Monopoli — the Porto Vecchio

The old harbour is a shallow curve of water filled with gozzi — small wooden fishing boats painted blue and white — with the castle at one end and the cathedral bell tower over the roofs behind. It is the colour that makes it: blue hulls against pale stone, repeated forty times.

Shoot from the quay early, when the fishermen are working and the water is flat enough to hold reflections. Later, the lanes behind the harbour give shaded white walls, and Piazza Vittorio Emanuele gives an open square if you want scale. The cathedral square is a two-minute walk and is dressed stone rather than whitewash — a different look inside one session.

Monopoli is a real town rather than a viewpoint, which is the reason to come: nobody is queueing for the frame, and a session can move at walking pace.