The ‘White City’ of Ostuni and Trulli Houses of Alberobello

Leaving Lecce, it was straight up the free motorway to Ostuni (still in the Puglia region), to stop the night at Sosta Holiday Park, Villanova (N40.78791 E17.58881) on the coast and to visit Ostuni, which is known as the ‘white city’.  It was a 7km ride on the scooter up a steep winding hill to Ostuni, which looks like a splash of white on the hillside.

The walled town is a mass of whitewashed houses within a maze of cobbled alleyways and steep steps, and reminded us of some towns we had visited in Morocco.  The town was lovely and clean, which is always a welcome surprise in Italy and it was nice to just meander around the streets, where there were no tourists!

The Cathedral's beautiful rose window 

Lovely steps leading to more white houses and 'prickly pear' cactus plants, which we have discovered you can eat.  Just need to get some strong rubber gloves to pick them!

L

Prickly Pear Cactus Plant

Lots of steps to climb here - Mel needs a sit down halfway up!

Ornamental 18^th century obelisk – 21m high with a touch of Baroque style to it with the little cherubs.

After that it was straight back down to the beach for a cool down in the sea.

Followed by an evening walk around the harbour and castle.  The town is lovely and reminded us of a little fishing village in Cornwall.

We moved on this morning 27 miles (43 kms) up the road to Sosta Nel Verde, Alberobello (N40.78266 E17.23418). Alberobello is the home of the Trulli houses.  They are strange looking whitewashed buildings with grey conical roofs, some bearing painted symbols. Apparently, there are over 1500 of these houses in this area.

Not a lot is known about the history of the houses but the story goes that its design was to fiddle taxes.  The local feudal lord moved his peasant workers here to clear woodland and to cultivate the land and got them to build their houses without mortar so they could easily be knocked down if the tax inspectors came calling. The lord clearly didn't look after his workers here!  All the symbols on the top of the houses mean something, although these are a recent addition.

Lovely Artisan shops selling local produce.

Alberobello is 'Trulli' touristy and full of tatty souvenir shops.  Couldn't resist that pun!

Touristy Street 

A lot of the Trulli houses have been done up and are used as B & B’s or holiday houses but in the oldest part of the town the original ones remain empty.

Some of the original houses (minus the symbols) that remain empty

The rooftops of the Trulli Houses

Yes, they even have a Trulli Church!

The Sosta is the only one in Alberobello, charging €18 for 24-hours with all motorhome services, including electric and wi-fi.  So, we were surprised to be told there was to be no ‘campsite behaviour’ on the sosta, ie no getting out your tables and chairs, barbeques, etc.  So, being Brits we did as we are told! Not so if you are Italians (as both our neighbours are) who like to make up their own rules and decide to get out their tables and chairs, although they are hidden in the trees hoping they won't get discovered!  It wasn't long before we did the same though!

Tomorrow we travel to Bari and one step closer to Greece, yay!

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Sally x