Puglia
is the flattest region of Italy; some of the terrain
is sparse and rocky, with little vegetation growing.
Around the loose triangle of Alberobello, Locorotondo,
Ostuni and Martina Franca the endless olive groves
are wonderful to gaze at. The towns themselves display
little of the poverty you might expect to find out.
Ostuni is a white town of great beauty, set on a
hilltop overlooking and commanding the plain below.
It was an important town of the area even from pre-Roman
Messapian times
Modern Ostuni has many reminders of the town's important
past. A top the cluster of whitewashed houses which
is visible for many miles, the 15th century cathedral
dominates the view.
One of the most touristic attractive areas of Puglia
and one of the most beautiful landscapes all over
the region is the wonderful the Itria Valley or Valle
d'Itria, which is covered with "Trulli" and
white "Masserie", the supreme expression
of peasant architecture.
A great number of trulli may be found in the town
of Alberobello, which is nearly a city. The town's
historical center is on a hilltop, amid the scent
of almond and olive trees, and has been declared
an International Human Resource by UNESCO. It is
made up of a hundred trulli.
Leccealso
known as the capital of the Baroque style, "the
Florence of Puglia" rich in incredibly beautiful
monuments. A walk in the streets of the city centre
- near Porta Rudiae - will be enough to admire many
majestic sites, such as the Basilica di Santa Croce
(Basilica of Saint Croce), Piazza del Duomo (Dome
square), Chiese di SS. Nicolò e Cataldo (Churches
of Saints Niccolò and Cataldo, commissioned
by Tancredi), Chiesa di S. Matteo and Del Rosario
(Churches of S. Matthew and of the Holy Rosary),
l'Anfiteatro Flavio (The Flavio Amphitheatre). In
these Baroque-style Churches there are many bas-reliefs,
made of a particulary soft local stone known as "tufo".
In the heel of the boost shaped Italy, surrounded
by the sea on three sides, with its end Santa Maria
di Leuca Cape, looking toward the Africa, there is
a land with very old historical origins, the Salento Travelling through the Salento means travelling through
the history and the art.
Otranto too is worth visiting. The oldest part, almost
totally surrounded by old-age walls all along its
perimeter, has a fine door, realized in the 15th
century, called Alfonsina door. Inside, Otranto saved
its midlevel structure, with its glorious castle,
built in the 15th century.
At the other side of the peninsula, plunged in
the Ionio Sea, there is another pearl, Gallipoli.
If you see it in flight, it looks like an island
totally surrounded by the blue sea, connected with
the dry land through a bridge. You can appreciate
the port, the docks and the fine foundation touched
by the water.
In the heart
of Salento there is an area called “Grecìa
Salentina” Greek Salento which consists of
the following villages: Calimera, Martano, Castrignano
de’ Greci, Sternatia, Corigliano, Martignano,
Melpignano, Soleto, Zollino.
It is proudly to say that the Salento is a mine
of emotions, that can be looked and found through
many kinds of guided tours. For instance, going
to visit an old fortified farm it is possible to
find out that it has been recently restrucured
and tranformed in a top quality hotel, where it
is possible to taste traditional cookery dishes,
finely prepared, accurately respecting the old
recipes of the Mediterranean diet.
