OSTUNI is one of the most stunning small towns of southern Italy. Situated on three hills at the southernmost edge of Le Murge, and an important Greco-Roman city in the first century AD, its old centre spreads across the highest of the hills, a gleaming white splash of sun-bleached streets and cobbled alleyways, dominating the plains below.
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The name Alberobello comes from Sylva Arboris Belli (forest of the tree of the war), the tree that used to cover the entire area. Legend says that it was a 16th century architect who built the first trullo with a special stone that he could interlace for better insulation. The town most likely became urbanized in 1635 by the agency of the Guercio di Puglia, the Count Giangirolamo II. Alberobello was declared a zone of historical importance in 1924 and now exists mainly for tourism.

 

On the high plains of the Murge, on the border of the province of Taranto, one finds Cisternino, an enchanting medieval village much admired by Angelo Semeraro. Cisternino is surrounded by fertile fields of Olive groves and vineyards, some of the most abundant in Puglia. Its historic center is characterized by its architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries.

 
According to local historians, Martina Franca origins date back to the X cent. when a group of refugees, escaping from Taranto because of the Saracens’invasions, founded a little village on San Martino mountain.The juridical foundation of the town, instead, dates back to the fourteenth century, when it was enlarged by Filippo d’Angiò ,Prince of Taranto, who granted some exemptions to the inhabitants.In the XV cent. Martina Franca became an Aragonese feud and then in the XVI cent. it was a dukedom of the Caracciolo family, a noble napolitan family. In the XVII century, Petracone V Caracciolo built the Ducal Palace, on the remains of the ancient Orsini castle. In 1646 the inhabitants of Martina, led by a blacksmith known as “Iron Chief”, rose against the Caracciolo family, but it kept on running their feud until 1827.

 

Polignano is situated on a steep rocky cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The cliffs contain a number of natural caves which were inhabited in prehistoric times.
During the Middle Ages the city was fortified. Today the beautifully preserved historical centre is made of a series of alleyways that lead to terraces with breathtaking views over the Adriatic Sea.

 
Lecce is famous for its Baroque style, built in a fine-grained golden limestone.Already by the year 800 B.C. it was the capital of the kingdom of the Messapi (Messapia, the land between two “waters”, extended from Santa Maria di Leuca to Ostuni) an ancient population with origins from Crete belonging to the same period as the Etruscans, became an important Roman colony in 120 A.D., as can be seen from the ruins of Hadrian’s amphitheatre, perfectly preserved, and from the Roman Theatre.

 

Bari, the principal town of Puglia, has a very beautiful Romanesque Basilica, an equally striking Cathedral and a Castle, built by Frederick II, that has been splendidly restored.

 

 The Castel del Monte was built in the northern part of Apulia by the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II of Hohenstaufen in the last decade of his life. Its form is unique--an eight-sided central structure with octagonal towers at each corner.

 

Castellana Grotte is famous all over the world for its Charming grottoes; they are 2 km far from the city and are the most known and important Italian speleological site and one of the main tourist apulian destination.

 
Egnazia. Dating back to pre-Roman times, there are many remains of the Messapian civilisation - at its peak in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The extensive excavations here also offer views of the later Roman port and acropolis, the roman town with its forum and an early Christian basilica.