Gallipoli

The last outing of our holiday to Puglia is a trip to Gallipoli on the west side of the Salento peninsular. Gallipoli is an ancient settlement and its old town is located on an island which was joined to the mainland by a bridge in the 16th century. The town is protected by an imposing castle built in 1622 by Charles of Anjou. The structure which sticks out into sea is apparently called a ravelin.

The new town side has a lovely renaissance style church also of the 16th century ...

... and a rather ravaged, but pleasing, fountain, described in guide books as the Greek Fountain and said to be the oldest in Italy. A helpful information panel reveals it too in fact dates only from the 16th century.

The scale of the castle becomes clear once we cross the bridge.

Gallipoli is a walled city, one of our great enthusiasms, so we naturally set out to walk round the walls. We quickly noticed a charming miniature castle on one of the sides of the harbour.

There are bastions at various points - we discovered later that they and the walls were reduced in size in the 19th century. Rather surprisingly to us, the curve between two of these bastions contains a pleasant sandy beach. The bastions tend to house restaurants and the one on the far side has palm frond sun umbrellas which we found a touch surreal.

Several churches face out to sea and were especially impressed with the Franciscan church with a facade of a style we have never previously seen.

Soon after this there was an interesting sight, a lighthouse some way out to see on the rocky islnad of San Andrea. It dates from 1867 and has a very different appearance to the English lighthouses we see on our walks along the South West Coast Path.

At this point we paused for an excellent lunch at Il Belvedere, a fish restaurant specialising in raw fish! I had the sea bream carpaccio for my starter and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Once we completed the circuit, we headed up a typical tourist street into the centre of the old town. The narrow streets were pleasant enough, but not especially distinguished compared to others we have seen recently. The Baroque cathedral was at the over-the-top end of the Baroque scale and hard to photograph in its very cramped location. The adjoining bell tower was however a real delight.

I can't resist including one last picture. Our locally-bought guide to Puglia mentioned that Gallipoli's new town is so modern that it "even has a sky-scraper". Here it is, just on the new town side of the bridge, insensitively dwarfing the pleasant old buildings of the harbour side. The middle section overhangs the base in a tiresomely clever way and the top section looks like a large portakabin has been left over from the construction work.

Conditions: mild, but with a constant threat of rain.

Distance: 2 miles.

Rating: three and a half stars. Charming and interesting.

Otranto

Otranto

 Today we went to an ancient sea-port city, once the seat of a Byzantine archbishop. We entered the borgo antico, the old town, through the absolutely massive gate.The castle of which it is part was built by the city's Aragonese overlords after they took over from the Turks (see below).

We turned left to reach the wide harbourside promenade. It hadn't long stopped raining and the calm sea and clear light made for an entrancing view.

On the promenade is a memorial to the 800 Christians beheaded by the Turks under Ahmed Pasha when they invaded in 1480 when they refused to renounce their faith. They were all proclaimed martyrs.

We headed along the main street past the inevitable tourist shops to reach the Piazza del Popolo with its delicate pink bell tower.

The winding road led us up to the cathedral, with its beautiful Baroque rose window and portal. These embellishments date from the 17th century, but the core of the cathedral dates from the 12th century, when the city was under Norman rule.

There was a wedding on, hence the pink balloon with legend sposi oggi, married today.  As a result, we were able to get in to see the wonderful mosaics which cover the entire floor - it would otherwise have been shut for lunch.

The whole floor of the nave is covered by a stylised Tree of Life said to have been created by a single monk, Pantaleone, in 1163. There all sorts of creatures, like this stag with an arrow in its mouth, in the branches, and depictions of the life of Man.

Outside we admired the massive bell tower, apparently used more as an alarm in times of danger than to summon the faithful for prayer.

After this we returned to the harbourside having frustratingly failed to find the other great site of the city, the tiny 9th century chapel of San Pietro with its frescoes. We comforted ourselves with a nice fish lunch and afterwards notice how different the view across the harbour looked now the light had changed.

To conclude our visit, we drove round to the other side and took the view back at the head of this post.

Conditions: warm, some cloud.

Distance: 2 miles.

Rating: four stars.

Martina Franca

 Arco di San Antonio

Our visit to Martina Franca started badly as we couldn't find the usual signs to the centro storico and when we did stumble to its outskirts, it took some time to find the way in. However, as veteran tourists we eventually worked it out and were lucky to be able park nearby Martina Franca being particularly traffic-choked.

We set out from the Piazza XX Settembre, collecting a map from the Tourist Office conveniently located in the corner and passed through the Arco di San Antonio of 1764.  Immediately on the right is the massive Palazzo Ducale, built in 1668 on the site of an earlier castle.

 We continued along the main street, the Corso Victor Emanuele, and looked for the Palazzo Stabile. And got lost a maze of small streets. This apparently is a normal experience in Martina Franca.

The Corso brings you into the wonderful Piazzo Plebiscito. On the right is the Palazzo del'Universita, with the lovely Municipal Clock Tower on one side.

When you turn round, the Baroque 18th century Basilica of San Martino, the town's patron saint, dominates the square.

Piazzo Plebiscito flows into Piazza Maria Immacolta with the imposing and beautiful Palazza Fanelli/Torricella facing you.

 Turn around and you are looking at the Portici (porticos), with the Basilica in the background.

We carried in the same direction through smaller and quieter streets, passing the only plain church in Martina Franca, the 14th century San Nicolo. The interior is reassuringly Baroque however.

More tiny winding streets led us emerge from the old town to see another Baroque gem, the 18th century Carmine. We had already seen in our earlier drive around the periphery of the centro storico.

We re-entered the centro storico and continued our meandering path to reach the San Nicola gate, through which we could see another external church which we had encountered on our wanderings: San Francesco.

Our final gate was the Porta San Pietro, outside which was the best-preserved of the towers which once guarded the many gates. The walls and towers were built by the Angevins in the 14th and 15th centuries.

We headed back to the central piazzas and on the way we were surprised to turn a corner and be confronted by the fine facade of the Palazzo Casavola/Marinosci in the narrow street.

Conditions: warm and mostly sunny.

Distance: about 2 miles.

Rating: four stars.

Alberobello

Trulli houses at Alberobello

Today's outing was to Alberobello to see the famous trulli houses. They are dry stone huts with a conical roof, built singly or in clusters. They are only found in this part of Puglia. Alberobello has the largest concentration, with over 1000 trulli and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO says that the settlement is generally held to date from the 14th century.

I had imagined Alberobello to be a small place, but you arrive in reasonable sized proper town. We followed signs to the trulli zone and parked noticing a large concentration of them on the hillside opposite. It became clear later that there are trulli scattered over various parts of the town,  but that this is the main concentration.

We found the tourist information office and acquired a map (vital) and headed up one of the uphill streets. Initially, it is all very commercialsed.  Most of the houses have been turned into shops selling tacky souvenirs such as model trulli houses.

But as always, the further we went the quieter it became.  Via monte Perceta had a beautiful run of unspoilt houses, all with mysterious signs on the roofs.

Further along the street was the so-called trulli church in a sort of neo-romanesque style.

We now retraced our steps to Plaza D'Annuncio and ignored the busier Via Minte San Michele and instead followed the quiet via Monte Saotino downhill back to the main street. We climbed up the other side to reach the rather garish Corso Vittorio Emanuele, with the 1812 Basilica di Santa Medici at the far end.

Just behind it was another nice group of trulli, including a shop.

The main purpose in coming to this part of the town was to see the trullo sovrano, the sovereign trullo.  This is the largest trullo in Alberobello as it is the only two storey one. It dates from the 18th century.

It was charming and surprisingly roomy inside and also a pretty garden at the back where I was delighted to spot a Geranium Blue butterfly.

We finished our walk with a wonderful ice cream, bought naturally enough from a shop in a pair of trulli.

 Conditions: warm, sunny, blue sky.

Distance: two miles.

Rating: Five stars. A bit touristy and probably unbearable in high season, but a unique experience.

Postscript

Afterwards we drove over to Locorotondo and we surprised by how many trulli could be seen scattered across a wide area of countryside. They were mostly in groups of four or five and in many cases people had built modern houses on the end of a group of trulli or even surrounding them. This view from the public gardens on the edge of Locorotondo gives a sense of trulli in the landscape.

Monopoli

 The Cathedral

We've just arrived in Monopoli, on the north coast of Puglia, which will be our base for the next few days as we explore the famous Trulli houses of Alberobello and the celebrated White Towns. We thought we should start with an exploratory walk around the town.

We are staying in a Bed & Breakfast just outside the Old Town, so we walk down the hill towards the sea and soon find our way to the Baroque 16th century cathedral. It is fronted by a small square, closed off on one side by a large stone wall. It is strange but very effective.

We walk down the street beside the Cathedral, delighted to discover that we have stumbled on the tourist historical trail around the Old Town. At the end of this street we suddenly emerge beside the old town walls and the sea. People have clearly moved off the small beach onto the rocks as the sun has left the beach, which is to the right.

Further along the street which runs behind the walls we come upon the tiny chapel of St Vito. It looks as though it had melted.

A little further on we reach the sea again and another battered church of San Salvatore.  We were struck by the shape of the windows.

Next we find the ruins of the Torre Santa Maria, from which there is a nice view of the 16th century castle.

This looks even better, basking in the evening sunshine, from directly in front.

We follow the edge of the harbour round to Piazza Garibaldi, a delightfully intimate square whose best feature is the Torre Comunale. 

We have a delightful aperitif of Fiano in one of the many bars and then walk along via Garibaldi, past another nice Baroque church, San Domenico.

At the end we briefly visit the tourist office to find out where we can locate a bank. We are very helpfully told that such a thing does not exist in the old town and pointed towards a square in the new where we can find one.

Conditions: warm, sunny, blue sky.

Distance: two miles.

Rating: three and a half stars. A charming, quiet town.