasqua

Antipasti

• Carpaccio de pesce spada su julienne de finocchio
• Gambero mazzancolle con ananas e melone
• Riso Venere al pesto con pomodorini e sfilaco di cacioricotta
• Sformatino de patate e mousse ai porcini
• Cozza nero ripiena con pomodorini
• Mazzancolle con coda croccante alla speck
• Misto fritto del osteria (polpetta de patate con salmone, verdure miste pastellate)

Primi Piatti

• Tagliolini al nera de seppia, gamberetto dell'Adriatico, pomodorini e pesto al pistacchio
• Pacchero, carciafo croccante e pancetta

Secondo Piatto

• Agnello cotto a bassa temperatura con contorno de patate
• Frittura mista dell'Adriatico

Dolce della Tradizione

• Bevande e digestivi.

Monday 06-April-2026.

After the horrible wet weather of the last couple of weeks, it really brightened up over the weekend. We decided to do one of our favourite walks that we call the Hidden Valley as it is a bit of a unspoiled gem. A big loop of just over 8km through some quiet countryside with lovely spring flowers starting to emerge.

Flowers plus a common brimstone butterfly (on the yellow daisy).

Easter Monday is the big religious day here in Cisternino celebrating of Madonna d'Ibernia with various religious events during the day and a parade round the town which we missed.

Concluding with a huge firework display visible from our terrace.

As always photos do not do them justice.

That's Easter for another year.

Terrace Storage Box

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. June-2025/March-2026.

Part 1: Construction.

We got bored of dismantling the terrace furniture every autumn and carting it all down the stairs into the living room then reversing the process in the spring.

Since the furniture included a couple of daybeds, there were no storage boxes large enough to accommodate two bed bases and all the other stuff. We got creative and found a bicycle store which was just large enough to take the bases and everything else.

Duly purchased from Leroy Merlin (Italy’s equivalent of the British home improvement store B&Q) we took delivery of the flat pack. I thought assembling IKEA furniture was tough but this took the biscuit.

Stage one was assemble the base and install the uprights. The illustrations were unclear so, having slotted in all the side panels I discovered they were upside down, had to undo it all, turn them over and reassemble.

Once completed, it was, indeed, capacious enough for everything on the terrace: two daybeds, two tables, six chairs, two sun loungers and a barbecue. 

Part 2: Destruction.

In February, Cisternino had gusts of wind up to 100kph (62 mph). Despite us having fitted additional padlocks and clips, the winds ripped the lid off the storage box and deposited it down in the street. We were alerted by the very nice Gaetano who runs the linen shop and apartments along the street. Luckily no-one seems to have been around when it happened. It is only light plastic however it still could have injured someone or, at the very least, given them a nasty shock if they had been in that part of the street at that time.

Our friend Pietro went round later that day to check it out and secure the contents. 

Whilst he was there he spotted that the chimney cowl belonging to the restaurant on the ground floor was looking a bit precarious.

Pietro alerted the fire brigade who came and made it safe. Being metal and heavy if that had fallen and hit anyone or anything it would have been disastrous!

The cowl has since been chopped down and reinstated with copious numbers of rivets to hold it in place. 

Part 3: Re-construction.

That left us with the problem of how to replace the lid of the box to keep the contents dry. Eventually the answer was a return trip to Leroy Merlin where we found a sturdy sheet of plastic roofing that was just the right size.

The first step was to move the box across the terrace to over the gully that separates us from our neighbours where it is sheltered by the roof stairs next door and further from the edge of the terrace.

We installed the new cover with a nut and bolt at each corner, extra bungees along the long edge and a long bungee around the whole thing.

We are more confident with this arrangement: the box is in a more sheltered position; the cover and bungees are flexible so hopefully will flex in the wind rather than break; and if anything snaps off it should fall onto the terrace or into the gulley rather than fall to the street.

This last week has seen torrential rain most days and it seems to be doing a good job of keeping the contents dry. The real test is the next time we have hurricane force winds!