

Today, the Salento area and its beaches are the most popular in the whole of Italy: Gallipoli has usurped Riccione and Milano Marittima in terms of numbers of young holidaymakers attracted to its discos and night life and the Maldive-like beaches of Salento, Otranto, Torre dell’Orso and Porto Cesareo are the most popular with families who have children in tow. Then, little by little they started to discover our region, especially the southern part called Salento, and year on year, numbers have increased. We had the beaches to ourselves then and, as anyone will know who’s even only been here once, I’m talking about beaches you’d call ‘tropical’, and right here on the Mediterranean! In those days most Italians always went to other places, they didn’t come here. Back then, it was just us ‘natives’ and a few local ‘emigrants’ gone to work up north and back for the summer. I’m talking about 15 years ago, although it seems ages ago now as so much in my home area has changed in recent years. I was born here and have always spent my holidays by the sea (just on the place of the previous picture …), from June to September: going off with my friends in the morning and coming home at sunset, I spent all my time in the sea and always went as brown as a berry. My family owns a holiday home on the beach at Torre Lapillo, in the Porto Cesareo area, a few kilometres from Gallipoli. Where? Sicily and Tuscany are among the favourites, but there’s one are in particular that is surpassing the others and that’s Puglia, the region where I live all summer managing holiday homes in Torre Lapillo Bay, and the region where I was born. However, in recent years, things have changed because of the increased price of ferry crossings so lots of tourists have headed elsewhere.


Places like Porto Cervo, Villasimius, San Teodoro and many more have been top of our list for many years. The other undisputed favourite is Sardinia, the island in the middle of the Mediterranean with some of Italy’s most beautiful beaches. In past years, it has been the Riviera Romagnola that has taken the lion’s share with its resorts like Rimini, Riccione, Milano Marittima: here are some of Italy’s busiest beaches and some fun locations best loved by Italy’s youth. The following are the classical Italian summer holiday destinations: Sardinia, the Riviera Romagnola, Sicily, the Amalfi coast, Liguria and Tuscany. Sardinia, the Riviera Romagnola, Sicily, the Amalfi coast, Liguria, Tuscany and … Puglia! So where exactly do Italians go to spend their summer holidays in Italy? Some of us use our holiday time to head off to popular foreign destinations like the Maldives, the Caribbean, Polynesia … but most stay in Italy to enjoy the miles of coastline perfect for bathing. It’s a tradition that goes back generations: heading for the sea for your summer holiday is an absolute ‘must’. For us ‘summer holidays’ mean almost without exception going to the sea: sunbathing, lying on the beach, relaxing in the warm water. If there’s one time every year when all we Italians drop everything and go on holiday it’s the summer.
