Seven Summits Sailing

“Wintering in Puglia in Search of my Roots”

Having set off in September 2024 on a family trip around the world, the crew of the Seven Summits Sailing project left Sicily for Puglia to allow Laura to discover her family’s region of origin. It was also an opportunity to prepare for their forthcoming adventures.

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Published 26/09/2025

By Julie Echelle

Issue: 204

Published: nov. / dec. 2025

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Who: : Laura, Enrique, Aizea (4 years old) & Bandit (4 legs)
Where: Puglia, Italy
Multihull: Bali 4.2
Instagram : @seven_summits_sailing

“To know where you’re going, you have to know where you come from”: I often felt that I was missing a part of my history because I had never discovered my family’s region of origin, Puglia. The advantage of traveling by multihull is that we take our home with us wherever we want. But now, we wanted to spend the winter in the port of Gallipoli tracing my origins!

My paternal grandfather was from Corato, a town near Bari. Through this trip, I want to rebuild my history in a way by discovering this region, its landscapes, its smells, its language, its culture, and its traditions.
So we traveled along roads and paths from north to south and east to west. We soaked up the scents, the red earth, the olive trees, the fig trees, the lemon trees. We began to understand part of the history of Puglia as we crisscross Alberobello and Matera, once hard hit by poverty and whose beauty we admire today. We visited castles and tried to imagine the battles against the Turks in Otranto and Bovino, where only a handful of inhabitants remain. I swam in the turquoise but still icy waters of Gallipoli beach. I couldn’t resist, the temptation was too strong!
We had the immense pleasure of being in Gallipoli during Puglia’s most iconic tradition, the Easter celebrations.

I also discovered the agricultural wealth of the region: for centuries, olive oil has enriched Puglia. It was cultivated by families who lived in stone masseria. We were lucky enough to enjoy typical regional dishes at the Le Stanzie masseria.
Here, some of the streets and the signs bear my name, the girls have the same black hair as me... How could I imagine coming from anywhere else?

Our checklist for the rest of the adventure:
- Change or clean the watermaker filters and the charcoal filter at the sink
- Clean the bilges to mop up the accumulated salt water and air all the hatches to dry out the moisture
- Wash the catamaran thoroughly to remove the encrusted Saharan sand
- Polish all the stainless steel on the boat, which is gradually rusting
- Clean the dinghy and test the outboard
- Update the navigation software
- Check the engines
- Repair the gel coat where it is damaged
- Stock up on groceries
- Summon up the courage for a new start: it’s a bit like it’s the first time all over again!