Villas in Polignano a Mare

The old town sits directly on the cliff, with terraces and balconies hanging over the water and houses built right to the edge. Lama Monachile, the pebble cove between two rock walls under an old bridge, is the image most people arrive with. Early morning and late evening are when it belongs to the town again.

Below the cliffs the rock is cut through with caves, some of them reachable only from the water. Boat trips along the coast are the usual way to see them, and the swimming is off rock and pebble rather than sand. Grotta Palazzese, the restaurant set inside one of the sea caves, is the town’s famous set piece; the free terraces above Lama Monachile at last light are nearly as memorable.

The town itself is small and busy in season, and it rewards slow walking. A local artist known as Guido il Flâneur has painted verses on steps, doorways, and corners throughout the lanes, thickest on the stairway that has come to be called the Vicolo della Poesia, and nearly every alley ends in a balcony over open water. On Piazza Garibaldi the bar that first made the caffè speciale, an espresso with cream, amaretto, and lemon zest, still serves it, and Domenico Modugno, born here, has his statue on the seafront.

Three kilometres north along a flat coast road, the Abbey of San Vito stands over its own small fishing harbour, a Benedictine foundation with a watchtower that makes an easy walk or cycle from town. Most summers Polignano also hosts a stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, with divers leaving a platform twenty-seven metres above the sea in front of the old town; the town fills completely that weekend, which is worth planning around in either direction.

Polignano works well as a base for the northern Adriatic coast. Monopoli is ten minutes south, Bari half an hour north, and the Valle d’Itria about forty minutes inland. Homes around Polignano tend to be either in the countryside behind the town or along the coast road, and the good ones trade the walk into town for a view and some quiet.