Work trip to Milan and Brindisi, Italy - 25th to 27th January 2007

This was what I believe is known in the holiday industry as a “two centre holiday”. Except that it was a two centre work trip. Firstly a day in Milan, followed by a day down in the south of Italy, near Brindisi, which is right on the “heel” of the country.

The Milan part of the trip was pretty standard – it was cold. Very much colder than the UK, in fact there was a steady stream of snow falling as I got off the plane. It was a really clear, crisp cold that cut right through you – an ideal time to stay indoors really.

The following morning, I got up obscenely early to catch a flight down to Brindisi. The south of Italy is pretty undeveloped, there isn’t a lot there, and in fact in many ways it has little in common with urbanised, Western Europe. It feels like the end of the civilised world, or beyond. Flying into Brindisi airport, the first thing I noticed was how flat the whole area was – there were no hills, or any other kind of geographical feature to speak of.

Brindisi airport has a mammoth 10 flights a day arriving (only one of them international, thanks to Ryanair), and the same number leaving, so our arrival woke people up for the first time that day. We walked off the plane into what is effectively a shed, and waited for the single, creaking baggage belt to stir into life, which it eventually did. Driving out to the place I was headed for, there were olive trees and vineyards all around, lots of ruined outbuildings, and very little traffic on the roads.

I was staying at an old castle which has been converted to a hotel. The grounds are full of fields growing olives, grapes and oranges, and the surroundings were absolutely beautiful. There was a large orange juicing machine in the hotel, and you could go outside, kick an orange tree, pick up some of what fell, and shove it into the machine – free orange juice, from oranges that had been on the tree no more than a minute earlier. Delicious.

Later in the day, we took a visit to a town called Ostuni. This is an ancient town on just about the only hill around, which is built around a castle. Every building in the town is a brilliant white colour (the whitest town in the world, apparently), and the streets around the fortress are incredibly narrow. I took the opportunity to get some fantastic Italian ham for a stupidly cheap price, before heading off for a multi-course Italian meal. I can’t help thinking that this area would be great to visit in summer, because it is relatively underdeveloped, traditional, and uncrowded. I’d love to go back.