In the town of Polignano a Mare in southern Italy (province of Bari, Apulia), lies a most unique dining experience at the Grotta Palazzese.

Open only during the summer months, a restaurant is created inside a vaulted limestone cave, looking outwards toward the sea.

The restaurant is part of the Grotta Palazzese hotel located above.

The location had been inhabited since the Neolithic and was once a Greek colony.

The restaurant itself might have been in used since 1700s when local nobility gathered there to do pretty much the same we’d like to do there today.

Imagine the sound of water crashing against the shore as a gentle sea breeze hits your face. Wine in hand, Italian food en route and good company…

 

 

The Grotta Palazzese restaurant is internationally renowned, as evidenced by the many reviews on the most important magazines and blogs around the world. It has an outdoor lounge, set in a unique place in the world.

In fact, the terrace that welcomes guests has been created within a natural cave, the “Grotta Palazzese” (or “di Palazzo”, as it was once called), from which it takes its name, a place known and used for parties and banquets since 1700.

Famous, to regard, it is the watercolor of Jean Louis Desprez of 1783.