Buongiorno! and welcome back again to “When Wine Calls” as we continue our road trip through Puglia.
A few hours drive north from Fillippo de Raho Agri Relais along the usual narrow country roads is a town called Ceglie Messapica perched high on a hill in the Istrian Valley – the valley known as the Home of the Trulli.
When planning this trip, we had really wanted to stay in a Trulli and were excited when we located a family run olive and grape farm called Trullo Santangelo not far from famous towns such as Alberobello and Locotrondo. Like Fillippo de Raho Agri Relais the property was located down a narrow dirt road but unlike previously I was unconcerned this time as to where we would end up. When we entered through the electronic gates, we found this exquisite family property with accommodation in both Trulli’s and Lamie’s (i.e. these were once farmer’s homes with flat roofs) .
The property used to be the original family home then converted for accommodation and included an outside country kitchen, large pool, and a glass atrium that we were to later dine in, all centred around a courtyard and open-air tables. The family lived adjacent which included Maria and Daniele, their two young children and Maria’s parents. They were a lovely family, and it was great to get to know them during our stay.
Our trulli was off the central courtyard and when we walked in it was simply stunning and as we had imagined it would be from our research. We were excited that we had again found such an authentic, homely and remarkable property for our stay over the next few days.
On occasions Maria and Daniele hold special dinners for guests and friends and we were fortunate that they were holding one of these dinners on our first night there. Daniele was the chef with Maria and her staff assisting and we were amused to see that Daniele had converted a horse float into a very functional kitchen for cooking with a small timber shed attached for prepping the meals. The glass atrium was turned into a fine dining restaurant complete with romantic lighting and a view of the stars through the glass roof. The dinner turned out to be a degustation Puglian menu complimented with their own wine “Elia” and as well as being delicious it left us completely bloated – luckily it was only a short walk across the courtyard to our trulli at the end of the evening. It was an amazing and memorable night, and we were so glad we were there to experience it.
After a late breakfast the next morning sitting out in the courtyard, which included these amazing custard filled buns we headed off to explore the region driving through the trulli countryside on our way to Locotrondo.
Locotrondo is a town located high on a hill overlooking the valley. It has an amazing Old Town which we simply loved, exploring the narrow laneways and passages with quaint shops, bars and restaurants meshed in with the locals’ homes and the magnificent Palazzo Morelli as its centrepiece. It was such an amazing town that we returned there for dinner later in the day to enjoy the atmosphere and view.
Our next town was the famed town of Alberobello located a short distance up the road in the Apulia region. Alberobello’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known as the Home of the Trulli with whitewashed stone huts with amazing conical roofs.
It is an extremely pretty village but like all such unique places appears to be suffering from becoming a tourist destination with populous shops, bars and restaurants taking over a lot of the village.
We enjoyed seeing the magnificence of these trullis’ but the tourist aspects were a dampener for us and after winding our way through each of the laneways we decided to head back to Locotrondo late in the afternoon where there were considerably less tourists..
On our final day at Trullo Santangelo we took a longer drive north through the back roads of the valley up to Grotte di Castellana.
This grotto is the largest limestone cave in Europe, and it has unbelievable caverns the size of which I have never seen before inside a limestone cave – quite unbelievable to experience although the pictures we took did not do it justice. We expected a large crowd would be there when we arrived, but the heat appeared to have warned many tourists away given its location in the countryside and with the beach the better option for many. That worked well for us, as we did not need to stand in any long queues to get entry to the grotto and when inside the temperature throughout was pleasantly cool.
That night we went “local” and picked up some food and wine at the supermarket in Ceglie Messapica and sat in the courtyard outside our trulli under the stars reflecting on the wonderful experiences we had here over the past few days – another magical stop on our Puglian adventure.
Leaving Trullo Santangelo the next morning we headed over to the coast for a day at the beach prior to arriving at our next stopover which was only a short distance away.
We decided to stop at a location south of Monopoli at a lido that provided parking and beach facilities (at a cost) for the day. For those that do not know about lido’s they are essentially a private beach club roped off from the rest of the beach where you can park the car, hire lounge chairs with umbrellas set up on the beach with food and drink facilities provided. The overall cost for hire of the chairs and umbrella is around 30 Euros but it does provide you easy access to the beach. The alternative is an area adjacent to the lido where other bathers bring their own umbrellas and beach chairs and park precariously on the narrow street and while it does not cost anything they are heavily crowded into the available space on the beach. In any event, we enjoyed the warm waters of the Adriatic and had a fantastic day, but I hope that Australia does not go down this path with utilisation of its beach space.
After a short drive inland, we arrived at our next stop Masseria il Frantoio, another fantastic olive farm with an unbelievable history dating back to 1500. Following our accommodation stopovers over the past week we thought it could not get better but the few days we stayed here were amazing. Our room was in the original house which has been preserved with all the original trimmings and memorabilia and with our room set out as it was back then, albeit with modern facilities added – it was simply warm and charming.
We had pre-booked dinner at the farmhouse that night that they called “Trip to Tradition” which we were unsure what to expect other than it was a degustation dinner. It commenced with a wine tasting in the pool area with a local wine maker followed by the owner taking all guests on a tour of the property explaining its incredible history, the secret and walled gardens, the museumin the cellar that looked like inside a grotto where the olive oil was originally manufactured with all the equipment still in place and finally part of the family’s original living areas. From there it was into the amazingly lit open courtyard under the stars for dinner with the owner coming over personally to our table as each of the eight courses and its origin were explained to us – similar with each of the wines served including, interestingly, its alcohol content which is something we do not find in Australia.
He was so passionate about what he and the family have created here and rightly so – it was simply another amazing and memorable night for us finished off with the owner presenting us with a copy of the menu as a momento of the evening. Pauline and I could not believe the experience and the overall ambience created by the owner and his staff. The next morning, we were on the road again exploring the town known as the White City, “Ostuni”.
Our dear friends Peter and Carol had visited here a few months ago with Carol basing herself in Ostuni for a month to explore the area so we were keen to visit this town. Like other towns in this region Ostuni is perched high on a hill but with a magnificent view out to the Adriatic.
The Old Town has the most amazing, whitewashed buildings that are so glaring when the sun bounces off them with wonderful laneways and homes with flowerpots hanging off the balconies and staircases. After walking all around the Old Town, we stopped at a bar for our daily hydration drink i.e. Aperol Spritz’s and soaked up the amazing view.
That night we were back at the Masseria for dinner and this time we were booked in for the “Journey to Tradition” dinner. What was the difference you may be asking – well the night before had been an 8-course menu with 4 wines (normally 3 wines but the winemaker added an extra on the night for tasting) while this evening it was a 6-course menu with 2 wines but with differing menus. Notwithstanding the smaller menu we were just as full at the end of the evening as the previous night and ended up not even staying for the aperitif. Again, at the end of the evening the owner provided us a copy of the menu as a keepsake which is such a lovely touch.
I cannot say enough about the meals we had over the two nights we were at Masseria il Frantoio, they were just exceptional with the staff so generous throughout the evening with their time that you wished you could stay another night to embrace the experience a further time. Sadly, we had to say good-bye the next morning for another unbelievable experience but it was tempered by the real excitement for our next destination. Where were we heading to with so much anticipation? – you will need to read our next blog to find out.
In the meantime, Ciao! from Puglia.
Bruce & Pauline
When Wine Calls 
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