Places not to be missed
Itria Valley is an enchanting place made up of villages with white houses, centuries-old olive trees and trulli.
It is a special place because you can come here all year round, it is not just a summer vacation destination, there is always something new to discover.
The following is the Itinerary we have prepared for you, to visit the main villages of the Itria Valley.
Toast
It is the port city of northern Salento. The port is natural and is among the most important in the Mediterranean, so much so that the Romans made it the starting point for excursions and trade with the East and the Greeks. The city's name probably derives from the Messapian "Brention," which translated is equivalent to "deer's head," after the shape of the natural inlet on which it stands, squeezed between the Seno di Levante and Seno di Ponente. Today Brindisi is also an important tourist port connecting with Greece and the countries of the former Yugoslavia, but it is endowed with numerous places of interest that make it extremely pleasant to visit as well..
Source: Pro loco Brindisi
Ostuni
The municipality of Ostuni (about 33,000 inhabitants) stands on the last offshoots of the southern Murgia. Its old town, called La Terra, is unmistakable the blinding monochrome coloring of its built-up area, which is strictly white. The lime-painted houses and the peculiar topography have earned it fairy-tale epithets, such as White City, Queen of Olives, Crib City, II ancient nucleus--probable support of the Messapian acropolis--is in fact clambering on the steep sides of a hill and has an ellipsoidal plan, clearly expressed by the city walls reinforced by the Aragonese towers..
Source: Municipality of Ostuni
Fasano
Fasano, like many towns in southern Italy, is characterized by its historic center where narrow streets, whitewashed walls, arches and small squares follow one another. Of the ancient walls, a keep is still visible in Via San Francesco, where once was one of the entrances to the city. In the heart of the oldest part are churches, the most impressive of which is the 17th-century Matrix Church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The imposing late Renaissance facade, recently restored, has a beautiful rose window carved in stone. The three-aisled interior, unfortunately tampered with in the 1970s, still has Baroque altars, canvases of the Venetian and Neapolitan schools, and wooden sculptures. Outside the walls, in Corso V.Emanuele, the beautiful Baroque church of the Purgatory was built in 1669, inside which the high altar in polychrome marble and semi-precious stones by Neapolitan masters, 18th-century canvases and a wooden crucifix from the late 16th century are worth admiring.
Source: Municipality of Fasano
Locorotondo
Where the Murgia slopes down, one finds the Valle d'Itria, a buffer of greenery halfway between the Adriatic and Ionian seas, and on this plain, surrounded by small rises, overlooks Locorotondo. It rises neat and silent on the top of a hill that encircles the last Murgia spurs of the Barese region.
Harmoniously rounded as the place name itself suggests, Locorotondo owes its name to the morphology assumed by the first town, which arose around the year 1000.
The first hovels of a village composed of farmers were built on a well-equipped plateau, leaning against each other, with a circular plan, as if to encircle as a crown that land wrested from oak and fragni forests to make it cultivable and fertile.
Source: Municipality of Locorotondo
Alberobello
Alberobello is world famous for its trulli. The trulli have been the subject of numerous awards. As early as 1910 the government issued a decree to elect Rione Monte as a National Monument. In 1930 the Rione Aia Piccola was also elevated to National Monument. Thanks to such government provisions, the monuments were protected and preserved. During the second term of the Panarese Administration, after a long preparatory process of acts and inspections by emiriti architects commissioned by Unesco to evaluate and approve Alberobello's candidacy for inclusion in the World Heritage List, the favorable response came. In fact, the Intergovernmental Conference, meeting in Merida, Mexico, on December 5, 1996, as part of the 20th Session of the UNESCO World Committee..
Source: Municipality of Alberobello
Martina Franca
An elegant town situated 431 m. above sea level, nestled on one of the last hills of the southeastern Murgia, straddling the Ionian and Adriatic seas. The town overlooks the enchanting Valle d'Itria, a splendid green expanse where the landscape is dotted with Trulli, lamie, and "masserie," typical buildings and precious evidence of a productive and architecturally splendid environment. Martina Franca's origins date back to the 10th century when a group of Taranto refugees took refuge on the Hill of San Martino to escape Saracen devastation.
Source: Municipality of Martina Franca
Cisternino
Cisternino is a small town located in Valle d'Itria, the tourists who visit this village stop to look at the Borgo Antico, with its churches and its little stores, however, it is often underestimated the countryside, which is very rich for the very famous olive trees that characterize it, they are the protagonists in what looks like an expanse of verdeargento, due to the two "fronts" of the leaves of these trees. You can not fail to take a walk through the winding stone streets with the two ends composed of dry stone walls, in particular there is the possibility of walking with donkeys and horses.
Source: Municipality of Cisternino
Ceglie Messapica
According to legend, the foundation of Ceglie was due to the mythical people of the Pelasgians, who arrived in Apulia from the East and to whom the megalithic constructions known as specchie were attributed. Following the arrival of Greek settlers in the area, around 700 B.C., the town took on the name Kailìa. The urban nucleus is considered to have extended to the foot of a hill (in the area where the Southeastern Railway station currently stands), defended by fortifications whose scanty remains are known by the modern name of "Paretone."
Source: Municipality of Ceglie Messapica
Mesagne
Located along the Via Appia Antica, 10 km west of the provincial capital in northern Salento with its 22 hamlets, it is among the most populous and extensive municipalities in Salento. It is among the towns in the province of Brindisi in which the greatest traces of Apulian baroque can be found along with Ostuni, with numerous examples on private and religious buildings. The historic center is very characteristic, with narrow streets and numerous white lime houses. The perimeter of the historic center is curiously shaped like a heart..
Source: Wikipedia