1° Day – Arrival

 

Welcome to the city of “Trulli”, the ancient peasant dwellings on which much has been said. The last plausible hypothesis led to think of a link between Alberobello and Harran: in this ancient Turkish city at the border with Syria, typical alveolar houses are strikingly similar to the trulli of Alberobello.To find out more about the history and legends related to the trulli, we recommend a visit to the Museum “Casa Pezzolla”.

Meals: BB 

2° Day – Alberobello – Martina Franca

 

19 km, +230m -210m

Today’s walk will head to the South, on country roads and stretches of gently sloping trails. Enjoy the view and the nature of Bosco Selva, a rare example of the vast oak grove that once covered the whole surrounding area. Following directions for Martina Franca, among high dry stone walls, typical of this area, and along pasture fields that still preserve ancient trulli, you will go up to Monte San Martino to reach the elegant old town center, vivid example of Puglia Baroque art.

Overnight in Martina Franca.

Meals: BB 

3° Day – Martina Franca – Locorotondo – Cisternino

 

13 km, +200m -130m

Early in the morning, with a short public transfer you reach Locorotondo. The village name recalls the characteristic shape of its historical centre: a set of white houses arranged in concentric rings. The lands here are devoted to the cultivation of vines that give high-quality wines, like the Locorotondo Doc. After a visit to the old town you get back on the track of your Walking Tour, now running along the Puglia Aqueduct, the longest in Europe. The final stretch will take you to Cisternino, a charming village renowned for the whiteness of its houses and for its “stoves”, fornelli, reinvented butcher shops, where you can personally choose the meat cuts to be grilled on the spot for you. Public transfer to Martina Franca and overnight.

Meals: BB 

4° Day – Cisternino – Natural Park Dune Costiere

 

13km, +150m -400m

Short bus ride to reach Cisternino and its buildings, examples of baroque style and oriental Renaissance. 
Back on the walking route, you climb down the eastern slopes of the Itria Valley until you get to the Regional Natural Park Dune Costiere, among the most interesting protected areas of South Italy due to its many natural habitats and sites of historical importance: there is still trace of the ancient Via Traiana. Crossing the agricultural village of Montalbano you will reach its dolmen, a megalithic monument hidden amongst ancient olive trees and once used for esoteric rituals that were quite common among the ancient inhabitants of this land.
 Today and tomorrow overnight in Montalbano.

Meals: HB 

5° Day – Natural Park Dune Costiere

 

18km, +110m -110m

You will need a full day to discover this Park and its many beauties. A loop walking trail brings you amongst olive trees that are thousands of years old, and allows you a close look at fossil dunes, witnesses to the shift in sea level over the millennia.
 Cross endless pastures framed by the famous “blades”: canyons hiding ancient caves. Between the fossil dunes and the new ones, you will find the wetland of the River Morelli, characterized by the presence of fresh water where eel fishing has been practiced since the 19th century.
 The way back to the farm will be on the same gravel roads, leaving the sea behind you and continuing towards the imposing massif of Murgia to reach again Montalbano.

Meals: HB 

6° Day – Natural Park Dune Costiere – Ostuni

 

13km, +240m -120m

Leave Montalbano to walk in the countryside where tasty products that end up on the tables of typical restaurants are grown. After a tasting in a family-run farm, you shall come up the “mountains” by carefully choosing your path: through the forest, climb slowly towards the ancient village La Terra, the highest and most characteristic hill of Ostuni. If you like, you can also try a detour to the Sanctuary of San Biagio, the most complete rocky settlement of Ostuni. When, among the olive trees, you can see the white inverted cone of Ostuni, then you will be near the Archaeological Park of Santa Maria di Agnano, a site of exceptional historical value where a young woman of the Paleolithic era was found. Testimonials of this discovery are preserved in the Museo Civico near the splendid Cathedral. Overnight in Ostuni.

Meals: BB 

7° Day – Ancient Masseria – Ostuni

 

12km, +160m -160m

After breakfast a short trail, mainly on gravel roads downhill towards the sea will take you back to the Natural Park Dune Costiere. This protected area between Ostuni and Fasano, with its numerous natural habitats, ancient olive groves, the historic masseria farms and underground oil mills, plays an important role in the environmental protection and relevant sustainable economic development. Reaching an ancient farmhouse you can taste real extra virgin olive oil, visit an underground oil mill said to date back to Roman times and before, the private museum, the small 18th century church with its altar made of local Lecce stone. The olive trees are now waiting for international recognition through a possible future inscription in the Unesco World Heritage list. Walk back to Ostuni following the same short trail and overnight.

Meals: BB 

8° Day – Departure

 

After breakfast, end of services. If you still have time, we recommend to stroll randomly through the maze of winding streets in the old town, looking for a souvenir of your stay, maybe a tool made out of olive wood, crafted by the strong hands of patient artisans.

Meals: BB