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Nothing New Under the Sun

June 2, 2006 at 9:45 AM | 0 Comments

Sure, Jeroen Bergmans of Wallpaper* may have recently anointed Puglia, in the south of Italy, as the next big thing. But that's not enough for Condé Nast Traveler. Nope, they prefer to explain the situation in many, many words, none of which are particularly service-y. Avoiding yet another catalogue of restaurants and bars that are nebulously hip is a perfectly acceptable way to pen an article, right?

Sadly, the hook was the construction of scores of new hotels in the region, but they don't seem to get much ink, save a section jammed into the end. Nor was there much mention of Pugilese cities save Bari, which is known for being unpleasant compared to the rest of the area--it's where you take the ferry to get to Albania, after all.

We learned some odd facts nonetheless. If Southern Italy were separated from the North, it would be one of the poorest countries in Europe was a surprising tidbit, as was the existence of the barattiere, a "cucumber-melon hybrid". Good things come from hybridizing fruits and vegetables--just look at broccoli, or Suri Cruise--but we never thought we'd hear about that kind of combo. Sounds delish.

Still, a little more service would be appreciated, even though, as our friend put it, "CN Traveler thinks anointing Puglia as the next big thing is service enough".

[Image via hobo pd/Flickr]

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·   Something New Under the Sun [CN Traveler]
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