We are, of course, tourists by definition. There is the old joke about tourists wanting to go to places that are “unspoiled” so they can spoil them themselves. We started in Sorrento which is very touristy. It was fairly light when we were there because this is the very beginning of the season. Things just start to get going in April. It was easy to find places to stay, restaurants were fairly empty and anxious for our business.
Still the place seemed touristy. People already seemed tired of answering the same questions over and over, people were a bit abrupt. Wynette lived in Santa Fe and lots of the locals there didn’t like the tourists. It seems a natural reaction when you are inundated with them.
We stayed in Sorrento for six days and decided we wanted to stay someplace less touristy. We had already chosen Lecce, before we started the trip, for that reason. Puglia is a long strip on the southeast coast of Italy, on the Adriatic. The lower part of the “heel” of the boot that is Italy, kicking Sicily. Lecce and the rest of the boot comprise the Salerno area.
Lecce is definitely less touristy. It seems like just about everyone is local. We see a few tourists in the restaurants and at the B&B but not around the city. It has given Wynette a good chance to practice her Italian since only a few people speak English and often only a bit.
On the other hand we are in the Centro Storico, that is, the old part of the city. It seems that most Italian cities have an old historical district that is preserved and strictly controlled, and around it grows a much larger new city where the bulk of the people live. Lecce does not seem touristy but the Centro Storico is mostly shops, hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, etc. People live here to service the visitors, even if the visitors may be from the newer parts of the city.