Streets So Clean You Could Eat Cheese Off Them

During and after the rain, this woman scrubbed her street in Locorotondo.

Possibly the most poetic moment on our Apulian adventure was when we were driving down from another adorable hill village. As we left the urban area, the road changed to black asphalt. The soapy water from the town was running down the street and my friend said, “It’s like stracciatella” — truly a sign that she was enchanted by la dolce vita.

Mini fresh mozzarella balls filled with stretchy fresh cheese.
A dairy shop in Monopoli.

Stracciatella is a word used for many things including my favorite ice cream flavor (vanilla with streaks of chocolate) but, as you can tell, it also refers to a form of fresh cheese that is in stretchy strips.

An omelet with stracciatella cheese.

One morning we had breakfast at a place in Monopoli, and the omelet had stracciatella. As good as that was, the best use of stracciatella I’ve had so far is Pierluigi’s vegetarian pasta.

A rare non touristy street in Gallipoli.

Apulia is famous for the white stone used to build its towns. Add to this the constant cleaning and it really does look clean enough to be eat off of.

Lecce is at the center of Apulia.

Or like the whole town is made of fresh white cheese.