My relatives in Massafra would not want to let me go. The journey is too long, too dangerous. But I have to go; the goal, always leave.
In recent days I have heard from the guys I met on the train in Pescara.
We will do a relay race along the whole of Salento: they will accompany me to the ferry in Brindisi.
How much magic there is in traveling by bicycle!
The first stop is Alberobello, the world home of the Trulli; those dome-shaped buildings (from the ancient Greek τροῦλλος trûllos) made of dry stone, traditional of central-southern Puglia.
Giorgia is waiting for me with her beautiful bicycle: a contagious smile and a lot of good humor.
She takes me around her city and together we cycle through the Bari countryside towards Martina Franca.
Cycling with her is pure magic, you fly like the extraterrestrial E.T. towards the moon. Soon, too soon we arrive in Martina Franca where we meet Antonio.
These guys are just wonderful; with Antonio and Giorgia we pedal through the alleys of the city. We have lunch with sandwiches stuffed with typical Apulian products, far from the disordered clamor of the hordes of tourism that goes fast.
They accompany me for another part of the road towards San Vito dei Normanni; mythical Normans who arrived in the aftermath of the year 1000 from the north of France and supplanted the previous local powers present in the south of the boot (Byzantines, Lombards, Arabs).
For the last part of the journey Vincenza is waiting for me. Another burst of energy appears in front of us; How much desire there is in her to break the world on two wheels!
I leave my beautiful Italy in the best possible way: I have enough energy to go around the world over and over again.