Ostuni

Ostuni, called the White City of Salento, is a renowned tourist destination, full of narrow streets and houses, which are entirely painted with white lime. It rises in the Valle d’Itria at 218 meters above sea level, in the province of Brindisi, and is 8 km from the Adriatic coast where the Blue Flag flies, on the last offshoots of the Murgia area.

The term White City comes from the past as the village of Ostuni was repeatedly hit by the plague and so the area was sanitized and made aseptic, the walls were then covered with white lime.

Its historic center, defined by the inhabitants as “La Terra“, fascinates tourists both for the whitewashing of the houses and for their particularity, as these climb the steep sides of a hill.
The medieval village is characterized by the tangle of winding streets, a succession of small squares, alleys and courtyards and its lower part is surrounded by the ancient city walls in which the only two entrances of the city are embedded: Porta Nova and Porta San Demetrio.

At the top of the hill there are the fifteenth-century Cathedral of Ostuni, the Bishop’s Palace and the old Seminary.
Along via Cattedrale, near the baroque church of Santa Maria Maddalenat, there is the former monastery of the Carmelites, today home to the Museum of Preclassic Civilizations of the Southern Murgia, where the cast of Delia is exposed, i.e. a pregnant woman who lived 25,000 years ago and was found in a cave near Ostuni in 1991.

The coast today represents one of the major seaside tourist attractions in Apulia. The Ostuni coast extends for about 20 km and is characterized by its discontinuity, characterized by endless stretches of sand that alternate with majestic cliffs, coves. All this makes the area very beautiful and interesting, especially for those who want to see every day something different without moving too far from the starting point.
One of the most beautiful beaches of Ostuni, located about 7 kilometers from the historic center, is the Torre Pozzelle beach. Do not miss  Rosa Marina, a succession of small sandy beaches in the Mediterranean scrub, Monticelli, where it is possible to find a quiet and familiar atmosphere, and Costa Merlata, so called because of the extremely jagged coastline, with the sea creeping between the crevices of a rocky coast forming singular and intimate sandy coves.

The White City offers a variety of flavours, ranging from the sea to the mountains aromas.
A lot of fresh fish, but also vegetables, cheeses, oil and wine…
You have absolutely to taste the alici arracanate, the ‘ncaprata, a poor dish based on cream of broad beans with the addition of chicory and turnip greens, the omelette with mint, the brasciole, rolls of slices of meat with ham, parsley and pecorino cheese filling gratin. You have to taste also the orecchiette with turnip greens, rice and mussels potato pan and, finally, the taralli seasoned with pepper or fennel seeds.