Locorotondo: The Most Perfect Circle in Puglia
Autore: La Redazione di www.tourleaderpro.com
Locorotondo — literally "round place" — is a whitewashed hilltop town of 14,000 in the Valle d'Itria, in the Puglia region of southern Italy, 30km from Bari and 15km from Alberobello (the UNESCO trulli zone). The name is exactly descriptive: the historic centre occupies a perfectly circular hill, its concentric streets creating a bull's-eye pattern visible from satellite imagery. The external walls of the houses are uniformly whitewashed — a practice mandated by the municipality and maintained with remarkable consistency — giving the town a visual identity that photographs exceptionally well from any angle. From the main street belvedere, the view over the Valle d'Itria — a landscape of trulli, olive groves, and vineyards stretching to the Adriatic — is one of the defining Pugliese panoramas. Locorotondo is worth a half-day at minimum and a night if you have the flexibility.
The Old Town: Rione Monti
The historic centre of Locorotondo (Rione Monti, the upper town) follows the circular plan of the hilltop with a precision that seems designed rather than organically evolved. The white-painted facades, the cumbre (the characteristic pitched-roof extensions on some houses, unique to Locorotondo), and the geraniums in pots on the window ledges produce a visual composition that is coherent without being monotonous. The collegiate church of San Giorgio (18th century, Baroque) sits at the centre of the upper town with a modest but genuine facade. The streets around it have the quality of a living historic centre rather than a preserved monument — people live here, hang washing, keep vegetable gardens behind the walls.
Locorotondo DOC: The Local White Wine
The Valle d'Itria around Locorotondo produces a white wine — Locorotondo DOC — from Verdeca and Bianco d'Alessano grapes grown on the limestone plateau. The wine is light, dry, mineral, with good acidity and a clean finish — designed for the local seafood and the fresh cheeses of the area rather than for aging. The cooperative cantina (Cantina Sociale di Locorotondo, the largest producer) sells directly and is the main source for tourists buying the wine to take home. Several small estate producers also sell directly; ask in the town for current information on who is open for visits. The Locorotondo DOC is not one of Italy's great wines but it is genuinely local, genuinely fresh, and genuinely inexpensive in the place that produces it.
Questions About Locorotondo
How do I get to Locorotondo?
By train: the FSE (Ferrovie Sud Est) regional line connects Bari to Locorotondo via Alberobello — useful but slow (1h45 from Bari). By car from Bari: 45km, 50 minutes via SS100. From Alberobello: 10km, 15 minutes. From Ostuni: 30km, 35 minutes. The town centre has limited parking — arrive in the morning before the midday congestion in summer. A car is the practical choice for exploring the Valle d'Itria generally.
Is Locorotondo better than Alberobello?
Locorotondo and Alberobello serve different purposes. Alberobello has the trulli (the UNESCO-listed stone beehive houses) — visually extraordinary and unavoidable if you're in the Valle d'Itria. It is also significantly more touristic than Locorotondo. Locorotondo has better atmosphere, a functioning local life, better food and wine prices, and the panoramic view over the Valle d'Itria that Alberobello doesn't have. The correct programme is: Alberobello for the trulli (2 hours), Locorotondo for the town and the belvedere and lunch (3-4 hours). They're 10km apart.
What to eat in Locorotondo?
The food of the Valle d'Itria: orecchiette with ragù or with cime di rapa (turnip tops), bombette (pork rolls stuffed with cheese, grilled over charcoal — the definitive meat preparation of this area), burrata (the fresh mozzarella-cream combination, produced locally), local ricotta, fave e cicorie (fava bean puree with wild chicory — ancient and delicious). Prices in Locorotondo are significantly lower than in the coastal Puglia resorts. A complete lunch with local wine costs €15-25 per person in a good local restaurant.
Can I see trulli from Locorotondo?
Yes — the panorama from the main belvedere of Locorotondo looks out over the Valle d'Itria where trulli appear scattered across the landscape among olive groves and vineyards. Individual trulli are visible along the roads between the towns. For the dense trulli urban concentration, Alberobello (10km) is necessary. For the trulli-in-landscape panorama, Locorotondo's viewpoint is actually more impressive than any view from within Alberobello.
Curiosità su Locorotondo
Le cumbre — i caratteristici tetti a doppio spigolo con piccole finestre che distinguono le case di Locorotondo dai trulli di Alberobello e dalle case bianche di Ostuni — sono una forma architettonica unica di questo paese. Il termine è dialettale; l'origine è discussa (probabilmente dal latino cumulare, accumulare, riferito alla forma del tetto che accumula la pioggia verso i pluviali laterali). Le cumbre servivano anche come depositi di granaglie nella parte alta — sfruttando il calore del tetto in legno come essiccatoio naturale. Sono ancora presenti sulle case del centro storico di Locorotondo e costituiscono un elemento architettonico documentato esclusivamente in questo comune. La guida Touring Club Italiano degli anni '50 le menziona come elemento di interesse locale unico — ancora vero settant'anni dopo. Vedi anche: Puglia · Alberobello · Ostuni.