Italy
Polignano a Mare
Houses perched on a cliff edge above a cove where divers leap from old-town rocks.
Houses end where the cliff begins, balconies cantilevered over a cove so far below that swimmers look like flecks of light. The limestone is pockmarked with sea caves. Waves detonate against the rock and send spray up past the terraces.
Polignano a Mare stands directly on the lip of a limestone cliff above the Adriatic, its old town riddled underneath with sea caves and natural arches. Lama Monachile, the pebble cove pinched between cliffs and crossed by a Roman-era bridge, has turned into a shoreline Italy photographs relentlessly. The town raised Domenico Modugno, and his open-armed statue faces the sea he sang about in Volare. Diners have eaten inside the Grotta Palazzese sea cave since the eighteenth century, and championship cliff divers have made the old town's rocks their Italian stage, launching from the height of an eight-storey building.
Couple
Dinner above the waves, then the cliff-edge promenade at dusk; the drama here needs no manufacturing.
Friends
Cove swimming, cliff-jump watching and terrace aperitivi balance adrenaline against the Adriatic's easy evenings.
- Diners have eaten inside the Grotta Palazzese sea cave since the eighteenth century.
- Championship cliff divers launch from the old town's rocks, twenty-odd metres above the swimmers' cove.
- Lama Monachile's pebble cove sits pinched between cliffs, crossed by a Roman-era bridge.
- Modugno was born here, and his statue spreads its arms at the sea he sang about.
Caffè speciale layers espresso with lemon zest, cream and amaretto, a bar ritual born here.
Adriatic crudo rules the cliff-top kitchens; the morning's urchins and prawns arrive barely off the boat.
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