# Itria Valley

A karst depression in central Apulia dotted with trulli, dry-stone houses with conical roofs; those of Alberobello have been a World Heritage Site since 1996.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/apulia/itria-valley · Revisado: 2026-11-12

## What is the Itria Valley?

It isn't exactly a valley, but a karst depression in the lower Murgia, in central Apulia, spread across the provinces of Bari, Brindisi and Taranto. It's a countryside of olive trees, vines and dry-stone walls, dotted with trulli: round houses of dry stone, without mortar, with conical roofs. Around them, on the hills, white villages peer out: Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica. Alberobello is on the edge and Ostuni, already close to the sea.

## What is a trullo?

A limestone building without mortar, with a room under each cone and recesses in the wall for sleeping. First a cistern was dug: the stone came from that excavation and water was scarce. The roof has two layers of limestone slabs, and it's often crowned by a carved pinnacle, the signature of the trullaro master. The symbols painted on the cones, many of them Christian, were added mostly in the late 20th century. The best-known theory about why they were built without mortar is fiscal: that way the count could dismantle them and dodge the taxes of the Spanish viceroy of Naples. Inside they are cool in summer and cold and damp in winter.

## Which villages should you see?

Alberobello is the city of the trulli: its trulli have been a World Heritage Site since 1996. Wander among the conical roofs of the Rione Monti, look for the Trullo Sovrano and the church of St Anthony of Padua, and notice the pinnacles: each one is different. Go early, before the groups arrive.

Locorotondo, at 410 m, looks over the valley with a maze of white lanes. Look at the cummerse, houses with a sloping two-layer slab roof, different from trulli. It's one of the Borghi più belli d'Italia, and its white wine, Locorotondo DOC, is made mostly from verdeca and bianco d'alessano grapes.

Martina Franca, the largest, has a walled Baroque centre with monumental gates, the 17th-century Palazzo Ducale opposite Piazza Roma and the basilica of San Martino. Since 1975 it has held the opera Festival della Valle d'Itria in July and August. Try the capocollo, its pork cured meat, and the bombette.

Cisternino, at 392 m, is another of the Borghi più belli d'Italia: a white old town of narrow streets with the Norman-Swabian tower and the Chiesa Madre. It's famous for its butchers with grills, the fornelli pronti: you choose the meat at the counter and they grill it for your dinner.

Ostuni, the white city, stands on a hill about 8 km from the coast, with a walled old town of whitewashed houses and a cathedral with a rose window. In summer it fills up: from about 30,000 residents in winter it grows to many more in August.

## How do you get there and get around?

Fly to Bari or Brindisi: from both airports you reach the valley's villages in under an hour by car. The Ferrovie del Sud Est rail network, with a hub at Martina Franca, serves the valley. For Cisternino, public transport is scarce: there are buses to Fasano, which has the nearest train station. With a car you see everything in a few days, because the villages are a few kilometres apart, along narrow roads between stone walls.

## What to do?

Alberobello on foot. Walk round the Rione Monti and the Aia Piccola and go into the Trullo Sovrano, the only trullo with an upper floor, turned into a house-museum: €2.50.

The Grotte di Castellana, half an hour from Alberobello: karst caves visited with a guide, 1 km in 50 minutes or 3 km in 100 minutes to the Grotta Bianca. From €22 at the ticket office.

A tasting at I Pàstini, the winery reviving verdeca, bianco d'alessano and minutolo between Locorotondo and Martina Franca: vineyards, cellar and wines in an hour for €15, by reservation and on weekdays.

Locorotondo, its cummerse houses and the viewpoint over the valley.

Baroque Martina Franca: Piazza Roma, the Palazzo Ducale and the basilica of San Martino.

Ostuni, the white city, with its Gothic cathedral at the top of the hill.

## Where to eat?

In Locorotondo, Bina serves Apulian cooking with the day's fresh pasta under 18th-century vaults, and opens on Sunday lunchtime. In Ostuni, the Osteria del Tempo Perso, next to the cathedral, serves Ostuni cooking in a 16th-century oven cut into the rock. For a special dinner, Il Poeta Contadino, in Alberobello, has been high-end Apulian cooking since 1977.

## Where to sleep?

In a restored trullo, to try it, or in a masseria, one of the old fortified farms in the Ostuni countryside and the valley, many converted into places to stay. If you travel without a car, better in Martina Franca, which has a station and is the biggest village.

Trullidea, an albergo diffuso of seven trulli in Alberobello's Rione Monti, from €160 a night.

Masseria Il Frantoio, a 16th-century farm with thousand-year-old olive trees and a pool in the Ostuni countryside.

Park Hotel San Michele, a hotel with a park, summer pool and free parking within walking distance of Martina Franca's centre.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Matera (a 61.1 km), Salento (a 84.1 km)

## Qué hacer
- **Alberobello on foot: the Rione Monti and the Trullo Sovrano** (2 h · All ages; slopes and steps, a baby carrier is better than a pushchair · Streets free; Trullo Sovrano, single ticket €2.50): What it is
Alberobello is the city of the trulli: it concentrates them in two districts of the old town, the Rione Monti and the Aia Piccola, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1996. The walk links the two districts and ends at the Trullo Sovrano, a house-museum that can be visited inside, with its original furniture.
The Rione Monti climbs a hillside, with hundreds of trulli on steep streets. Many are now shops, bars and accommodation, and by mid-morning it fills with groups. The Aia Piccola, across the road, is smaller and quieter, with more trulli that are still homes. Look at the pinnacles that crown the cones, each one different, and at the symbols painted in lime on the stone roofs.
The Trullo Sovrano
It is in Piazza Sacramento, in the northern part of the town, behind the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian. It is the only trullo with an upper floor, reached by an inner masonry staircase, and one of the first built with mortar. Its central cone is about 14 metres high and is surrounded by eleven others. The left wing dates from the early 17th century; the rest was built in the first half of the 18th by the family of the priest Cataldo Perta, and the facade is dated 1796 or 1797. It has been a chapel, an apothecary's, a convent and a home; since the late 19th century it has belonged to the Sumerano family. You tour the main room, the bedroom, the dining room, the two kitchens, the staircase, the upper floor and the garden, with authentic furniture and objects.
It is open from November to March from 10:00 to 12:45 and from 15:30 to 18:00, and from April to October from 10:00 to 12:45 and from 15:30 to 18:30. The single ticket costs €2.50. Telephone: +39 080 432 6030.
Getting there and parking
Alberobello is an hour by car from Bari, about 56 km. Leave the car outside the old town and continue on foot: the two trulli districts are explored on foot and face each other. Without a car, Alberobello has a station on the Ferrovie del Sud Est line that runs from Bari to Martina Franca.
- **Guided visit to the Grotte di Castellana** (1 h 40 · All ages; the full route is not recommended for pregnant women or over-70s · Full route €25, partial €22 at the ticket office; ages 6 to 14, €22 and €19; up to age 5, free): What it is
The Grotte di Castellana are a system of karst caves beneath the Murgia plateau, 1.5 km from the village of Castellana Grotte and about 45 minutes by car from Bari. They have 3,348 metres of galleries and, according to the company that runs them, the route descends to about 70 metres underground. Inside it is about 16.5 °C all year, so in August it is welcome and in winter it is no colder than outside.
You enter through la Grave, a huge sinkhole open to the sky down which the speleologist Franco Anelli descended in 1938, the first to explore them. From there the path continues through caverns that the first explorers named for what they thought they saw in the rock: the She-Wolf, the Cavern of the Monuments, the Owl, the Desert Corridor, the Tower of Pisa or the Duomo of Milan. The end of the long route is the Grotta Bianca, a white cave covered in calcite crystals.
Which route to choose
There are two, always with a guide and in slots at set times. The partial one covers 1 km in about 50 minutes and is enough with small children. The full one covers 3 km in about 100 minutes and includes the Grotta Bianca: it is the one worth the trip if you have time. The day's slots are published on the calendar on its website.
At the ticket office, the full route costs €25 per adult and €22 for ages 6 to 14; the partial, €22 and €19. Children under 5 enter free. For a family of four with two children aged 6 to 14 there is a family ticket for €61, online only. Online you pay a commission and buy at the latest the day before; at the ticket office tickets are sold for the same day until the slots are full.
Getting there and parking
From Bari, about half an hour on the dual carriageway south and the rest on Murgia roads; from Alberobello it is about 25 minutes. There are three paid car parks: P1 and P2, beside the caves, and P3, at a shopping centre on Via Putignano, with a shuttle. Arrive a quarter of an hour before your slot.
- **Vineyards and Itria Valley white wine tasting at I Pàstini** (1 h · Adults; ages 6 to 17 pay €7 · €15 per adult; ages 6 to 17, €7): What it is
The Itria Valley is white-wine country. Its grapes are verdeca, bianco d'alessano and minutolo, which for decades were almost lost among more productive varieties. I Pàstini is a family winery founded in 1996 in the countryside between Locorotondo and Martina Franca to bring them back; its first harvest was in 2003 and today it farms 18 hectares. Visiting it is the way to understand the landscape you see from the road: low vines between dry-stone walls and the cones of the trulli.
The visit
It begins with a presentation in the winery garden. Then you stroll among the vines of minutolo, bianco d'alessano, verdeca, primitivo and susumaniello, enter the winery and finish with a tasting of some of its wines, which change according to the season and what is available. It comes with taralli, friselle, olives and dried broad beans. The house wines include the white Faraone and two verdeca sparkling wines, the Cupa from bianco d'alessano, the Rampone from minutolo and reds from susumaniello and primitivo.
It lasts about an hour, in Italian or English. It costs €15 per adult and €7 for ages 6 to 17.
When to go and how to book
You must always book: through the form on its website, by email at winetour@ipastini.it, by phone, +39 080 384 7149, or by WhatsApp. There are no visits on Saturday afternoons, Sundays or public holidays, and the winery closes from 14 to 20 August. The practical choice is a weekday morning or early on Saturday.
Getting there
The winery is on Strada Cupa Rampone, in the municipality of Martina Franca, beside the trulli road that goes towards Locorotondo. From the centre of Locorotondo it is about 10 minutes by car, and from Martina Franca a little less. If you are going to taste, have someone else drive or take little.
- **A walk through Locorotondo, the round town above the valley** (1 h 30 · All ages · Free): What it is
Locorotondo looks out over the Itria Valley from a hill 410 metres high, and its old town is almost a circle: hence the name, "round place". It is one of the Borghi più belli d'Italia and holds the Touring Club Italiano's Orange Flag, which rewards, among other things, being easy to explore on foot. Inside is a maze of white lanes that its residents look after with great care, and fewer souvenir shops than in Alberobello.
What to see
The town's typical houses are the cummerse: regular-shaped façades with a pitched, gabled roof made of two layers of limestone slabs, the same material as the trulli but in a different shape. Look at them from below, in the streets that run down towards the edge of the old town.
At the top is the Chiesa Madre di San Giorgio, built between 1769 and 1821, with a Renaissance-style façade and Neoclassical details. Look out also for the small Romanesque church of the Madonna della Greca, on the edge of the old town, and that of San Rocco, patron of the summer festival.
The end of the walk is the viewpoint: from the edge of the town facing the valley you see the whole Itria countryside, with vines, olive trees and the grey cones of the trulli scattered across the farms. That countryside is an example of dispersed settlement: the trulli were built around a shared yard, on farms that in the 19th century were granted on long leases for planting vines.
The wine
Locorotondo gives its name to a white-wine designation of origin, still or sparkling, made mostly from verdeca and bianco d'alessano, on about 1,650 hectares of vines. It is the wine you will be served at any table in the town. If you want to see it up close, ten minutes away is the I Pàstini winery, with visits on weekdays.
Getting there and parking
Locorotondo lies between Alberobello and Martina Franca, a few minutes by car from each, and a little over an hour from Bari. The old town is pedestrian: park on the streets outside the wall and walk in. It has a Ferrovie del Sud Est station, on the Bari to Martina Franca line.
- **Baroque Martina Franca: gates, Palazzo Ducale and San Martino** (2 h · All ages · Free on the streets): What it is
Martina Franca is the largest town in the Itria Valley, with about 49,000 inhabitants, and the one with the most stately old town. Inside its walls, narrow white streets suddenly open onto squares with palaces and carved stone doorways: the Baroque of southern Italy in hill-town form. It is the most convenient base in the valley if you travel without a car, because it has a station and is a hub of the Ferrovie del Sud Est network.
The walk
Start at Piazza Roma, the largest square in the old town, with a triangular garden in the middle. Facing it is the Palazzo Ducale, from the 17th century, the palace of the Caracciolo dukes, lords of Martina. From here you enter the old town along streets that climb and drop between white facades with iron balconies.
The centre of the walk is the basilica of San Martino, with a great Baroque facade opening onto one of the central squares. Around it, get lost in the lanes without a plan: the old town is small and you always come back to one of the squares. Look at the gates in the wall, Baroque, which mark the entrances to the old town.
The festival and the food
Since 1975, Martina Franca has held in summer the Festival della Valle d'Itria, an opera festival, with rarely performed titles. The 2026 edition, the 52nd, ran from 14 July to 2 August; tickets are requested from the box office by email, biglietteria@festivaldellavalleditria.it, or by phone, +39 080 840 7250.
At the table, Martina is famous for its capocollo, a cured pork-neck sausage, and for the bombette, rolls of pork neck stuffed with canestrato cheese, salt and pepper, cooked on the grill. Its wine is another white with a designation of origin, from verdeca and bianco d'alessano.
Getting there and parking
Martina Franca is a little over an hour from Bari by car, about 74 km, and a few minutes from Locorotondo. The old town is limited-traffic: park outside the wall and go in on foot through Piazza Roma. By train, the Ferrovie del Sud Est line runs from Bari via Alberobello and Locorotondo.
- **Ostuni, the White Town: walled old town and cathedral** (1 h 30 · All ages; slopes and steps · Free on the streets): What it is
Ostuni is the White City: an old town of whitewashed houses that covers the top of a 229-metre hill, about 8 km from the Adriatic Sea. The Normans built the medieval city around the summit, with a castle, of which only remains survive, and a wall with four gates that still encircles it. From a distance, above the olive groves, it looks like a single white patch; from inside, it is a maze of stairs, arches and alleys.
It is on the edge of the Itria Valley, already looking to the coast, and in summer it fills up: from about 30,000 residents in winter it becomes many more in August.
The walk
Go up the streets that climb from the main square, at the foot of the old town, towards the top of the hill. Do not follow a map: the lanes cross and you always end up at the top. At the summit is the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, from the 15th century, in flamboyant Gothic style, with a great rose window on the facade. Beside it is the bishop's palace. On the way you will see the doorways of the palaces of the city's noble families.
Then go down the other side towards the wall: from the walks that surround it you see the plain of ancient olive trees stretching to the sea. On the coast, Bona Sforza, Duchess of Bari and Queen of Poland, had towers built in 1539 against Turkish attacks, and some are still standing.
In the old town there is also a museum of pre-classical civilisations, with finds from the caves of the area: we have not been able to verify its hours from an official source, so ask in the town.
Getting there and parking
Ostuni is a little over an hour from Bari by car, about 84 km, and about half an hour from Martina Franca. Brindisi airport is about 25 km away. The old town does not admit cars: park in the car parks in the lower part, outside the wall, and walk up with time to spare. It has a station on the Bari to Brindisi train line, down on the plain and outside the town.

## Dónde comer
- **Bina, ristorante di Puglia** (Restaurant, Locorotondo, €€). Qué pedir: a fresh pasta made that day and a Locorotondo DOC white.
- **Osteria del Tempo Perso** (Restaurant, Ostuni, €€€). Qué pedir: the tegamino of cardoncelli mushrooms in a bread crust and some orecchiette with turnip tops.
- **Il Poeta Contadino** (Restaurant, Alberobello, €€€€). Qué pedir: the broad bean purée with cavatelli and seafood, and a wine from its cellar on the dining room's advice.

## By plane: Fly to Bari and hire a car to the valley
The Itria Valley lies between two airports, Bari and Brindisi. The more practical one from Spain is Bari: there are direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville, and from the airport you reach Alberobello in a little over an hour by car and the Grotte di Castellana in about 45 minutes. Brindisi is closer to Ostuni, about 25 km. The practical thing is to hire a car at the airport: the villages are a few kilometres from one another, but the countryside and the masserie can only be reached by car. Without a car, Ferrovie del Sud Est trains link Bari with Alberobello, Locorotondo and Martina Franca.
### Dónde dormir if you're flying
- **Trullidea, albergo diffuso in the trulli** (Apartment, desde 160 € / night): Trullidea is the way to sleep in a trullo right in the Rione Monti, Alberobello's World Heritage district. It is not a single-building hotel but an albergo diffuso: seven trulli spread through the streets of the district, with a shared reception on Via Monte Sabotino. It was opened in 1997 by Antonella Guido and Dino Barnaba, and was the first albergo diffuso in Apulia. According to the house, its trulli date from the 15th century.
The trulli
Each trullo bears a name in dialect that tells something about life in the past. The simplest, Cawce (“lime”), for 2 people and 22 m², and Pagghje (“straw”, from the mattresses of old), for 3 and 32 m², start from €160 a night. The mid-range ones, Finestrodde (“little window”), Casedde and Papanunn (“great-grandfather”), of 35 to 55 m² and for 2 to 4 people, from €180. The largest, Canèle and Tristidde, for 4 people and 40 or 50 m², from €280.
Inside they are like real trulli: thick whitewashed walls, few windows, domed ceilings and simple wooden furniture. They have wifi, heating and some have a fireplace for winter. They have no air conditioning: the stone walls keep the cool, but in August it can be hot. Some admit families of two adults and two children.
Breakfast and services
Breakfast, with products from local artisans, is served in the trullo or in a partner bar. The trulli are cleaned every day. They offer half board in partner restaurants in the town, airport transfers on request and hire of bikes, e-bikes and Segways. There is a free shuttle to the station, useful if you arrive without a car. Dogs of any size are admitted, also in the common areas. No smoking inside.
Getting there
Reception is at Via Monte Sabotino, 10, in the monumental trulli zone: they wait for you there to accompany you to your trullo. Check-in is from 14:00 to 20:30 and check-out from 8:30 to 10:30. From Bari, an hour by car heading south; without a car, Ferrovie del Sud Est train to Alberobello and the house shuttle.
- **Masseria Il Frantoio** (Country house): Masseria Il Frantoio is a fortified farm in the Ostuni countryside that has been working for five centuries: the house was founded around 1500 and extended until 1800. Today it is rural accommodation within a 72-hectare organic estate, converted in 2004, surrounded by ancient olive trees, on the plain between Ostuni and the sea, a few minutes from the beaches of Torre Canne and the Dune Costiere park. It is the masseria night of the trip: countryside, silence and cooking from the estate.
The rooms
It has 16 rooms opened in the old buildings of the house without knocking down the walls, with period furniture. The Classic and the Privilege are for two people, of about 20 m²; the Superior, for two or three, of 25 m²; the Junior Suite, of 50 m² and up to five people, occupies the 16th-century part and is the oldest room in the house; the Family rooms admit up to five with an extra bed. On the upper floor of the oldest part is the owners' house, for two or three. There is air conditioning and heating.
In one part of the website the house speaks of six rooms and in another of 16: confirm the type when you book.
The estate and the table
Breakfast is what the house takes most care over: freshly made biscuits and cakes, eggs and milk of the day and jams from the estate's fruit. They produce organic extra virgin olive oil with PDO status, liqueurs and jams, and have a restaurant and a cellar of more than 75 labels, all from Apulia. The estate also offers a one-hour oil tasting: a visit to the masseria, the underground mill and the olive grove, and a technical tasting of four oils with an oil sommelier. Book by email, phone or WhatsApp.
There is a pool with views, a garden with olive grove, a picnic area, barbecue on request, a playground, board games and a babysitting service. Wifi and parking are free. Italian, English, French and German are spoken. Animals are admitted on request, without a supplement.
Getting there
It is on the old state road 16, at kilometre 874, between Ostuni and Fasano. From Bari airport, take the dual carriageway towards Brindisi and the first Ostuni exit, then the old SS16 towards Fasano. From Ostuni, a few minutes by car. You need a car.
- **Park Hotel San Michele** (Hotel): Park Hotel San Michele is Martina Franca's classic hotel: a villa surrounded by a centuries-old park of more than 5,000 m², on Viale Carella, a few minutes' walk from the old town. It is the practical base in the Itria Valley if you want a hotel with services, parking and a pool, and to walk out to dinner in the Baroque centre.
A house with history
The hotel stands on the lands of a 19th-century masseria, that of San Michele. In 1899 it was bought by the Aquaro brothers, snow merchants: they gathered snow in winter in ice-houses dug into the rock and sold it in the coastal cities for making ice cream and sorbets. When industrial ice arrived, the ice-house became a wine cellar, and in the 1950s the masseria became an Art Nouveau-style villa, with marble and wrought iron by local craftsmen, while the vines gave way to the garden. In 1974 it opened as a hotel, and in the 1980s it added a new wing.
The rooms
It has 83 bright rooms, with views of the park and the pool or towards the city: singles of 16 m², Comfort of 21 m² for two, Superior and Family for three, and Premium of 40 to 45 m² for up to four people. All have air conditioning, minibar, kettle for tea and coffee, wifi and television, and a bathroom with shower.
Services
The outdoor pool, in the middle of the park, is free for guests in summer; the website gives the season as 1 June to 30 September on one page and May to September on another. The indoor parking is free. There is a restaurant serving local cooking with zero-kilometre produce, 24-hour reception, a lift, luggage storage and paid transfers from stations and airports. The concierge books beaches, excursions and visits to oil mills and wineries. At reception Italian and English are spoken. Small dogs are admitted, up to 10 kg and 35 cm, with a possible supplement. The tourist tax is €1.50 per person per night, up to five nights.
Getting there
It is at Viale Domenico Carella, 9, outside the wall and near the old town. Martina Franca is a little over an hour from Bari by car, and has a Ferrovie del Sud Est station.

## By car: By car, from village to village
The car is the natural way to explore the Itria Valley: Alberobello, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Cisternino and Ostuni are a few kilometres from one another, along narrow roads between dry-stone walls, vines and trulli. The old towns are pedestrianised, so the routine is to park outside the wall and go in on foot. The practical approach is to sleep somewhere with parking and visit two or three villages a day.
Presupuesto orientativo: 110–200 € por persona y día.
### Dónde dormir if you're driving
- **Masseria Il Frantoio** (Country house): Masseria Il Frantoio is a fortified farm in the Ostuni countryside that has been working for five centuries: the house was founded around 1500 and extended until 1800. Today it is rural accommodation within a 72-hectare organic estate, converted in 2004, surrounded by ancient olive trees, on the plain between Ostuni and the sea, a few minutes from the beaches of Torre Canne and the Dune Costiere park. It is the masseria night of the trip: countryside, silence and cooking from the estate.
The rooms
It has 16 rooms opened in the old buildings of the house without knocking down the walls, with period furniture. The Classic and the Privilege are for two people, of about 20 m²; the Superior, for two or three, of 25 m²; the Junior Suite, of 50 m² and up to five people, occupies the 16th-century part and is the oldest room in the house; the Family rooms admit up to five with an extra bed. On the upper floor of the oldest part is the owners' house, for two or three. There is air conditioning and heating.
In one part of the website the house speaks of six rooms and in another of 16: confirm the type when you book.
The estate and the table
Breakfast is what the house takes most care over: freshly made biscuits and cakes, eggs and milk of the day and jams from the estate's fruit. They produce organic extra virgin olive oil with PDO status, liqueurs and jams, and have a restaurant and a cellar of more than 75 labels, all from Apulia. The estate also offers a one-hour oil tasting: a visit to the masseria, the underground mill and the olive grove, and a technical tasting of four oils with an oil sommelier. Book by email, phone or WhatsApp.
There is a pool with views, a garden with olive grove, a picnic area, barbecue on request, a playground, board games and a babysitting service. Wifi and parking are free. Italian, English, French and German are spoken. Animals are admitted on request, without a supplement.
Getting there
It is on the old state road 16, at kilometre 874, between Ostuni and Fasano. From Bari airport, take the dual carriageway towards Brindisi and the first Ostuni exit, then the old SS16 towards Fasano. From Ostuni, a few minutes by car. You need a car.
- **Park Hotel San Michele** (Hotel): Park Hotel San Michele is Martina Franca's classic hotel: a villa surrounded by a centuries-old park of more than 5,000 m², on Viale Carella, a few minutes' walk from the old town. It is the practical base in the Itria Valley if you want a hotel with services, parking and a pool, and to walk out to dinner in the Baroque centre.
A house with history
The hotel stands on the lands of a 19th-century masseria, that of San Michele. In 1899 it was bought by the Aquaro brothers, snow merchants: they gathered snow in winter in ice-houses dug into the rock and sold it in the coastal cities for making ice cream and sorbets. When industrial ice arrived, the ice-house became a wine cellar, and in the 1950s the masseria became an Art Nouveau-style villa, with marble and wrought iron by local craftsmen, while the vines gave way to the garden. In 1974 it opened as a hotel, and in the 1980s it added a new wing.
The rooms
It has 83 bright rooms, with views of the park and the pool or towards the city: singles of 16 m², Comfort of 21 m² for two, Superior and Family for three, and Premium of 40 to 45 m² for up to four people. All have air conditioning, minibar, kettle for tea and coffee, wifi and television, and a bathroom with shower.
Services
The outdoor pool, in the middle of the park, is free for guests in summer; the website gives the season as 1 June to 30 September on one page and May to September on another. The indoor parking is free. There is a restaurant serving local cooking with zero-kilometre produce, 24-hour reception, a lift, luggage storage and paid transfers from stations and airports. The concierge books beaches, excursions and visits to oil mills and wineries. At reception Italian and English are spoken. Small dogs are admitted, up to 10 kg and 35 cm, with a possible supplement. The tourist tax is €1.50 per person per night, up to five nights.
Getting there
It is at Viale Domenico Carella, 9, outside the wall and near the old town. Martina Franca is a little over an hour from Bari by car, and has a Ferrovie del Sud Est station.

## Consejos

### Go to Alberobello early or at sunset
In the middle hours of the day the Rione Monti fills with groups.

### Have dinner in Cisternino
The fornelli pronti are a dinner, not a snack: go hungry and unhurried.

### Tour the countryside by bike
The minor roads between Locorotondo, Martina Franca and Cisternino pass between stone walls, vines and trulli.

### Try the valley's white wine
Locorotondo and Martina Franca have their own white wines with a designation of origin.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How many days do I need?
Two to four. With two you see Alberobello, Locorotondo and Martina Franca. With four you add Cisternino, Ostuni and a day at a masseria or the beach.

### Can you sleep in a trullo?
Yes. Many restored trulli are rented as houses or rooms. Bear in mind that they're dark and, in winter, damp.

### Can you go without a car?
In part. Ferrovie del Sud Est serves the valley, with a hub at Martina Franca. For Cisternino and the countryside, a car is better.

### When is it least crowded?
In spring and autumn, and on weekdays. In August and on summer weekends, Alberobello and Ostuni fill up.

### What do you eat?
Orecchiette with braciole, fave e cicorie (broad bean purée with chicory), Martina Franca capocollo and bombette, grilled pork rolls.

### Is it near the sea?
Yes. Ostuni is about 8 km from the Adriatic coast, and the rest of the valley is not much further.