Polignano: Monica’s Tips & Tricks

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things

My favourite beaches

Lama Monachile is undoubtedly the most suggestive beach in Polignano, set between two ridges of rock overlooking the sea. But the coast of Polignano offers glimpses of unspeakable beauty in the different inlets that open to the sea: from Cala Paura a few meters away from the statue of Domenico Modugno, famous all over the world for his song Volare, to Port’Alga, tiny cove dotted with local boats named “gozzi”, to Cala Incina and San Vito where two fortified towers echo the time of the Spanish domination. Each cove has its unique and distinctive charm. The common denominator is the crystalline colour of seawater.

Hermit’s island

The place where I retreat every time I need to find myself. A small island a few meters from the South coast, which timidly looks at the town. A cross echoes a past in which this rock housed a place of worship, the church of Sant’Antonio Abate, built by local fishermen, that later became a hospital during a cholera epidemic. The name instead comes from a legend that establishes the place as the home of a hermit, perhaps a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land. Stories handed down from generation to generation, stemming from the imagination of local fishermen or maybe not. It does not matter. Because the only thing out of question is the magic of this place, where sunrises and sunsets paint the sky with colours that remain etched in the eyes and in the heart.

San Vito

A village located a few kilometres North of Polignano a mare. A maritime harbour where you can step in an old fisherman, surrounded by the imposing abbey built around the church named after the local Patron Saint, and a fortified tower. According to the legend, the relics of the saint and his preceptors Modesto and Crescenza were brought to these waters by the hand of Princess Fiorenza, who was miraculously saved by San Vito. Every year, this legend lives in the traditional procession of the patronal feast, during which the statue and the relic of the saint on a boat, reach the old town dressed up from June 14th to 16th.