Puglia Pontifications

So here I am, snugly seated in a corner of a cafeteria in Bari Central station. We are all waiting for our train to Rome which is scheduled to depart in an hour and will take about 4 hours to navigate the 450+km journey. 

That’s the first thing that caught me by surprise… that even Italy, that I have seen so much of its ruins, have moved into the modern age and its cities are connected by a high speed rail network. My surprise stem from arrogance, or maybe I should say pride of Asia, esp with regards to infrastructure where Asia truly leads the world. On several other dimensions too, I would say that Asia is the world’s benchmark: the economic growth rates, the demographic dividend, the improving governance. And being an Asian who have enjoyed riding this wave, and to a very small extent, also making it, I am naturally happy for my continent and somewhat looking at the past colonial masters with some vindicated satisfaction that we can do it for ourselves. 

Yes, I do pontificate, especially on vacations when work does not occupy my mind. 

Truth be told, this vacation started as work. First in Paris where we had a meeting and then I held my global leadership meeting in Rome, but very soon D & M joined me and we toured the Puglia region together. Puglia? When one enjoys good food and the best restaurants back home all brag of Puglia origins, it truly piqued our interest. So, when the borders open, we quickly made plans to jump onto one of the VTLs (Vaccinated Travel Lanes) that the Singapore government had negotiated and we were lucky we did. Because within a week of D getting here, the Italian government, on account of rising Omicron cases, decided to bar entry from Singapore. We are already in the country and so can tour the rest of it. 

So, from Rome, we took a flight to Brindisi. And picked up a rental car at the airport there and drove directly to Lecce, the so-called Florence of the South. I am not sure where the similarities are as I didn’t see a hugely impressive domed cathedral nor bridges of tourist traps let alone a world class museum! 

However, some of the prettiest seaside towns, Gallipoli and Otranto in particular, are mere half hour drives away.

Travelling at this time has its advantages. First COVID controls have already thinned the crowds and add to that the winter months (with temperatures averaging 10 degrees) meant unspoilt unpeopled photographic opportunities were amazing. 

Some restaurants were closed for the season but we got into every place we wanted to and enjoyed some of the finest this country has had to offer. Everything from the bread (altamura, so i found out online) to the olive oil (we met Pietro Intini, who runs the family business of the same name) to the exquisitely fresh seafood (the baby squid at Opera Prima took the top spot) and new meats (in my case, horse and donkey) all washed up with lots of wine — nearly a bottle every day — meant we never went hungry. And I haven’t even gotten started on the pasta yet (freshly made and we even saw them being made by strong women in the sidewalks of Bari) meant we had a balanced diet at every meal. Yes, I am counting wine as fruit :-)

Then, there is the language. It has got such colour, even drama. Whether listening to the guide yak away with the driver on our way back from Amalfi coast, or the priest at Christmas Mass delivering his homily, our lack of understanding of the words did not prevent us from enjoying the emotions of it. Yes, we managed to attend mass on Christmas Day in the cathedral in Ostuni. I said before that though one may find catholic masses boring with its rites and rituals, there is at least a certain consistency and that meant that every Catholic can follow every mass (except the homily) perfectly well. In my case, I googled up Pope Francis’ powerful homily on littleness: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2021/documents/20211224-omelia-natale.html

At this stage of my life especially, it makes so much sense. The pope himself role modelled his life for all the world to see thus too. That it also resonates with my recent discourses with J and M, which inspired me to do a fellowship on the post-growth world and in particular on state capitalism thereof. 

Indeed, the post-growth world is very much on show here in Italy, and more broadly across Europe. Many surveys have established that the youth no longer feel they can lead better lives (economically speaking) than their parents. There are simply less people being born and therefore less consumers and hence smaller markets for businesses. The properties including some that come with the ancient trullis that adorn the region so beautifully can be had for less than six figures. So there is no real asset appreciation either. But economic growth need not to be main yardstick for success. Again, this is a more European rather than Asian issue. But one that is sure to prevail in the world.

I am reminded of our trip to Matera and where it has been found that since the paleolinthic times, humans have lived here and made their limestone caves in this area their home for over 10,000 years. No doubt, Sassi di Matera must have been something in its heyday but but the middle of the 20th century, it was the shame of the country where the inhabitants lived in squalid conditions with their animals and without electricity nor running water (though they did have a UNESCO world heritage listed cistern system). 

So, how does one revitalise a city like this: it takes a good heart in the public sector (including a strong will of the leader) to re-house the residents and improve the infrastructure and then a good head in the private sector to reinject the city with economic activities… in this case, to turn it into a world class tourist  destinations where global celebrities like Gal Gatot, Steve Perry and Will Smith will come to. And we lucked out being able to stay in the very same cave in the same hotel that they stayed in.

Actually, we stayed in three types of dwellings on our journey: from a cavuo to a trullo to a palazzo. The trullo is a thing of beauty. If the ancient citizens of Sassi practised negative architecture, the farmers on the olive groves of Alberlobello built particularly small perfect homes. We stayed in one and M especially had a nook which she burrowed into like a rabbit in its warren.

Speaking of that long-eared animal, on a 3-week journey like ours, you can imagine some listening and lots of talking. I admit I am not the best listener and am prone to voice my opinions confidently and loudly. One such occasion was when frustrated with not being able to stop for longer in Locorotondo, called one of the most beautiful villages in Italy “Valle d’Italia”, and being hurried along to Ostuni, our next stop, I simply just said that Ostuni is an ugly place. We were all talking about a Singaporean politician, Raeesah Khan, who was caught lying in Parliament and she would say things that are simply untrue and blame it on dissociation, and I guess I had a Raeesah moment myself. Yes, I am not the easiest person to travel with and both the girls had to cope with me and M in particular impressed me when she told D to let me be for a moment as I need to deal with the stress. I guess I work all year round, actually in these COVID times for two whole years, and in this extended vacation, I really wanted things to go perfectly: whether it is to find a place to park or for the luggage to be more manageable.

Well, we were travelling with winter wear for nearly a month and you can imagine that each of us had three bags: large, medium and small. The large ones are about 20kgs each, and the medium and small ones 10 and 5 respectively. So, packing and transporting has to be done well. Thankfully, D is a master of both. And we managed to get them all into a small Toyota Yaris, with one back seat down and bags stacked upon one another. The bags also got onto planes and trains.

The stress of driving in strange lands and on the wrong side of the road is much mitigated nowadays by GPS and in our case, we had got both the old school TomTom device as well as Waze on the handphone. Both guided us well and the journeys were also made a lot better with M’s playlist, including of Italian and Christmas numbers. Speaking of the festive season, we’ve all heard of having a white Christmas. Well, it didn’t snow in these parts but Ostuni (contrary to my throwaway Raeesah remark) turned out to be a rather pretty town and so we enjoyed our White City Christmas moment. Besides entertaining our ears, M also snapped on her camera some of our best moments, whether at meal time or just as we are ambling around town. The credit for the best photo (though cropped by yours truly) however goes to D. This photo captured what holidays are meant to be: taking in the sights, enjoying the journey and making the best of any situation.