Puglia for 2 weeks in April 2025 - a few questions

Do NOT miss Matera! We fell in love with this cave town!!

Thanks Carla. We definitely plan to visit Matera on the trip.
When you went, did you do an organized tour of the caves or of anything else, or did you just tour on your own?

We also loved Matera and had an excellent tour with https://www.materatourguide.it/
I would stay somewhere within reach of both Matera and your farther family history destinations, then you might want to focus on the center of Puglia for the second week. Just play around with Google Maps to see what the drive times and the best position to be in.

Thanks for the pointer to the tour info

You might want to hire a local guide for a half-day in Candela and Ruvo del Monte, generally pretty affordable in the Puglia region. There are several advantages compared to just showing up and looking around. For one they know the area and speak Italian which will aid in getting around and knowing what you're seeing. If booked well in advance and if you mention your relatives lived there the guide may be able to arrange to see some city or parish records with your family in them or tell you the hours when they are available. And in a small town the staffers may be someone your guide knows, so more helpful than they might be to a random tourist walking in. It's also possible you have 2nd cousins living in those areas. You can find guides by looking online (searches like "Candela Italy hire a guide") or perhaps by emailing the tourist office in a larger nearby town. There are lots of stories online about people visiting towns where their ancestors are from such as the ones at https://www.italymagazine.com/back-your-italian-roots

We visited the Daunia area where Candela is, but not actually Candela. Many of the towns there are similar, all beautiful in my opinion. We loved the countryside too which would be perhaps even prettier in Spring. We stayed in Bovino to visit the area because there's a reasonably priced castle!
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2021/12/puglia-daunia-in-september-rione-fossi.html
You could base in Trani the north. It's not a small quiet town but it's not too full of foreign tourists either and would be an hour's pleasant drive to the area around Candela.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2023/04/why-i-love-trani.html
Candela to ruvo is about 45 minutes by car so you could visit one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They are quite small but you may want to linger considering your family roots

I spent the past 3 days in Madera and now I am in Lecce the week. S, F, 70+, public transpo.

Easter Monday is also a holiday in Italy.

You might want to Google any town that you are interested in on YouTube I have found invaluable.

I took a tour with Mattulli Viaggi Matera and they had quite a few to choose from.

If you are planning on staying in Matera I had a great apartment that I made with booking.com called Lorenzo the magnifico. Within walking distance of everything but not in the central historical and there was ample parking, a grocery across the street and I walked from the sassi to the apartment sometimes twice a day so it's doable.

John, thanks for the tip on hiring a local guide in Candela and Ruvo del Monte. And thanks very much for the link to the stories about people visiting their roots in Italy. I look forward to reading those stories and doing more research on my ancestors!

Tina, thanks for the suggestion and links about info for Daunia and Trani. My family and I love castles, as well as driving through the beautiful countrysides of Italy, so we’ll definitely check out those areas.

Janet, thanks for the info about the holiday on Monday. I had forgotten about that. And thanks for the pointer to the tour company in Matera. We probably won’t be staying overnight there, but we haven’t finalized our lodging plans yet, so I appreciate the recommendation.

Thanks all! :)

Taranto and Gallipoli are two very different places on the west coast of Puglia that are great to visit while staying in Lecce or points south in Puglia. We especially enjoyed Gallipoli.

In what way are Taranto and Gallipoli different? Are they different from each other, or from other places in Puglia.

In what way are Taranto and Gallipoli different?

Taranto is much grittier; it's definitely a working town. Gallipoli feels much more like the fishing and resort town. Incredible seafood in both cities. The sea views are much prettier in these cities than on the east Puglian coast IMO.

Thanks for that input. I appreciate it!

Following! Currently Researching Puglia for 2026.