This is an invitation into Southern Italy’s most soulful region, where time slows, food is deeply rooted in place, and daily life unfolds in rhythm with the land and sea.

Here, whitewashed villages glow in the sun, ancient olive groves stretch toward the horizon, and the Adriatic shapes the pace of each day. This is a place where meals are shared slowly, and culture is experienced as much at the table as it is in the streets.

Across a week of immersive experiences, we explore coastal towns, historic villages, and landscapes shaped by centuries of tradition, connecting with the people, flavours, and rhythms that define Puglia from the inside out.

This is not a tour of Italy. It is an immersion into it, curated, and designed for those who want to feel a place rather than simply visit it.

You are drawn to food, culture, and travel that feels grounded and real.

You value small-group experiences where conversation and shared meals matter as much as the places you see.

You’re looking for a slower way to travel—one that leaves space for spontaneity and moments that aren’t scheduled or scripted.

You want to experience Italy through its people, landscapes, and food, not just observe it from the outside.

You appreciate thoughtful curation, meaningful detail, and the feeling of being fully taken care of while still feeling free.

This is a small, hosted journey through Southern Italy, designed around food, place, and connection.

Over seven days, we move gently through Puglia, experiencing the region with presence and ease.

We spend time in some of Puglia’s most iconic places: Lecce, Monopoli, Polignano a Mare, Alberobello, Ostuni, and Matera—each offering its own distinct rhythm, from baroque stone streets to whitewashed hill towns, ancient cave dwellings, and dramatic limestone cliffs above the Adriatic.

Along the way, we step into experiences that bring the region to life and may include:

• Making cheese with local producers

• Learning traditional Pugliese cooking alongside local home cooks

• Tasting olive oil at its source in family-run mills

• Visiting a local winery for tastings

• Sharing long meals in family-run restaurants and coastal trattorias

• Time along the Adriatic coastline

• Wandering UNESCO-listed towns such as Alberobello, with its trulli houses, and Matera, the ancient cave city carved into stone

• Exploring the whitewashed hill town of Ostuni and the limestone cliffs of Polignano a Mare

There is structure, but also space. Time to wander, rest, and follow what draws you.

This journey was created as an invitation to experience Southern Italy with presence, depth, and ease. Moving beyond surface level travel into something more grounded and real.

It is shaped by presence over pace, depth over distance, and connection over checklists.

Puglia is a place of abundance, where beauty, generosity, flavour, and human connection are woven into everyday life. At its heart, this is about returning to the essence of travel: shared tables, meaningful encounters, and the quiet luxury of time spent fully in a place.

Every element has been thoughtfully curated to create space for flavour, for beauty, and for experiences that stay with you long after you return home.

This is not about seeing everything. It is about feeling something.

• 6 nights in carefully selected 4-star boutique accommodations in Lecce and Monopoli’s Old Town

• Daily breakfasts, lunches, and three curated group dinners celebrating the flavours of Puglia

• Guided exploration of Lecce and Matera

• Private guided experiences throughout the journey

• All ground transportation between destinations

• Entrance fees to museums and cultural sites

• All gratuities for accommodations and meals

• International airfare

• Airport transfers (can be arranged upon request for an additional fee)

• Personal travel insurance

• Gratuities for your guide and driver, which are warmly appreciated at the end of the journey

STEPHANIE TAYLOR

Founder & Host of Wild Rise

Stephanie curates immersive journeys rooted in food, culture, and human connection.

Her work brings together a lifelong love of travel, years of hosting and teaching, and a deep interest in how people connect through shared experience, conversation, and presence.

Through her sourdough workshops and traditional food practices, she has created spaces centred on gathering, slowing down, and making things by hand. What began with bread evolved into something larger: a way of bringing people together in a shared sense of belonging and connection.

Having travelled extensively from a young age, and shaped by more than three decades immersed in Italian culture and daily life, she brings a lived understanding of how food, hospitality, and tradition are woven into place. She has long been drawn to places where culture is still deeply connected to food, land, and everyday rhythm, experiencing them not through sightseeing, but through the people who live there and the tables where stories are shared.

Wild Rise journeys are a natural evolution of these worlds coming together: thoughtfully curated experiences grounded in beauty, flavour, connection, and a slower, more meaningful way of travelling.

She hosts each journey personally, alongside experienced local guides and makers, creating experiences that feel immersive, grounded, and deeply human.

ALICE RUSSO

Local Guide, Cultural Expert & Puglia Storyteller

Born and raised in Puglia, Alice Russo brings a deep, lived connection to the landscapes, traditions, and daily rhythms of Southern Italy. With a background in cultural studies and years spent guiding travellers through the region, she offers an intimate understanding of Puglia that goes far beyond the surface.

Her work is rooted in sharing the stories of place, that is its food traditions, its hidden corners, and the people who continue to shape its identity today.

For Alice, guiding is not about information, but about helping travellers feel a place, its history, its flavour, and its quiet, everyday beauty.

Alice will be sharing Puglia through the eyes of someone who calls it home, offering insight shaped by both knowledge and a lifelong connection to the region.

Tucked within the historic centre of Lecce near the Duomo, Palazzo De Noha is an intimate boutique hotel that beautifully blends centuries-old architecture with contemporary Italian design. Stone vaults, quiet courtyards, curated interiors, and a rooftop overlooking the city create a stay that feels both refined and deeply connected to place.

Step outside and you are immediately immersed in the rhythm of Lecce. Espresso bars tucked into sunlit piazzas, evening passeggiatas through baroque streets, artisan shops, wine bars, and some of the city’s most beautiful restaurants all within walking distance.

Set within the historic heart of Monopoli, Don Ferrante blends the timeless beauty of Puglian stone architecture with the understated ease of coastal luxury. Overlooking the Adriatic Sea from the edge of the old town, the intimate hotel feels in some ways like a private home, while offering the comfort and refinement of a boutique stay.

Step outside the door and you are immediately immersed in the rhythm of Monopoli, with easy access to the cafes, piazzas, and sea-lined streets that make this coastal town so loved.

To create a warm and connected group experience, every person begins with a 20 minute zoom call. It's an opportunity to answer your questions, get to know one another, and ensure this journey is the right fit for everyone. To arrange your zoom call please contact us at hello@wildriseco.com Following our conversation, you'll be invited to confirm your booking.