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Puglia and Matera

Bari, Brindisi and Basilicata, Italy · Italy

The heel of the Italian boot, with more olive trees than any other region of Italy and white villages above fields running down to the Adriatic. In the Valle d'Itria stand the trulli: conical houses of dry-stacked stone, built that way, so tradition has it, so they could be pulled down when the tax collector came. And an hour away, in Basilicata, lies Matera, whose inhabited caves were for centuries Italy's disgrace and are today a World Heritage Site.

4 days3 nights287 km8 stopsBest season: May, June, September and October. In July and August the heat is serious and the coast fills up; in winter it is mild but many businesses in the smaller towns close.

Day 1Cliff and harbour Day 2The trulli of the Valle d'Itria Day 3Baroque and the white city Day 4The caves of Matera

Day 1 · Cliff and harbour

Polignano a Mare and Monopoli · 20 km

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Polignano a Mare

viewpoints

The old town leans over a twenty-metre cliff above the Adriatic, and below, wedged between two rock walls, lies Lama Monachile: a pebble beach at the bottom of a ravine, with a bridge crossing above it, on the line of the ancient Via Traiana. Domenico Modugno, who wrote 'Volare', was born here, and his statue looks out to sea.

Tip

The balconies over the cliff are signposted as viewpoints and are free. And from the harbour boats go out to the sea caves, which is the other way to see the town.

15 min to the next stop · 9 km

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Monopoli

history

A fishing harbour with brightly painted boats moored against the 16th-century wall, and behind it a whitewashed old town that still works as a neighbourhood, not a shop window. It has a Baroque cathedral, a castle built for Charles V and fewer people than its neighbours.

Tip

It is quieter and cheaper than Polignano, and well placed for everything. Go down to the harbour at dusk, when the boats come back: that is when the town explains itself.

Day 2 · The trulli of the Valle d'Itria

Alberobello, Locorotondo and Cisternino · 72 km

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Alberobello

heritage

More than fifteen hundred trulli, conical limestone houses stacked without mortar. That absence of mortar has a story behind it: they say the house could be taken apart when the inspectors of the Kingdom of Naples came round, and then it was no longer a dwelling but a pile of stones. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1996.

Tip

The Rione Monti is where they cluster, but it is also where all the shops are. Cross to the Rione Aia Piccola on the other side: the same trulli with people living inside. And go early: by mid-morning this is a tide.

15 min to the next stop · 9 km

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Locorotondo

culture

The name says it all: locus rotundus, round place. The village grew in concentric circles around its church, already documented in the 12th century, and it still has that plan. The houses are white with very steep gabled roofs, the cummerse, which here take the place of the trullo.

Tip

Climb to the viewpoint at the Villa Comunale: from there you see the whole Valle d'Itria, with trulli scattered across the olive groves and vineyards. It is the finest panorama in the region.

15 min to the next stop · 10 km

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Cisternino

gastronomy

A white village of narrow lanes and archways, with no monuments to visit and very little tourism. Its fame comes from the butchers with a grill: you choose the meat at the counter and they cook it right there at the next table. It is called fornello pronto and it is an institution across Puglia.

Tip

Book or arrive early: there are only a handful of places and by nine at night there is no room. Order bombette, pork rolls stuffed with cheese that come from here.

Day 3 · Baroque and the white city

Martina Franca and Ostuni · 105 km

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Martina Franca

history

The Baroque town of the Valle d'Itria, with wrought-iron balconies, twisting doorways and a 17th-century ducal palace. It is considerably larger and grander than its neighbours, and in summer it hosts an opera festival with an international reputation.

Tip

Enter through the Santo Stefano arch and walk the whole Via Cavour: it is where the best Baroque façades are concentrated, and it takes twenty minutes.

30 min to the next stop · 24 km

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Ostuni

viewpoints

They call it the white city, and from the road you see why: an entire hill whitewashed above a sea of olive trees running down to the coast. The lime was not decorative, it was disinfectant: it was applied to hold back epidemics, and it ended up defining the town.

Tip

Walk up to the cathedral square, at the very top, by any alley you like: the old town streets are a maze and getting lost is part of the visit. Park below, because you cannot drive into the upper town.

Day 4 · The caves of Matera

From the Valle d'Itria to Basilicata · 90 km

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Matera and the Sassi

history

Two districts carved into the rock of a ravine, continuously inhabited for thousands of years. After they had been called a 'national disgrace', in 1952 the Italian state passed a law to clear them, and some fifteen thousand people living in caves with no water or electricity, sharing the space with their animals, had to leave. Forty years later UNESCO made them a World Heritage Site, and in 2019 Matera was European Capital of Culture.

Tip

Go down into the Sasso Caveoso and step into a cave-house museum: you see how people lived here until the mid-20th century, and the contrast with the luxury hotels carved out next door is what this city really has to say. Matera is in Basilicata, not Puglia, though it is an hour away.

This getaway is in the app, day by day, with every stop on the map, the drives between them and where to sleep, and the option to save it for when there is no signal.

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