About Gia Sotto l'Arco
Already Sotto l'Arco — meaning 'Under the Arch' — occupies a seventeenth-century castle in Carovigno, one of the white hilltop towns that stand sentinel over the Valle d'Itria between Brindisi and Taranto. Chef Teresa Buongiorno has held a Michelin star here for years, building a reputation as one of Italy's most serious proponents of vegetable-centred creative cooking at a time when the rest of the country's fine-dining world was still primarily focused on protein.
Buongiorno's menus are extraordinary in their depth and variety. Wild herbs gathered from the Murgia plateau, the extraordinary variety of Puglian legumes, sea vegetables from the Adriatic coast, heritage varieties of wheat and grain that have survived in Puglia when they disappeared everywhere else — all prepared with a technical precision that reflects decades of serious kitchen discipline. The meat and fish preparations on the menu are excellent, but the vegetable dishes are revelatory.
The castle setting provides one of the most atmospheric dining rooms in southern Italy: vaulted stone ceilings, walls of pale Puglian limestone, natural light through narrow windows that frame views of the surrounding olive groves and vineyards. The room seats perhaps 40 covers, giving it an intimacy that larger estate restaurants cannot replicate.
The wine list is weighted toward Puglia's own producers — the Primitivo and Negroamaro vines of the Salento, the Greco di Tufo and Fiano from further up the Appennine peninsula — alongside a selection of Italian and French bottles chosen to support the kitchen's plant-forward cooking philosophy.
Best Occasion Fit
For proposals, the castle setting and intimate room at Already Sotto l'Arco create a context that elevates the moment beyond the ordinary — stone arches, candlelight, and Buongiorno's exquisite vegetable-focused tasting menu make this among the most romantic fine-dining settings in southern Italy. For first dates in the Valle d'Itria, the combination of architectural beauty and genuinely distinctive cooking makes it the natural choice.