The Puglian pace of life is slow. Given that you will be in our trulli surrounded by countryside with your own swimming pool, terrace and barbeque, just relaxing and enjoying the views should prove a restful and delightful experience. To be honest, this itinerary is ambitious, but because Puglia is not very well known to our customers we often get asked what attractions are available. In our first two week holiday to the area we didn’t manage do all the site seeing, but some holidaymakers are more dedicated "tourists" than others. We have put together this itinerary to show some of what is on offer.

The towns bustle in the mornings, but, like most Mediterranean areas, everything goes very quiet during the hottest part of the day. The locals retire for a siesta or decamp to the beach. There are literally tens of miles of beaches all along the coast, all different in character. There is no such thing as a "best" beach, just experiment randomly. If you don't want to be back at the trulli and its pool in the afternoon, just drive along the coast until you find a beach that appeals.

Alberobello street

Shops typically close from 1.00 - 4.30. The streets fill up again around 6.00. A major "activity" is to sit in a cafe or bar watching everyone else go by – the Italians even have a proper name for this: "Il Parade". This is the act of wandering up and down the street without really needing to, to see and be seen!

Alberobello at night

All the towns have a few squares where the locals gather to talk. This usually works by age; so one square will be full of the older residents of the town, another with the teenagers, another with the children and so on. The age boundaries are rarely crossed, each group seems to like mixing with their contemporaries. This ritual is deeply set within Puglian psyche and worth observing. Even in the depths of winter in pouring rain and zero degrees the locals will appear for an hour or two in the local squares just to chat! I once asked what the subject matter of these endless daily gatherings with the same people could possibly be that kept everyone so entertained night after night. I was told "who has died" and "what I will be having for dinner tonight" were the major topics!

Assuming you want to do something a little more active than this, here are some suggestions:

Itinerary Summary

... And that's with no time for beaches or the sea!

Day 1. Alberobello itself needs at least a day to visit the many different types of trulli and "museums" (as tourism isn't very developed many places of attraction are just a €2 charge to look around inside a trulli). The town is compact, no more than a couple of square miles across, and there are maps on some street corners showing the best sites to visit. During the lunchtime break, you can retire to the trulli then go back to town for an evening stroll and dinner.

Alberobello street

Day 2. Experience the "Grotte di Castellana". These are famous and extensive caves about a 30 minute drive away, with spectacular stalactites and stalagmites. You are only allowed to go round in conducted tours that take place every 30 minutes. There are some tours in English, but we went on an Italian one and although none of us speak Italian it was perfectly good enough. The village of Castellana itself is a bit dull apart from a church full of sculptures and paintings. We had lunch in one of the restaurants right by the caves. These may look very touristy, but the food was excellent and reasonably priced.

Back to the trulli or a beach for an afternoon rest.

Go to Locorotondo in the evening. This is a small town only 10-15 minutes drive away. There is a small "Centro storico" (historic centre) that is well worth a couple of hours to meander, some of the views can't have changed for 500 years. Later, several restaurants offer excellent Puglian dinners.

Day 3. A trip to Ostuni, otherwise known as "the White City" and about 30 minutes drive from the trulli. Here even the pavements and roads in the centre are white. The 15th century cathedral (built in 1435) is impressive even by local standards. Nearby S. Maria la Nova has beautiful frescos, but at least half the fun is just wandering around the streets, with unusual buildings and corner structures at every turn. I have wandered into at least 8 churches, all very different from each other, enticed by the beauty of the street facade. There are lots of interesting shops, often selling strange things (some seem to sell only what looks like witches' broomsticks!). Make sure you look over the eastern ramparts towards the sea about 8 miles away. It is slightly unnerving as there is a sheer drop of several hundred feet in places, but the view across the olive groves and vineyards is glorious. Ostuni is more touristy than many of the other towns, it is bigger and has more interesting buildings. Inevitably it attracts crowds, but the town is still well worth a visit and takes until siesta time or beyond to explore properly.

Ostuni

Day 4. Lecce. An absolute must. A couple of hours drive from the trulli will bring you to into a town rich with rococo style architecture. Had Lecce been situated in the rich and accessible north, we are convinced Lecce would be as famous as Florence. Lecce never had the power or influence of Florence, but once it was very wealthy, and this is reflected in endless ornate buildings, too many to mention. Again the only tactic is to park the car on the edge of the central area and walk about. By the end of the morning your reaction will be: "Oh no, not another priceless medieval spectacular building, let's go for lunch!". There is a market on Sundays and although it is mainly for the locals there is plenty of interest, definitely worth a visit. There are also several Roman ruins dotted about the place, often not even signposted. We stumbled across an amphitheatre that would attract visitors from miles away in the UK, but here it just passes unnoticed in a quiet corner of town.

Lecce

Day 5. Maybe a gentler day? Especially if you have kids who may have overdosed on architecture by now. What about Fasano wildlife safari park? On the day we went it was very crowded and not very different from an English safari park. We recommend you go either early or late. Between 11.00 and 14.00 it was chaos, but we were there in August, easily the busiest time of the year. The park did have a spectacular range of animals that it was possible to get very close to. The setting and vegetation is a lot closer to Africa than UK safari parks, and it was good fun to go around; however it was the most "mass attraction" place that we came across, so if you don’t want crowds, don’t go there. At about 30 minutes from the trulli, Fasano itself is a pleasant small town, but not very exciting.

If you really want a second activity for the day, why not drive to Martina Franca for the afternoon or evening. If you are feeling a little adventurous, then don't follow the official signs taking you via Locorotondo. Instead turn right off the S172 about 1 mile outside Alberobello onto the P58. The only signposting is to "Green Park Agriturismo" – no road sign or an indication that this is in fact the old road to Martina Franca. Just keep following the signs to Green Park and when a turn off is indicated, just stay on the road. By then you will see Martina Franca in the distance. This route goes right through the middle of Valle d'Itrea, the heart of trulli country. You are surrounded by trulli of all shapes and descriptions on every side. It's a fascinating drive. Martina Franca itself looks pretty unappealing from the outskirts, just a bunch of 1970s flats. Don't let that put you off. The cobbled street centre has an area of highly atmospheric buildings and interesting shops. There seems to be a lot of wealth in Martina: Hidden amongst streets that often look very ordinary will be super-smart Italian designer furniture or antiques shops. There are also lots of good restaurants for dinner.

Day 6. We didn’t get to Castel del Monte, but it sounds fascinating. We estimate it to be 90 minutes north of the trulli. It is one of the most famous sites in Puglia. It is thought to have been built by Fredrick II after his return from the Crusades. The shape is a mathematically exact Octagon with eight octagonal towers around the central octagon. There is a huge amount of mythology around the castle which has yet to be solved. It is located half way between the cathedral of Chartres and Cheope's pyramid and is believed to have been designed to reveal a secret to those who know what they are looking for, but no one knows what or if they do they are not saying. Another legend claims that the shape was designed to concentrate great magical power rather like mirrors concentrate the sun's rays in one spot in a modern solar power station. The castle was built in such a way that its shadows exactly match the signs of the zodiac. Clearly the place is strange enough to be worth a trip on our next visit.

Day 7. Brindisi. About an hour's drive away. It's no great tourist attraction, although not for want of trying. Only one of the churches was unlocked when we went there. The columns marking the very end of the Appian way were worth seeing. There is a lovely harbour and castle with old city walls. I liked the atmosphere of a small Italian town with a couple of nice shopping streets, the rest of the family thought it a bit dull, as it is just an ordinary Italian town, but that can be quite fun too. If you do visit, there is a café / ice cream shop called Skippers just beyond the Appian Way columns by the harbour front that sells truly spectacular ice cream even by Italian standards. We haven't visited Bari yet. It is much bigger than Brindisi, and looks very industrial from the outskirts. If you land at Bari and drive around the Tangentiale to get on the road to the trulli, don’t be put off. It bears a strong resemblance to the North Circular Road, even complete with an Ikea! But thankfully it is very atypical of the beautiful Puglian countryside. There are supposed to be a couple of wonderful churches in the centre in the old town, but some areas of Bari are apparently best avoided and not entirely safe. We may visit it on our next trip.

Day 8. Matera. Not mentioned in any of the local guidebooks because it isn’t in Puglia, but in neighbouring Basilicata. In fact it is just over one hour’s drive and well worth the journey. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Matera has been used as the film set for around 14 films including Mel Gibson’s controversial film 'The Passion of The Christ' and the cult film 'Christ Stopped at Eboli'. Matera is famous for its cave dwellings, where residents lived in caves with their animals, incredibly, until the 1950s. One of the very poorest corners of Italy, it remained almost unchanged for centuries until it was turned into a national monument. Frescos hundred of years old have survived in the cave churches in astonishing condition.