The traditional art of hand embroidery has deep roots in Puglia and still today regional artisans produce high-quality lace, embroidered goods and crochet items. Locorotondo is a traditional production centre renowned for its lace, bedspreads, curtains and embroidered sheets. Nearby, Alberobello, Cisternino and Martina Franca are also known for their needlework traditions. Other notable centres include Triggiano and Capurso near Bari and, in the Salento, Maglie, Galatina and Nardò. In the deep south, producers in Tiggiano supply textiles to the Parisian fashion house Dior.
Puglia has a long history of artisanal weaving, and some manufacturers still use ancient techniques to produce traditional patterns on hand-operated wooden looms. You’ll find boutiques selling hand-woven fashions throughout the region, but for some of the best, head to Vico del Gargano and Otranto.
Ceramics have been made in Puglia since the time of the ancient Messapians. The region’s signature style features cream colours and simple blue patterns. Many items are also emblazoned with a cockerel, a traditional symbol of fertility. Puglia’s ceramics capital is Grottaglie. Here you can pick up crockery and ceramic homeware in the 50 or so workshops that dot its Ceramics District. Other renowned ceramics towns include Cutrofiano, San Pietro in Lama, Martina Franca, Canosa, Lucera, Lucugnano, and Laterza, known for its exquisite majolica pottery. Nearby, Gravina in Puglia specialises in rooster-shaped whistles, once used by shepherds.
The rural craft of basket-making makes good use of Puglia’s natural assets, incorporating wicker and rush along with twigs of olive wood. As well as baskets, these age-old weaving techniques are now used to make mannequins and even small artworks. Towns to look for wicker-ware include San Severo, Cassano, Alberobello, Trani, Monopoli and Castellana Grotte.
Since the Middle Ages, Monte Sant’Angelo has been home to craftsmen known as sammecalère. These artisans specialise in crafting statuettes depicting the Archangel Michael. Traditionally, they would use marble or wood but figurines are now mostly made from plaster, alabaster or synthetic materials. Look hard enough, though, and you can still find the odd example of a hand-crafted statuette.
Traditional hand-painted paper dolls once served as amulets. People would use them to keep pebbles they’d collected at the Sanctuary of San Michele to ward off evil spirits. To get your hands on one of these ancient good luck charms try Peschici and the towns around the Gargano. Papier-mâché and Lecce Stone Crafting papier-mâché models is no child’s play in Puglia. Lecce has a tradition of papier-mâché model-making that dates back to the 17th century and still today you can buy papier-mâché figurines in the city. For models on an altogether larger scale, check out the vast figures that star in Putignano’s famous carnival parades. Lecce is also renowned for its local stone (pietra leccese). Stone quarrying is one of Puglia’s historic industries and with 399 quarries spread across the region, it remains an important business. Lecce stone is much appreciated for its malleability and appears in many creative guises, including as popular lamps.
If you’re in the market for an original light fitting, look no further. In Lecce, you’ll find a wide choice of lamps sculpted out of the local stone, while in Polignano a Mare you can marvel at the exquisite glass and tin creations of designer Peppino Campanella. Puglia also excels in the production of stylish furniture. Its most famous exponent is Natuzzi, the celebrated brand founded in Taranto in 1959 and now based in Santeramo in Colle.
In Bari, the Puglia Design Store showcases the creations of regional artisans and designers. Items on sale range from framed prints to fashions and modern furnishings. The store, backed by the Puglia Region and Municipality of Bari, was conceived as part of a development project to create a zone around the former Teatro Margherita and fish market dedicated to contemporary art and culture.
Shopping goes hand in hand with social support in Lecce. At Div.ergo you can buy everything from wall clocks to papier-mâché puppets and dolls, all designed and made by people with mental disabilities as part of an on-going social inclusion initiative.
Shops and boutiques across the region carry the latest fashions as well as handmade clothes and accessories. In Lecce you can shop for hip bags and bijou jewellery as well as funky, hand-woven clothes. Martina Franca is known for its leather upholsterers, many of whom export across the world. Similarly, Putignano is renowned regionally for its high-quality, custom-made wedding dresses.
To take home an authentic piece of Puglia, consider buying a pumo (plural, pumi). You’ll see these colourful ceramic buds all over the place, displayed on balconies, placed on stairways, in gift shops. Named after the Roman goddess for fruitful abundance, these ancient good luck charms were traditionally given as wedding gifts.
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