Excursions

Puglia has a lot to offer - apart from Ostuni, the lovely 'Città Bianca' for its whitewashed medieval houses and the great sea view vistas - one should see these delightful small towns all close to Pascarosa:

Martina Franca: an exquisite old town with beautiful baroque architecture - here an Internatinal Opera Festival takes place during late July / August. Little .known operas are staged in the courtyard of the wonderful Palazzo Ducale.

Locorotondo: built in a circular formation, hence its name, where streets spiral up to a magnificent church visible for miles around. The area is famous for its deliciously crispy white wine.

Cisternino: with a delightful old small centro storico.

Alberobello: famous for its trulli - thousands of circular stone hobbit-like houses with cone-shaped roofs made of dry stones without cement. If you want them in abundance climb the steps to the old quarter which has a small museum in a group of trulli and you could be back in the 17th century.

Not far from Alberobello are the Grotte di Castellana, amazing caves with passages full of incredible stalagmites and stalagtites.

A note: don't be put off by the ugly high-rise structures around the outskirts of most of these towns. Head for the 'centro storico' and you will marvel at their beauty. The landscape, with its thousands of olive trees intermingled with huge prickly pear cacti and honey-coloured dry stone walls, is most unusual and more reminiscent of parts of Greece than Italy.

Lecce: (about one hour's drive from Ostuni). A splendid town, known also as 'the Florence of the South'. Its baroque architecture, the Roman amphitheatre and the magnificent Piazza Duomo make this an unmissable destination.

Matera: (In Basilicata) famous for its 'sassi' - quite extraordinary cave dwellings built into the rocks - it was the location for Mel Gibson's film 'The Passion of Christ'. Matera is now a World Heritage Site. Further south from Lecce, the Salentine Coast is very beautiful (though crowded in summer). You can visit the lovely town of Otranto, then drive on to Santa Maria di Leuca, and see where the Adriatic and the Ionian seas meet. It's also worth driving northwards up the Western coast of the 'heel' to Galllipoli where you through a causeway you reach the lovely old town, a maze of whitewashed small streets by the sea.

Surrounding Area

The Sea - The Ostuni coast with emerald coloured sea and sandy coves are a 30 minutes' drive away. You can get to the sea in about half an hour. If you go to Costa Merlata or Torre Pozzelle (off the 376) you can choose from a series of rocky coves and lovely clear water for swimming. Or you can spend the day in the most exclusive beach area, Rosa Marina, where wealthy Italians have their summer villas. The public are not allowed to park there but taxis are allowed to drop you off and you can have lunch at the little beach restaurant.

Shopping - There is a small grocery store a mile away from the village (at traffic light turn left and the shop is just after the junction) where you can buy most food stuff such as bread, pasta, milk, cheese, ham and newspapers. Not to be missed is the Saturday morning market in Ostuni - situated in the modern part of the town. It starts early in the morning and continues until about 1pm. The choice of fantastic fruit and vegetables and other local delicacies is quite amazing, making self-catering a real pleasure and extremely economical. Here you can also find clothes, shoes, linen and kitchen goods which are inexepensive and of good quality. If you must purchase Max Mara and Versace clothes you can find shops in Viale Pola which sell these labels.