With Nonnas bobbing in the sea at sunrise, espressos shot back by lycra clad middle aged men at the Tabac on the marina, lads patting their girlfriends bottom as they stroll along the beach path, teenagers revving vespas, Fiats parked nose in on every corner, gelatos dripping down kids arms and groups of men discussing who knows what with animated gesticulations on street corners, you know you are in an authentic Italian seaside town. Castro, located on the Adriatic Coast, on the Salento peninsula of the Puglia region, is such a town where the clock chimes at 49 minutes to and 04 minutes past each hour, fireworks go off at all hours of the day and night, and the only language you hear is Italian.

Castro is a quieter alternative to the popular Salento regain coastal towns of Gallipoli and Otranto and is split into two parts : Castro Marina down below and Centro Storico 100 metres higher up.

Glorious Castro Marina

Lapping the rocky shores of the Adriatic sea, Castro Marina serves as both a functional fishing port and an aquatic playground. There’s a narrow aqua-parking lot crammed with little tourist and fishing boats that opens up on to Punta Correnti, a protected free-access swimming area with concrete steps and flat rocks that you can slip or jump into the water – and get out via a ladder. The swimming area was mostly flat and still when we visited in May and was the cleanest clearest, biggest stretch of water we have ever seen in Italy. We enjoyed a swim at 7.30am each morning then had coffees and cornettos (Italian croissants) at one of two local cafes on the marina. We headed down again in the afternoon to swim and read books whilst being lulled into a daze by the lapping waters and musical Italian chatter (every word except per, con, un and il ends with a vowel which makes Italian sound very lyrical).

Above the swimming area, up around 50 stairs, is Piazza Dante which has restaurants and cafes including Martinucci which serves the delicious local  panzerotti (fried dough pockets) and rustico leccese (puff pastry filled with mozzarella and tomato), our favourite Cafe Mousse (coffee granita meets diary queen) and the most inventive selection of gelato I’ve ever seen or tasted – highlights included Fiore di Bufallo which was a lemony-marscapone base with candied orange peel and ginger which paired perfectly with espresso or pistachio classics. There’s also a legendary foccacia restaurant called Crusta that serves gluten free foccacia for Coeliac Jaz, and an ‘underground seafood restaurant’ that gets a good write up. Every restaurant in fact in Castro is seafood, which was a tad challenging for me as I am allergic to shellfish and not that partial to fish.

Cute Castro Centro Storico

Three hundred + steps above the marina, sits the ancient walled town of Castro. In summer a shuttle train (€2 one way/€3 return) runs every 30 minutes from Piazza Dante but it wasn’t operating when we were there so we grew extra muscles hiking over 300 steps down and back up again between the marina and Centro Storico each day to our home that was nestled into the old fortress walls – as high up as you can go!

There’s a few archaeological digs around town that have unearthed evidence of human habitation in Castrro dating back to the Paleolithic period over 10,000 years ago as well as evidence of a temple of the Greek Goddess Athena. Castro was first established as a Messapian city in the 8th century B.C., then was ruled by the Romans as Castrum Minervae – (Minerva is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena). The old town features the remnants of a 16th-century castle, Castello Aragonese, which our home was next to. You can walk around the old castle walls, and read about some of the archaeological digs and enjoy vistas of the Adriatic sea. There are two cafes near the Belvedere di Castro and both serve drinks and aperos . A short stroll down Via Roma from the castle is the main Piazza della Vittoria, with the 1171 Chiesa dell’Annunziata featuring a Romanesque facade and next door, the remains of a 10th-century Byzantine church. The clock tower of the church chimes at 49 minutes to and 4 minutes past the hour and also in between for short bursts.

We ate at the two cafes open in May in this Piazza one called La Pescateria serving fried seafood and the other Delizr in Contea which served Pinsas and snacks with a very friendly waiter! There’s lots of belvederes to look out both east and west to sun and moon rise, and sunset with stunning sea views.We were lucky enough to catch the full moon rising from the belvedere and the sunset each night from our balcony.ng sea views.

Castro has many magnificent Grottos

Castro is a prime spot for exploring sea caves along the Apulian coastline. The crown jewel is the Grotta Zinzulusa which you can walk to – about 30 mins from Castro Marina. Grotta Zinzulusa is famous for its stalactites and the crystal-clear “Cocito” basin of water inside that almost glows turquoise. There’s a walking track inside the caves – the only one you can walk in to.

We decided to hire a boat to see the caves and we nudged our way along the coastline to the tiny triangle cave of Grotto Palombara with its purple and green walls, then Grotto Azzurra with its iridescent sapphire water then the Zinzulusa grottoes. We stopped at Port Miggiano for a swim – but were a little hesitant as the tides had washed quite a lot of rubbish in – that we hadn’t seen before but it seemed to clear. we then jetted past Santa Cesarea to admire its ornate palace on the clifftops before jetting home, on quite a large sea that was a little bumpier than we’d have liked.

Nearby swim spot Cala dell’Acquaviva

Another day we followed the sea path to the right of town, (facing the water) for about 30 minutes (a lot of it along the narrow road with no shoulder) to reach Cala dell’Acquaviva (often referred to as Seno dell’Acquaviva) This fjord-like natural swimming cove is famous for its crystal-clear turquoise waters, dramatic rocky cliffs, and cold freshwater springs that makes the water refreshingly cool. There’s a cafe right on the water serving drinks and snacks and a large car park and toilet block making this an accessible swim area by car too.

Observations on life in the southern Salento region and town of Castro

• Greek vibes abound from the history of Castro through to the blue and white painted boats and rocky shores 
• Seafood galore with octopus, shrimp, lobster and mussels on every menu 
• Italians love their swims beginning at sunrise with the elderly nonnas and papas then the middle aged drift down and after ten the young families come and after school the teenagers.
• They also love cycling with mostly  mamils out early for rides that end at the marina coffee shop around 9am
• The hills sneeze  fireworks half a dozen times a day starting at dawn and ending close to midnight. We asked a local what they were for and she said a new baby boy or girl /a birthday /a new house /a cat or dog /wedding /a new job – anything!
• The coastline is littered with grottos some that emit sulphur and have thermal  springs and others that are striped in vibrant magenta turquoise and jade from the minerals from the springs 
• Apéros down in this southern section of Puglia are small round rusks flavoured with olive or sundried tomatoe 
• Focaccia and pizza is replaced by Pinsa
• Woman of all ages and shapes wear bikinis with pride
• Rubbish sorting is taken very seriously with fines for putting out the wrong item on the wrong day in the wrong container (we found so many ways to get it wrong)
• Attempt even a little Italian and you’ll get a barrage back of words spoken very quickly and with great enthusiasm (and faith in your ability to comprehend)
• Stray cats are king with daily feeds from the fishermen and tourists – they scale the vertical limestone walls like monkeys