Relax Puglia Limited values its beneficial alliance with home owners, suppliers and personnel. Together, through our holiday rental management services, we inspire travelers, like us, from around the world, to the southernmost region of Italy, in Puglia, because it is magical, fascinating and unforgettable.
Relax Puglia Limited, headquarters in Cisternino, Puglia (Apulia), has been welcoming visitors to this magical and richly colourful region of Italy and providing Puglia vacation rentals since 2010; providing travellers with an authentic and memorable experience of the local life as well as offering a showcase of holiday villas to rent in Puglia.
"It was perfect and Colleen & Antonella were always reachable and helpful! Thank a lot! We enjoyed it very much!
Karen & Michael - Villa Perego (October 2021)
Experience true tranquillity at one of Relax Puglia’s ‘Home for Holidays’ in the southernmost region of Italy. Puglia has attracted engaged couples and honeymooners for many centuries, due to its stunning landscapes, pristine coastline, sleepy hilltop towns and slow pace of life. The region has the sensation that time has stood still, and that’s all you could wish for during your holiday with close friends and family.
Perhaps you are finding it difficult to make a final choice. Perhaps you don't have the time to search through all of the properties and make a decision. Whatever the reason, let us help you in any way we can...
Relax Puglia provides a range of additional services to make your stay more relaxed, comfortable and enjoyable. On your arrival, we can arrange for a food basket to be waiting for you together with a selection of local wines. Why not spoil yourselves with your own, in-house local chef, or a luxurious massage in the comfort of your villa. We have a wide range of tours and activities to choose from and we can provide transfers and taxis to help you get around.
The Dolce Vita is from coast to coast; from the Adriatic to the Ionian, between Otranto and Gallipoli. If you wish to discover the key to local artisan excellence, include a stopover in one or more of the hamlets and villages that trip along the coastline, topple on the summits of hilltops or make a splash in to the small bays and lagoons.
A selection of articles that explore the region of Puglia: its wonderful countryside and coastline, its rich history, its fascinating culture, its delicious food and wine and, of course, its warm and welcoming people...
La Notte Della Taranta (The Night of Taranta or ‘Tarantula’) is a travelling music festival hailing from Salento in Puglia, Italy.
The festival celebrates the history of traditional Salento pizzica folk music along with its fusion with other musical languages. Typical genres vary, from jazz to rock, symphonic and world music.
Pizzica is an Italian folk dance originating from Salento but now celebrated in the rest of Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria. A part of the wider tarantella folk dances, the tradition is a couples dance to the sound of a frenetic orchestra consisting mainly of and tambourine and the violin.
The dance contains three variations; the pizzica-scherma, pizzica of courtship and Pizzica Tarantata. In pizzica there is a socio-anthropological phenomenon called Tarantismo, from which the dance originates.
From this, the circular dance was originally devised as a way of curing women who were bitten by a tarantula, known as taranta.
The taranta is a mythical creature with characteristics transforming it into an animal with zoomorphic elements.
In tradition, the taranta tends to reproduce, through dance, the movements and characteristics of the taranta that plucked it.
The line-up is dictated by a different musical director every year, although sometimes curators have been commissioned for two or three years in a row. Notable musical directors have included world-renowned composer Ludovico Einaudi (in 2010 and 2011), Phil Manzanera (ex-Roxy Music guitarist, in 2015), Stewart Copeland (of Police fame, in 2003) and Mauro Pagani (from 2007 to 2009).
Performing artists hail from all over the world and their sets are interspersed with pizzica orchestras. Famous previous guests have included Tony Allen, Paul Simonon, Buena Vista Social Club and Suzanne Vega.
The festival was formed in 1998, financed by several municipalities of Salento and the Diego Carpitella Institute, which attempts to preserve traditional Italian folk music.
Since then, the festival has grown enormously. The average turnout is now around 120,000 spectators and the celebration is a significant contributor to tourism in Salento, with a modest awareness throughout Puglia.
The festival attracts southern Italians curious about local musical traditions. People from other regions and countries also visit, intruiged by this unique celebration.
The festival itself is a touring reverie. For approximately one month the festival’s musicians and dancers tour Salento. The festival then concludes in one big event in Melpignano, a small town in Grecìa Salentina.
Celebrants confess to feeling primordial energy and a connection with others and surrounding nature. Although Italians no longer feel the need to dance away the bite of a tarantula, the tradition also provides an escape from the stresses of modern society.
The key rhythm of the pizzica is the tambourine, which is at the centre of all of the musical performances. The instrument symbolises each human’s true nature, which is key to everything we do in life.
Since 2010, the festival has been financially self-sufficient, funded and curated by the La Notte della Taranta Foundation.
The most recent festival was hosted from 4th - 27th August 2022.
Relax Puglia Limited - Company Number: 10537981 - Registered Office address: Derwent Dale Cottage, York Road, Stamford Bridge, York YO41 1AH
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Relax Puglia Limited, through co-founder Francesco Lanzilotta, is a licensed Real Estate Agent in Italy, License no. 1753, released by the Chamber of Commerce in Bari, Italy. (CCIAA di Bari)
Chamber of Commerce Registered office address, 5, Piazza Eroi del Mare, Cisternino, Brindisi.
