Address: Loc. Valle della Saralaina (Vieste km 5); GPS: N4182622 E1614886
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Phone: 0039 328 5480857 and 0039 347 8579753
Email: Tavernola.Vieste@tiscali.it

How to get to:

You can visit the Tavernola as part of a day from Vieste or Manfredonia (or any other city on the Gargano Coast which is within 2-4 hours drive). They are only open for lunch , so getting there around 1pm is your best bet.

We decided to do a bus / hike combo and left from Manfredonia. There are two bus companies serving the area but, based on others’ recommendation, Sita is the better one. So we took the 7:30am bus which gets to Vieste at (or around) 9:10am. Once you are at the bus stop, point your GPS to either their above coordinates or to Masseria San Salvatore (which is higher up and a lovely look out point, but you will pass by the Tavernola to get there).

Of course, we decide to hike up to Masseria San Salvatore, take in the view and then come back to the Tavernola. The hike is not very long (2h 15 min if you don’t make any stops) and it’s on paved road so make sure to have good all terrains on! (I thanked myself for buying my new walking shoes from Cluj). We did make a lot of stops to take in the scenery.

Our experience:

Pretty hot, scared by some dogs which decided to show their teeth at us and with a very hot water bottle left, we arrived at the gate to see a guy coming by car to open the gate. In our broken (ok , terrible Italian), we asked for the lady who made our reservation. Someone in Italy recommended the place and called in that morning to make sure they know we are coming.

We had the restaurant to our selves! We decided to stay on the outside terrace. The second we got there we were asked if we needed to use the toilet (they knew we hiked there). Then we were asked what we wanted and decided to start with “antipasti locali” (local starters) and what we wanted to drink (cold water and beer, respectively).

Let the games begin! First came a cheese and meat platter , together with bread in olive oil (produced by them) infused with oregano and rosemary.

We were already feeling quite full when a bunch of bruschetti showed up. Then porchetta with fenel. And then chips made from zucchini, pumpkin and potatoes.

By now we were stuffed and were wondering how to nicely tell them we cannot eat any primo (first course) or secondo (second course). We finally did say we are stuffed and don’t want to have to roll ourselves down the valley back to the bus stop… and asked for dessert.

Which was a tart along with local spirits (digestives): limoncello (lemon), nucello (walnuts) and one made from bay leaves . We only tried limoncello and the one from bay leaves and decided to stop as we felt quite dizzy.

Then we were asked if we wanted a coffee and gladly said yes.

The total was 45 euros and we got a discount of 5 euros. We did leave a tip so we ended up paying 50 euros (and insist they keep the change!)

After we paid we told them that we want to do a review and asked if we can take photos of the inside.

Our meal was accompanied by the local (14) cats, including a tiny one which decided to play with us. We are both cat people so that made for quite a funny experience.

The walk back was sluggish . It was past 3 pm by now so also the hottest possible outside. But we wanted to make the bus back to Manfredonia.

Do we recommend this place? We certainly do, although for us there was way too much food. I’d say those starters were enough for another couple, easily! We recommend it mostly to try the local, real food, organic and home made. When you see the lemon and orange trees as well as the olives on the property , you understand very fast why the food is so good. Ideally, you want to speak some Italian as their English proficiency is pretty limited.

The good
— 100% organic and local food (they grow their own lemons, oranges, olives…)
— variety of options (so vegetarians have choices)
— lovely setting (quiet, romantic)

The bad
— way too much food for anyone who is at least aware of how much they should eat
— hard to get to if you don’t rent a car
— forget about cell signal (and wi-fi wasn’t working on the outside terrace either)
— very limited English proficiency

Our rating: