Puglia is a land of passage of winds and clouds that gallops between sea and sea. This is how Guido Piovene defined it, underlining some aspects that make it unique. Its position in the center of the Mediterranean Sea has made Puglia, over the millennia, a region with a multiform heritage.
In Puglia different and complementary environments intersect, the gentle hills of the Monti Dauni, the forests of the Gargano, the plains, the caves, the sea. Cultures that leave signs that remain unchanged overtime also intersect, unknowingly conserved and guarded by men.
Puglia, which combines two seas, the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea, is a land of encounters and discoveries, from the coast to the hinterland, full of mystery and charm to be explored at any time of the year.
Not just summer and crystalline sea, therefore: the countryside and the villages of the inland areas will be your inspiration to spend moments of community, during which you can discover the authentic face of Apulian culture, from food to art, through songs and dances, without forgetting faith and craftsmanship.
Everyday is a new adventure. Come and experience it with us!
A few kilometers from Masseria San Lorenzo Resort you will be immersed in the green landscape of the Itria Valley, a karst depression that includes the territories of some of the most iconic villages of Puglia, such as Ostuni, Cisternino, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Ceglie Messapica and, a short distance away, Alberobello.
It is so called in honor of the Madonna dell’Odegitria - She who shows the way - a legacy of the Byzantine cult in the area and is one of the most admired landscapes in Puglia.
Trulli, Cummerse houses, small “masserie” and farmhouses dot a green and fertile countryside, where everyday of the year the community takes care of the flavors of the earth. The Itria Valley is one of the most important wine-growing areas of Puglia, called IGT since 1995, with wines appreciated all over the world.
Masseria San Lorenzo Resort is surrounded by naturalistic and cultural beauties of great historical value, enriched by the presence of characteristic coastal and hilly villages where you can still feel the strong authenticity that distinguishes the area.
If you don’t want to travel long distances we recommend you spend some of your time visiting them. Here are our suggestions:
• Fasano (2 km): Fasano is the city of Masseria San Lorenzo Resort, in the heart of Puglia, surrounded by an area of a thousand shades. Here the scents, flavors and beauties of the ancient cultural heritage can be appreciated in every season of the year. From the hills to the sea, Fasano and its territory offer travelers the opportunity to breathe the atmosphere of tradition with renewed authenticity, surrounded by the wonderful masserie of the Piana degli Ulivi Monumentali, by the sea, by cultural sites of international interest, by precious ecosystems and from a gastronomic heritage of enormous value.
• Locorotondo (10 km): Locorotondo is a small village with a characteristic circular shape, in the heart of the Itria Valley, characterized by a fairy-tale skyline made of white houses and sloping roofs called cummerse. Since 2005 it has been awarded among the Most beautiful Villages in Italy and Orange Flag of the Touring Club. Getting lost in its narrow whitewashed alleys is the secret to discovering the enchantment that lies behind the simplicity and authenticity of a small rural community, with its tiny chapels, its majestic churches, its baroque palaces and its stupendous panoramas.
• Cisternino (11 km): On the last slope of the Apulian Murgia rises Cisternino overlooking the Itria Valley. It is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and one of the Jewel Municipalities of Italy, characteristic for its maze of narrow paved streets between the white walls of the typical house of the historic center and the small squares where you can breathe the air of the past and, in the evening, the now typical scent of meat on the stove.
• Alberobello (14 km): Alberobello is an iconic city, known throughout the world for its Trulli, a UNESCO heritage site since 1996. Its incredible history begins in the first half of the 17th century, with the construction of these typical cone-shaped houses, made with dry masonry, which today fill anyone who observes them with amazement and wonder. Alberobello thus becomes the only inhabited center in the world in which there is an entire neighborhood with trulli-houses, or rather two, the Rione Monti and the Rione Aia Piccola, which make it, without any doubt, the cultural capital of the Trulli of the Murgia.
• Monopoli (15 km): Ancient city overlooking the Adriatic, famous for its rich artistic, cultural and religious heritage. Monopoli, known as the City of a hundred districts, preserves in its village the ancient medieval layout, its fortifications, the ancient fishing port, the castle and the wonderful Cathedral dedicated to Maria Santissima della Madia.
• Martina Franca (15 km): the city of Martina Franca has always been a point of reference for its artistic and cultural heritage. The art here has architectural expressions of identity of enormous value: in the historic center every street and avenue is full of baroque and rococo architecture dating back to the 17th century, the result of the ingenuity and mastery with which local artisans specialized in stone. Martina Franca is also the City of Festivals since the Valle d’Itria Festival, the now famous artistic festival dedicated to opera, bel canto and baroque musical theater, has taken place here for almost 50 years.
• Ostuni (20 km): Ostuni, the white city, is one of the most popular villages in the area, so called due to the color of its historical core entirely painted with white lime. It is a renowned tourist center that stands on a hill a few steps from the sea, awarded for years with the Blue Flag and the Five Sails of Legambiente for the cleanliness of the waters of its coast and for the quality of the services offered.
• Polignano a mare (23 km): Looking out from one of the many viewpoints of the ancient village of Polignano a Mare you will be overwhelmed by one of the most spectacular scenarios on the Apulian coast. The crystalline sea breaks on the high cliffs that support the city, takes refuge in enchanting hidden caves or rests calmly in the Lama Monachile inlet full of white, smooth pebbles. To frame this spectacle of nature there is the old city, waiting to be discovered, with its white houses, churches and narrow alleys rich in traditions linked to the sea.
