The Itria Valley preserves intact its rural tradition, especially the one related to wine. Here Locorotondo PDO and Martina Franca PDO are produced from vineyards cultivated between Bari, Brindisi and Taranto. A unique scenery with trulli, traditional dry stone houses with conical roof, and dry-stone walls, described by many famous names, such as the Italian writer and poet Gabriele D’Annunzio who wrote during his trip to Apulia: “I wake up and see a country of dreams, as if I were still asleep”.

Locorotondo, included among the Borghi Più Belli d’Italia, the network of the most beautiful villages in Italy, stays true to its name, with its particular urban structure. The medieval village is intact with the Church of San Giorgio Martire that stands out on the white crown of houses “a cummersa”, with a pitched stone roof, and via Nardelli, called “lungomare” because, like a seafront promenade, it overlooks the Itria Valley and the terraced vineyards.

Fasano looks like an old lady lying between the woods of the Selva and the sea of Savelletri, between rocks and sandy coves, and Torre Canne with its dunes and wetlands included in the Regional Natural Park Dune Costiere. Interesting is the Zoosafari, the second largest wildlife park in Europe, with over 200 species of animals from the five continents.

The atmosphere in Cisternino is more rural, almost an oriental village with whitewashed houses, hidden courtyards and a labyrinth of narrow streets animated by artisan shops, shops selling typical products, trattorias and butchers’ shops with the stove ready for tasting meat.
Splendid Martina Franca, a triumph of the Baroque, with its wrought iron loggias on the buildings that crowd the historic centre where the Ducal Palace stands out with its frescoed reception rooms. In the inner courtyard, every year in summer, the Festival of the Itria Valley is held, aimed at lovers of opera and symphonic music. In the surrounding area there is the green Bosco delle Pianelle, the Pianelle Wood and, before leaving, a taste of Capocollo di Martina Franca, a pork cold cut from dry cured meat, with a unique flavour thanks to its smoking with Macedonian oak bark.

From Martina to Ceglie Messapica with a stop in the beautiful old town dominated by the massive Norman tower that smells of the history of Apulia, that of the ancient Messapian people, and tastes of delicious surprises in the capital of Apulian gastronomy: pork rolls, called bombette, fresh pasta, the sagne and the Biscotto di Ceglie, a Slow Food presidium biscuit.