Beyond the Trulli: A Day in the Valle d'Itria Worth Remembering
- Constant Tedder
- May 18
- 2 min read
There is a moment, usually on the third trullo selfie, when the more curious traveller begins to wonder what else is out here. Alberobello is beautiful — its prehistoric-looking stone cones rising against a blue sky are genuinely otherworldly — but Puglia keeps its best secrets a little further down the road.
The Valle d'Itria stretches out between Fasano, Locorotondo and Cisternino like a long, slow exhale. Olive groves older than most nations, dry stone walls threading across chalk-white plateau, the occasional farmstead half-hidden behind fig trees. This is the Puglia that rewards patience and slow driving.
Start in Locorotondo
The town's name means "round place," and the view from its circular belvedere confirms why — you can see the whole valley laid out below like a working map of the Mezzogiorno. Have a coffee at the bar on the main piazza, where the locals are already debating the football, then wander the whitewashed lanes before anyone else arrives.
Drive the Canale di Pirro
This ancient limestone gorge runs through the heart of the valle, its walls dense with Mediterranean scrub and wild asparagus. There's no official tourist trail — you simply follow the road, pull over when something catches your eye, and remember that this landscape has looked essentially the same since the Bronze Age.
Save the Afternoon for Giardini Pistola
About twenty minutes south of Alberobello, on the road towards Fasano, the gardens sit at the edge of the plateau where the land begins its long tilt towards the Adriatic. Designed by Chelsea Flower Show alumni Urquhart & Hunt, the property unfolds across a series of distinct garden rooms — each one a different conversation between cultivated plants and the wild Puglian landscape surrounding them.
It is the kind of place that stops you mid-sentence. The rose archways are in full bloom through May and June, the cutting garden a controlled riot of colour against the pale stone. The Tasting Bar offers a thoughtful selection of local wines — Primitivo, Susumaniello, the underrated Verdeca — alongside the estate's own olive oils and preserves from the Farm Shop.
But the real reason to time your visit carefully is the Golden Hour Aperitivo. In the last hour before sunset, the light here turns amber in a way that no photograph has quite managed to capture. The property rings a small bell — a daily ritual — to mark the moment. You'll hear it, stop whatever you're doing, and turn west.
From Fasano to Ostuni, from the olive groves to the sea, the Valle d'Itria offers an entire week of discoveries. But if you have a single afternoon, spend it here: a glass of chilled Verdeca, a low sun painting the limestone gold, and the quiet satisfaction of having gone a little further than the map suggested.
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