Next to the Piazza del Duomo in Via Giuseppe Libertini I meet Davide Rollo at l’Angolo della puccia in Lecce. Het explains that among the various special pasta products of this area, such as: pasticciotto (shortbread pastry filled with pastry cream), fruttono (shortbread pastry with jam, almonds and chocolate topping), calzone (a folded small pizza), … the puccia leccese is the most iconic.
I look at the sandwich Davide takes in his hands. Davide: “This may seem like just another ordinary sandwich, but the puccia of Lecce has its own identity!”
Fast-food-like delicacy
Davide shows its round shape and smooth surface, covered with a little flour. Davide: “Puccia is not a dish found in restaurants, but it is a take-away or fast-food-like delicacy. Farmers used to take this bread with them to their fields. The hard crust kept the compact bread soft for several days. We make puccia from semolina and natural yeast, not using lard but olive oil. We make the dough here, which we then bake and fill. The ingredients are similar to those of pizza.”
Davide explains that according to tradition, customers choose the ingredients themselves from a counter to fill their puccia. I’m happy to go along with that! I choose the filling for my sandwich: burrata, olives, tomatoes, rocket and a slice of cooked ham. Once topped, the whole thing goes into the oven for a very short time.
I nibble quietly from creamy, crispy, golden-brown baked round sandwich here at the piazza while elegantly dressed couples walk by hand in hand.
Address: l’Angolo della puccia, Via Giuseppe Libertini, Piazza de Duomo, Lecce