The Ostuni Summit

The spring holidays, Marcella’s honeymoon and Pietro’s annual trip to Italy conspired to make an ICBIE summit possible for the “Three Presidents,”  Roy (honorary president), Marcella (the new ICBIE leader) and Pietro (our beloved founder).  Last Thursday morning, Pietro and Roy met in Rome with our ever resourceful Roberto,  who drove us down to Ostuni (a beautiful little hill town on the Adriatic coast just north of Brindisi) where Marcella and Ivanildo were staying with Marcella’s mother.  For the whole long weekend, we made excursions around southern Puglia—the heel of the boot—discussing all the many challenges that confront our Institute in Salvador.  On Good Friday we drove down to Manduria (home of the famous Primitivo wine) and stopped in Martina Franco (famous for its big summer opera festival) before settling into a historic fish dinner in Speziale, a little town outside of Fasano.

On Saturday we met up with Roberto in Lecce for a marathon tour of the Salento, heading down the Adriatic coast to Otranto and Santa Maria di Leuca on the southernmost tip of the Puglia peninsula, then proceeding up the Ionian coast to Gallipoli, just in time for a gorgeous sunset.  From there we returned to Lecce to an evening tour of all the stupendous Baroque monuments of Lecce and another convivial dinner.

Easter Sunday was spent in the company of Marcella’s family in Ostuni, capping off a perfect working holiday that reinforced our harmonious commitment to the glorious ICBIE mission.