Gallipoli

Italy

Arriving by car and following signs to centro/porto, you'll have to zig-zag to avoid ending up in the port's parking lot. Just after you pass the jarringly modern glass skyscraper, you'll see the guardia costiera building on the right. Immediately past that, make a left U-turn over the train tracks, then a right U-turn to get on the bridge onto the Old City's island.

The sights of Gallipoli

Watching Leonardo drown.

Around the corner, poke your head into the 1814 Provenzano pharmacy.

Hotels and restaurants in Gallipoli

Al Pescatore - Many rooms are arranged around a stone-trimmed entry courtyard evocative of the palazzo's 17th century origins. Accommodations, too, are no slouches in the antique atmosphere department, with plain tile floors and whitewashed cathedral-vault ceilings. The light-wood modular furnishings don't detract from the overall spare, quasi-monastic effect. Some rooms, like the cavernous quad no. 110, look over the port and Ionian sea beyond. The owner, however, is first and foremost a cook, and the seafood restaurant with sea-view terrace is among the best in a town where competition is stiff. You can easily drop over €30 on a full fishy meal here, but it'll be worth it. The restaurant is closed Monday; the higher price for rooms quoted above applies only to August. Riviera Colombo 39, 73014 Gallipoli (Lecce). tel. and fax 0833/263-656, www.alpescatoregallipoli.com

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