We are heading to Puglia in June and we are wondering what the normal times are for eating in restaurants. Is it similar to Spanish hours with it being unusual to start dinner until after 8pm? What times do most restaurants open and when do they close the kitchens? We are staying in a villa out in the countryside and just want an idea of times for our planning.

I would have agreed with you but I just looked at Lecce on google maps, put in restaurants nearby, and most of them seem to open at 7, or 7.30 in the evening. You could do that with the restaurants near your villa to give you an idea of their opening hours but the best thing to do is to make a reservation and then they will tell you if you are trying to eat too early.

I believe it depends on the size of the town / city, so places like Lecce, Trani, or Bari are likely to have a wider range of evening opening hours than smaller towns. Most people in the area will take their main meal during the middle of the day, and you should expect a VERY long pausa during which almost nothing will be open except restaurants. annhig's advice to contact the restaurants in which you are interested is good -- or you can go to a bookstore or library to consult any of the guidebooks that cover Puglia.

Local people have lunch between 13.30 and 15.00 and dinner between 20.30 and 22.00.
But restaurants used to tourists from Northern Italy or from abroad serve meals at least 1 hr earlier.

Thanks for the replies. Neckervd, your response explains some of the reason why we were getting mixed messages from our research.
Annhig, we will end up doing as you suggest for the restaurants we finally book in advance but I was thinking more of our finding places to eat on days out having had trips in Spain where we had completely mistimed our sightseeing/lunch times .
Kja, can you suggest a good specialist guide book to the area as we are finding it difficult to identify anything with detail which is also up to date.

In June, I don't think you will have much trouble. There were definitely times in May where we came close to missing lunch in small places. I would plan for lunch more than for dinner.
Dinner, no problem--we usually eat around 9, but you can certainly eat earlier.
Lonely Planet is good. Blue Guide for unchanging info.

Paisa is significant. 8pm would be safe supper time but locals prefer to eat a large lunch.

Blue guide

Yes, that can be a challenge for Puglia, which is one reason I encouraged you to go to a bookstore or library to see what's currently available. But in lieu of that, I'll go with what others have recommended, perhaps particularly the Lonely Planet as I'm not a great fan of Blue Guides (just a personal preference).

I agree the blue guides are normally not the best, trouble is that for Puglia it is the best available. The Rough Guide is not bad for the whole of Italy but I've not read it for Puglia and it might be worth a look

<<I was thinking more of our finding places to eat on days out having had trips in Spain where we had completely mistimed our sightseeing/lunch times . >>

yes, Spain can be challenging if you're expecting to eat at the sorts of times you'd eat at at home [though as a brit I felt somewhat challenged by some US mealtimes, especially when I saw an early bird dinner offered from 3-6pm!] but at least you have the option of tapas in the evening if you go for a menu del dia lunch. Italy isn't quite as difficult as that but the idea of having a decent lunch is not a bad one, if you find somewhere you like.

oops - I meant to say that a quick check confirmed that The Fork is active in southern Italy which gives you the opportunity to look at which restaurants are open in your area, which ones you like the look of, and which may even have a discount if you book a table. I've used it more in Spain where I've booked a table only 15 minutes before arriving with no difficulty.

Here is their page for Lecce:

https://www.thefork.com/restaurant+lecce

Thanks for the info and advice. We have no problem with eating at different times provided we know in advance. I have never used The Fork so will look into it. My daughter, as the chief foodie in our party, is going to be responsible for most of the restaurant research. The trouble with large meals at lunch time is not wanting to move afterwards

I easily acclimate to the late dinner, but I don't like to do a long, large lunch either (and pizza is more of a dinner thing, further complicating matters!). I found it easier to grab a small lunch in places like Lecce, but I am a vegetarian so I have extra issues--the ham sandwich on offer in every cafe won't cut it.
Two places I really liked in Lecce for a quick lunch or for packing to go:
Come Vuoi Pane & Condimenti
Piadina Salentina

Cisternino also had several good lunch places--where you could get a good meal but not need to block out three hours.

I know that finding a good guidebook for Puglia can be difficult (although by using multiple books, I found more than enough information to plan my trip back in 2007), I will take this opportunity to jump on one of my soapboxes: IMO, one of the most important benefits of a guidebook is that it provides answers to questions you don't even know you need to ask -- like when restaurants are open and when locals dine. Well worth the comparatively nugatory cost, IMO.

Looking at the Blue guide the latest edition is 2007 which is why I have not bought it. I have the Cadogan guide for 2005 and that covers the places but I will check opening times near our dates of travel. I will down load the relevant chapter of the Lonely Planet guide (2018). I was hoping there would be a really recent update or better still an area-specific guide that I had not discovered.

<<Looking at the Blue guide the latest edition is 2007 which is why I have not bought it. I have the Cadogan guide for 2005 and that covers the places but I will check opening times near our dates of travel.>>

About 3 years ago I went to Provence on a river cruise and despite its age I took my trusty old copy of the Michelin Green guide with me, as I thought it gave the best overview of the places we'd be visiting. Despite its antiquity [I bought on our first trip to Provence in about 1982] it turned out that the opening times of the vast majority of the monuments were exactly the same as those listed in the guide. I'm not saying don't check, but opening times may change very rarely.

2007 is ancient! You were lucky, annhig, with your Provence book. I used an outdated edition Green Guide for Rome a few years ago and opening times/dates and visit procedures/protocols for a few places had changed. It wasn't a big deal, as I had been to Rome many times and wasn't in a hurry to see anything. But on a quicker trip to a new-to-me region, outdated info would be a greater inconvenience.

spiral, I have decided to visit this area this summer. Looking forward to reading about your trip.

I never assume a guide book will give up-to-date information, but a decent guidebook does give a lot of information -- including things I might not think to ask -- and the better ones give me a lot of information about the places I might want to see and experience. Once I identify them (and do a few quick internet searches to find out whether there are newer options, too), I use the internet to identify current hours and other scheduling information, preferably from the website of the site itself.

<<You were lucky, annhig, with your Provence book. I used an outdated edition Green Guide for Rome a few years ago and opening times/dates and visit procedures/protocols for a few places had changed. It wasn't a big deal, as I had been to Rome many times and wasn't in a hurry to see anything. But on a quicker trip to a new-to-me region, outdated info would be a greater inconvenience.>>

As I was mainly touring with a group Leely, I assumed that the tour leaders would know the opening times of the places they were taking us to so all I needed was a guide to remind me what I might most want to see outside those times, and because I wasn't sure what free time we would have where I didn't want to purchase a new guide on the off chance of using it on or twice on the trip. I was prepared for the information to be out of date so I was astonished when it proved to be so accurate.

If you happen to be in Putignano, I dare recommend Rist. Angelo Sabatelli (1*).
It's not in the nicest neighbourhood, but the restaurant itself is very nice, the food is delicious and the service impeccable.
We had lunch there for our 40th anniversary.