The secret road of the trulli

A hidden country lane lines with trulli in the heart of Apulia's Valle d'Itria

Although trulli houses and farms are still sprinkled all throughout the Valle d'Itria, the majority of architecture outside Alberobello has become boringly modern.

There's one exception: an unheralded, unnamed back road linking Alberobello with Martina Franca (lovely whitewashed little city). The area seems frozen in the Apulia of ages past, blanketed with olive groves and vineyards and dotted with hundreds of countryside trulli.

The road is a devil to find, though: do not follow the signs toward "Martina Franca" from Alberobello's center. Instead, follow signs towards Locorotondo and, as you're leaving Alberobello behind, look on the right, just after a curve, for a collections of signs pointing variously to "Pizzeria-Ristorante Le Arcate," "Cava Marco" and "Agriturismo Greek Park."

That's the road: exceedingly narrow and fenced in by stone walls—a bit scary when you meet the rare oncoming car—and cutting right through the hidden heart of the Valle d'Itria.

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