The Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT) province in northern Puglia, Italy, is the birthplace of burrata cheese and offers a rich array of local delicacies, from organic olive oil and yellow tomatoes to goat prosciutto and fresh seafood. This region, often overlooked by tourists, provides an authentic Italian food experience that rivals more famous destinations.
The Birthplace of Burrata
Puglia is the birthplace of burrata, which originated in Andria, a few miles from Barletta. The cheese was created about a century ago when farmer Lorenzo Bianchino, snowed in and unable to get his milk to market, revived an old technique for preserving butter. He stuffed cream mixed with mozzarella scraps (stracciatella) into a casing of stretched-curd cheese, creating what we now know as burrata.
Today, several burrata makers operate in Andria, with Caseificio Olanda being the most famous, offering demos, tastings, and a museum. During a visit, Riccardo “Dino” Olanda, son of the founders, demonstrated the process, adding almost-boiling water to curds and mixing with hands red from daily work. He explained that the cheese is ready when it becomes shiny, then squeezed out round lumps between thumb and forefinger to form mozzarella balls—an action called mozzare, giving the cheese its name.
Local Delicacies and Seafood
The province is home to several food producers and restaurants that showcase local ingredients. In Barletta, Portento restaurant, run by Luigi Lacerenza, serves antipasti including caprino goat’s cheese, grilled caciocavallo from an old couple who make just six a week, and small-batch salami. Pizzas feature sausage, olives, oyster mushrooms, and yellow tomatoes, or aubergines with grated cacioricotta.
In Cerignola, Rosario Didonna used winnings from a TV standup competition to transform his family’s deli into U’ Vulèsce, a wood-panelled restaurant. He works with small farmers and wine producers and invites nonne from across southern Italy to demonstrate recipes. Dishes include goat prosciutto, plum-sized local olives called bella di Cerignola, prawn tartare in sea urchin shells, hairy crab spaghetti, octopus with bean puree, and sea bass with orange mayo.
At Masseria Barbera, a farm restaurant in the Alta Murgia national park, Nicola Barbera runs an estate founded by his great-great-great-great-grandfather Riccardo, who fought with Garibaldi. The farm produces 90% of what the 100-cover restaurant needs, including olives, vines, and wild greens like peppery rocket and wild chicory. The kitchen garden yields eight varieties of tomato sauce, and dishes include a pie with white onions, anchovy and sultanas, courgettes with mint and garlic, and spaghetti with yellow tomatoes. Grilled donkey fillet, described as healthy, low-fat, and never intensively farmed, was noted as the best meat by the author.
Olive Oil and Attractions
Olive oil producers in the area include Muraglia, known for organic oil in hand-painted, rainbow-stripe ceramic bottles, and Sabino Leone, offering tours of ancient groves and an oil mill for €15, plus tastings. The region also offers cultural and outdoor activities, such as visiting over 200 works by painter Giuseppe De Nittis at the 16th-century Palazzo della Marra (€6), exploring Europe’s biggest salt pan at Salina Margherita di Savoia, or taking an ebike ride in the Alta Murgia with Filippo Tito of Cycling ‘n’ Trek to see an old bauxite mine resembling a mini grand canyon.
Accommodation and Dining Options
For accommodation, Antica Dimora in Barletta is a restored 17th-century palazzo with doubles from €97, offering three bedrooms with plants and breakfast featuring local specialities. Lama di Luna, an organic farm with doubles from €230, has six rooms around an 18th-century stone courtyard, is energy and water self-sufficient, and includes a cinema, library, and pool shaded by 600-year-old olive trees.
Dining options include Mosé bakery in Barletta, known for krapfen doughnuts and sourdough croissants; Scoop in Canosa, where Francesco Di Nunno makes ice-cream with local seasonal ingredients like raspberry and strawberry sorbets in early summer and percoca yellow peach until mid-August; Il Turracciolo in Andria, offering broad bean and chicory “meatballs” and pasta discs with green beans and peas; and A Sud dell’Anima in Minervino, where chef Nadia Tamburrano uses hyper-local ingredients for dishes like sweetbreads wrapped in intestines. The trip was organised by Unexpected Italy, which offers personalised itineraries for Barletta and the surrounding area.
