Tom`s travels: Cisternino, Locorotondo & Alberobello (09/07/2021)

On the morning of my last day in Puglia, after my 35-day pilgrimage hike from Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca, I had decided to visit the towns of the Val d'Itria in the central part of the region so I left early Lecce catching a train at 7am which took me to the first town Cisternino after 2h 40. The train looked like the oldest I had ever seen and went super slow, by car it would have taken just 1h but I did not have any other option to go there. As I got off the train I headed first to the nearby supermarket to get some fruit for breakfast, after eating just two croissants in Lecce. From there I then headed up a steep hill to reach the city center. The town like the next two I would visit later is located in the Itria Valley, part of the Murge, a plateau in central Puglia not far from Bari and Brindisi. The first thing I visited was the church of San Nicola di Patara, built during the 14th century with a nice mix of Romanesque and Gothic in its interior. I then walked around the pretty but tiny old town. Its historic center is made up of picturesque narrow streets containing white-washed, stone buildings with cool, shaded, cave-like interiors and small squares built on the edge of the hill allowing for some spectacular views over the surrounding landscape. Of course, as it was my last day here I decided to walk the whole way between the towns instead of taking public transport or a ride as I thought it hadn't been enough for me more than 1000km and 35 days and I just needed that extra day too. I left then Cisternino walking through the nice countryside, finally seeing once again live and healthy olive trees after all those dead ones in Salento. There were also interestingly a lot of vineyards which I later learned produced some good white wines. After a little less than a couple of hours along the nice country road, I reached the next town, Locorotondo. The old town is located on a slight hilltop and can be seen from afar due to its typical white architecture and its typical houses called "Le Cummerse", which have a regular geometric shape and a sloping roof made of two different layers of limestone slabs. Once I entered the city center I walked around its intricate network of little streets lined with old buildings. Both Cisternino and Locorotondo have been included in the list of the most beautiful towns in Italy but the latter was much prettier than the former. I then visited the main church of San Giorgio with a neo-baroque exterior and neoclassical interior, having been completed at the beginning of the 19th century. Then before it closed I went to grab some food from the supermarket to eat on a bench in the small park of the old town. I had mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, and an apple. After that, I headed back to walk through the picturesque streets passing by the nice church of the Madonna della Greca with a neo-gothic rose window from 1981 which seemed to be from the middle ages, and the nearby baroque church of San Rocco both of which were unfortunately closed. Then by the nice baroque Palazzo Morelli, sided by the nice 18th-century clock tower and a little bit further tiny church of San Nicola di Myra which was open and featured a nice baroque frescoed interior. Finally, after one last round through the picturesque streets, I left town and continued on following a country road towards the final town Alberobello. This one was much more trafficked even though it was a minor one and the main road was right nearby, so I had to worry about the cars and could not enjoy the countryside as much. I admired though some beautiful trulli on the way, which, in this area, the Val d'Itria, reach their highest concentration and artistic value. Eventually, in about two hours I reached Alberobello. I was amazed of course at the beauty of its city center, inscribed in the UNESCO world heritage list, with its unique and amazing trulli scattered all over. The peculiarity at least for me was that they weren't all found in one single spot as I had previously thought but rather consisted of neighborhoods on hilltops where they were majorly concentrated. I started with the first rione, or neighborhood, to the south, the Rione Monti, the most beautiful and picturesque, where all shops, restaurants, and other economic activities are set. This meant though that it was the most full of people even though it was not packed as I had expected, maybe because of the exceptional heat of these days, with that day reaching a whopping 35 degrees in the shade. I saw some really nice examples of trulli and then walking on reached the church of Sant'Antonio da Padova, a church built in the form of a huge trullo. From there I then headed towards the city center descending downhill from the neighborhood and passing through a more modern street that cuts the town through and then walking yet again uphill to reach the church of Santa Lucia. Right next to it was a nice terrace that provided a great viewpoint of the neighborhood I had just visited from above, even though the sun was slightly facing me so it made it harder to take nice pictures. Nearby I then visited the Rione Aia Piccola where the trulli are still inhabited, or turned into b&bs, but are prohibited from being turned into commercial entities, in order to preserve them and their layouts. One of them was open to visitors and a kind old lady showed a couple and me around it. She was very talkative and kept mentioning to take pictures and that many famous people had visited her. I, unfortunately, had no coins left, as she had put out a basket for donations, and even offered me lemonade and taralli. I thanked her and offered her my protein bar, which was all I had, but she of course didn't want it. After telling her about my walk she asked that in turn, I make a prayer for her. I said goodbye and left and continued my visit to the town. I reached then the northern part of town where the large neoclassical basilica of Santi Martiri e Medici Cosma e Damiano built at the end of the 19th century is located with its tall twin towers. Around it were some other nice trulli, including the Trullo Sovrano the largest trullo of them all and the only one with a second floor. Finally, it was time to head on and I decided to stop at the supermarket to get some local stuff to bring home. I got taralli and some other things and then eventually took a train to Putignano where I had to change for a bus to Bari. Once there I stopped again at the supermarket to get food for the next day and as I was tired and didn't wanna wander too far, for dinner I ate at a burger king as it was on the way and around it were only kebabs and focaccia places which I didn't really want at that moment. Eventually, I then reached the olive tree hostel where the room was full but luckily the people were quite chill and I eventually managed to sleep without being woken up. That day I managed to add another 30km to the total and finally the next morning after an early rise I headed to the train station where I eventually took the train back to my hometown Vicenza.