Page 517 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

ABRUZZ O , MOLISE AND PUGLIA  515

t Alberobello
Bari. * 11,000. V to Alberobello
& Ostuni. n Piazza Ferdinando IV
(080 432 51 71). 8 in English,
French and German offered by Trulli
e Natura. _ Oct/Nov: Frantoi Aperti
(visits to the major olive-pressing
factories).
The parched landscape of the
Murge dei Trulli features olive
groves, vineyards and trulli.
Strange circular buildings with
conical roofs and domed within,
trulli are built from local
limestone stacked without
using mortar. The walls and
openings are generally
whitewashed, while the stone
roof tiles often have religious,
pagan or magical symbols
painted on them. The origins of
trulli are obscure, though the
name is traditionally applied to
ancient round tombs found in Whitewashed and sun-baked trulli in Alberobello
the Roman countryside.
Most trulli are souvenir shops. been expanded to allow for E Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Alberobello is a UNESCO a growing collection of Via Cavour 10. Tel 0994 53 21 12.
World Heritage Site and the trulli historically significant pieces. Open 8:30am–7:30pm daily. &
capital. Here the strange white Taranto was heavily bombed
buildings crowd the narrow in World War II and is garlanded
streets, and there are trulli by factories. The rundown The Tarantella
restaurants, shops and but picturesque Città Italy’s lively and graceful folk
even a trulli cathedral. Vecchia, an island dance, the
dividing the Mare Tarantella,
Environs Grande from the Mare grew out of
The pretty white- Piccolo, was the site tarantism –
washed hill- town of of the Roman citadel the hysteria that
Locorotondo is an of Tarentum. A lively appeared in 15th-
important wine centre. fish market offering the to 17th-century Italy,
The elegant streets of shellfish for which the city and was prevalent in Galatina
Martina Franca are is famous, is housed in an (see p517). Alleged victims
of the tarantula spider’s
enlivened by Rococo Art Nouveau building. bite could supposedly cure
balconies. The Aphrodite in Here, too, is the Duomo. themselves through frenzied
spectacular Grotte di museum in Founded in 1071, it dancing, which sweated out
Castellana are caves Taranto has been the object of the poison. The dance is
estimated to be sub sequent rebuilding. characterized by light, quick
50 million years old. The most interesting features steps and a “teasing” flirt. The
include the catacomb-like strange, private ritual takes
crypt, with its sarcophagi place annually on 29 June at
y Taranto and fragmented frescoes, 6am at the celebrations for the
and the antique marble Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
* 200,000. V @ n Corso in Galatina, the only place on
Umberto I (099 453 23 92). ( Wed, columns of the nave. Behind the Salentine Peninsula where
Fri & Sat. ∑ www.comune.taranto.it it is the 11th-century San
Domenico Maggiore, which tarantism has survived.
Little remains of the old city of later gained a high double-
Taras, founded by Spartans in approach Baroque stair case.
708 BC and at its most The huge castle built by
prosperous in the mid-4th Frederick of Aragon (15th
century BC. The Museo century) covers the eastern
Archeologico Na zionale, corner of the Città Vecchia.
founded in 1887, has artifacts Now a military area, the castle
that shed light on the region’s can only be visited on daily
history. The museum has since guided tours (free of charge).

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