My Discovery of the “Italian Brittany”
When people ask me why I created Papaveroshop, a jewelry boutique inspired by Southern Italy, I always answer without hesitation:
“Because I found my Brittany… under the Salento sun!”
An Unexpected Emotion: Recognition in Strangeness
As a Breton woman, I grew up with the rhythm of the tides, coastal paths, and wind-beaten cliffs. I’ve always felt as if I lived at the edge of the world, my gaze turned toward the horizon, carried by sea spray.
So the day I set foot in Salento, this remote corner of southern Puglia, I experienced a shock. A shock of recognition — and a true love at first sight.
Porto Cesareo, Salento, Puglia
Archipelago of the Glénan Islands in Brittany
The rocky Adriatic coast of Salento reminds me of that of Brittany.”
Roca Nuova Melendugno Salento Apulia
Morbihan, Brittany, France
On the eastern Adriatic coast of Salento, facing sheer cliffs sculpted by the wind, I felt the same sensation as in Brittany: that raw confrontation between rock and sea, that wild, untouched beauty.
Torre Specchia Salento Apulia
Same ruggedness. Same low, slanting light. Same majestic solitude… With 15 degrees more.
Quiberon, Brittany
The Shock of Recognition: Finding Brittany in Italy’s Heel
Salento is that peninsula forming the heel of Italy’s boot, and I like to call it — rightly so — the “Italian Brittany.”
From my very first steps on this land of contrasts, I felt a deeply familiar emotion: the feeling of standing before immensity, between sky and sea, faced with wild and unspoiled landscapes.
And then, on the western Ionian coast, came another surprise: more than 100 kilometers of beaches with turquoise waters.
When I discovered Porto Cesareo, I smiled: Italians call this area the “Maldives of Salento.”
And immediately, I thought of the Glénan Islands, those Breton jewels we also nickname… the Maldives.
Two places so far apart, yet sharing the same transparency of the water and the sandbanks.
Fine sandy beaches and turquoise waters… A Brittany that decided to take a sunny holiday
The Maldives of Salento, Porto Cesareo.
The ‘Breton Maldives,’ as beautiful as their Italian sisters.”
Glénan Archipelago, Brittany
Santa Maria di Leuca: My Finistère Under the Sun
At the very tip of Puglia, where Italy’s boot plunges into the sea, lies a nearly mythical place: Santa Maria di Leuca.
It’s the extreme point of Salento, a peninsula bathed in light, between the Adriatic Sea to the east and the Ionian Sea to the west.
This Italian “end of the world” was already called de finibus terrae — the end of the earth — in ancient times.
Here, at Cape Leuca, I felt the strongest emotion of my journey.
Standing on the promontory facing infinity, with the lighthouse watching silently over the sea, I felt a sensation familiar to all Bretons: the feeling of being at the end of the world.
Even if the sky is brighter and the stones paler, the atmosphere is the same as on the cliffs of Pointe du Van or Cap Fréhel: wind-swept silence, shifting light, and that humbling awareness of being tiny before immensity.
A dry, rugged landscape: abrupt cliffs, a solitary lighthouse, the whisper of the wind. Same emotion, different latitude.
Where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet… an edge of the Mediterranean world.
Another “end of the earth,” this time in Italy..
Santa Maria di Leuca Lighthouse, Salento, Apulia
Steep cliffs, a solitary lighthouse, the silence of the wind. Same emotion, different latitude
Cap Fréhel, Brittany
Flavors That Speak to the Breton Soul
A Simple, Generous, Sea-Based Cuisine
As a Breton woman, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the local cuisine!
Here too, the sea nourishes culinary traditions.
Stuffed mussels from Salento reminded me of our bouchot mussels; grilled octopus echoed our seafood platters; and the famous scapece from Gallipoli (fried fish marinated in saffron vinegar) has the same generosity as many Breton fish dishes.
And then there are the orecchiette, those little ear-shaped pasta often served with turnip greens or homemade tomato sauce — a form of authentic terroir cuisine much like what we cherish in Brittany.
Just like in Brittany, people cook what the sea offers, with respect and simplicity.
Fishermen in Gallipoli, Salento, Apulia
The same visceral connection with the ocean, the same simple yet flavorful way of life
Breton fishermen
Mediterranean Art of Living Through a Breton Sensibility
Ancient Stones, Deep Roots
What moved me most in discovering Salento was the familiar sense of authenticity, of resistance to time — the same feeling I’ve always had in Brittany.
The masserie, those old farmhouses with thick stone walls now turned into charming retreats, reminded me of Breton longhouses and manors.
The trulli of Alberobello, with their conical roofs of stone, have the same rustic poetry as our thatched cottages.
The stones are not the same, but everywhere, the roots run deep.
There is here a quiet pride, a respect for the rhythm of seasons, a way of inhabiting the land with both strength and gentleness. A shared art of living: grounded, generous, timeless.
This is what touches me every day in Salento — the human warmth, the precious slowness, the bonds woven patiently.
And this is the spirit I bring into Papaveroshop, blending traditional papier-mâché with shapes inspired by this land.
A way of making Breton and Salentino heritage converse through material and craft.
Unique rural architecture of southern Apulia. A poetry of dry stone
Trulli, Alberobello, Salento, Apulia
Thatch roofs, granite walls, a living memory of our countryside
Traditional Breton cottages
My Advice, as a Breton, for Discovering Salento
If you love raw landscapes and places steeped in authenticity, I invite you to discover Salento in spring or autumn.
When the light grows soft, the olive trees scent the air, and the sea — still warm — invites contemplation.
Avoid the summer months if you seek calm and the true soul of this land: it’s off-season that the region reveals its most beautiful faces.
If, like me, you carry a Breton sensibility — that blend of gentleness and melancholy, and a love for deep roots — you’ll understand why I felt I had found my Brittany… under another sky.
Salento offered me a precious gift: the sensation of being at home in a luminous elsewhere.
This is the emotion I try to transmit every day through Papaveroshop, blending Mediterranean craftsmanship with the gaze of a Breton woman who fell in love with the South.
Glénan Archipelago
At Papaveroshop, we celebrate these unexpected encounters between regions, those crushes that connect us to the very essence of places and traditions. Salento is my Italian Brittany, and I can’t wait to share with you the wonders that this land inspires in us
