Monopoli to Alberobello

October 25, 2024

A short uphill ride

Today was another beautiful day! Warm and sunny with a few clouds was perfect for our short climb up off the coast up to the town of Alberobello. Alberobello, besides being a UNESCO World heritage site, is also on the must see list in Puglia. But more on that later.

We started the day by retracing our steps to the Garibaldi Piazza to the bakery. Looking for some breakfast, we bought some creamy cheese and ham filled focaccia bread to go with coffees from Café Roma. We had noticed Café Roma yesterday as we were finding our way into the old part of Monopoli and thought it looked like a nice place to stop.

Out front of NEREA - Apulian Suite and Rooms- was good place to stay. Scott loved the Nespresso machine!

Our bikes waiting for the day to begin outside the Monopoli bakery.

Piazza Garibaldi where we had dinner last night is very quiet this morning.

Cafe Roma was busy and a good place to stop for our morning coffee.

After our breakfast stop and a few twists and turns on the streets of Monopoli, we were soon riding on SP 146 that would take us toward our destination. SP 146 would change to SP113 and both roads were older highways with minimal shoulder. The traffic was fairly consistent but not really busy as we began to climb up the gentle grade to our destination. It was a nice change of pace from the flat coastal routes but the views to the coast were obscured by a marine layer. The other disappointment was the amount of garbage lining the sides of the roads. We have seen this in other places and it can be a fairly common sight on our rides.

Our ride today was short and quick as there were no navigational challenges and no towns to pass through. The first ten kilometres were primarily an uphill section and then the area turned into rolling hills through farmland for the last ten kilometres. We enjoyed the scenery and carried on straight through to Alberobello, arriving slightly before our scheduled checkin time. We stopped on the town`s main street and sat on a bench to have a sandwich. The street was busy with tourists and there was lots to watch. At 2:30 we left to meet our host who would direct us to our apartment for the night.

We passed lots of large plots of land like this. Most were carefully tilled, surrounded by dry stacked rock walls and dotted with many olive trees.

An interesting sight. These are Trulli (plural, trullo is singular) are traditional homes from the Itria Valley in Puglia.

About to enter Alberobello the sign indicates that it is a UNESCO site.

We were staying with a company that organizes accommodation called Charming Trulli. They rent out trullis as places to stay the night. What is this all about? From UNESCO, ¨The trulli, typical limestone houses of Alberobello in southern Puglia, are extraordinary examples of dry stone slab construction, a technique dating back to prehistoric times and still used in this region. Although rural trulli are scattered throughout the Itria Valley, the highest concentration of best-preserved specimens of this architectural form is found in the town of Alberobello¨

So there you have it, we came to Alberobello along with many other people to see trulli buildings. Here are few photos.

Over looking the Monti District, which has the highest concentration of trulli.

Some are very tiny buildings but all have the distinctive trulli shape.

A main street. We are pleased to be here now as this area must get very crowded during peak tourist season.

There are about 1500 trullis in Alberobello that are concentrated in some areas and also randomly scattered about. We walked around looking at the unique buildings before going out for dinner. The restaurants in this town open later and we were starving by 7PM when the first ones opened. We had a seafood risotto for two that was delicious as well as a plate of grilled vegetables. The restaurant was not very busy and waiters were very helpful. They insisted that we have two desserts to go along with the "must have" shots of limoncello! Who are we to argue!?!

Our second dessert. The first was squares of pastry stuffed with yummy cream. Pat was provided with a much larger spoon than Scott with which to enjoy this chocolate deliciousness!

Church of Santi Medici Cosma e Damiano lit up on our way home.

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Today's ride: 24 km (15 miles)
Total: 147 km (91 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesDid you know about the Trulli abundance in advance, or did you stumble on the town and have a wow moment?
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1 month ago

Barry DevlinI truly like the Trullis. Did you stay in one?
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1 month ago

ROSY ColistroThis is a very “unique” area. The Trullis are a must see.
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1 month ago

Scott FenwickTo Steve Miller/GrampiesHi Steve,
Following Cycleblaze we knew of the trullis and knew that Alberobello was a popular place to see but we had no idea of the scale of the place. It is a large settlement. From that perspective , it was surprising.
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1 month ago