Locorontondo comes from the Latin Locus Rotundus, a round place. During the first half of the thirteenth century, it grew at the top of a hill enclosed in its walls. The village assumed a circular shape that gave it its name.
We really enjoyed our time exploring here. Interestingly many of the cities in Puglia are white in colour not to stay cooler in the summer heat but because of the plague in ancient times. They were painted with limestone to keep the plague away.
Locorontondo, like so many towns in Puglia is surrounded by olive trees and pretty low stone walls.
We found Locorontondo to be the cleanest white-walled city that we visited. It has lovely white buildings, alleyways and then so many flowers (often pink geraniums). We visited in the week and by chance, it was a public holiday so the town was very busy.
Locorontondo is famous for having the oldest trullo in the entire Valle D’Itria. A trullo is defined as a traditional Apulian dry stone hut with a conical roof. Their style of construction is specific to the Itria Valley, in the Murge area of the Italian region of Apulia. There were so many trulli to see on our journey in and around Locorontondo.
Lovely pots and cacti are found all over the streets and stairways.
We had lovely pizza served by a very helpful owner at Civico 27. Adu said his “four cheeses” was the best he has ever had. Italian pizza is just so good. Fresh ingredients are used always and I think the dough is different. It just tastes wonderful.
Just next to the restaurant was this very interesting church built inside a trullo. It is a seventeenth-century small church dedicated to St. Nicola from Myra. Its dome is the cone of a trullo. It was amazing how much cooler it was inside.
We cannot always find the time to research a trip. We just know where we want to go. In this instance, we used a “multi” geocache as a wonderful way to explore the city. The geocache had five stops, each with bits of information. One of the stops was the famous Saint George Church.
Saint George Church
This church is dedicated to St George the Martyr. It was built between 1790 and 1825 on the ruins of two other churches, the previous XVI-century one and the very old Casale San Giorgio.
The crypt is accessed from a staircase to the left of the main altar. It retains its original structure.
There is some beautiful artwork in the crypt.
Last Supper of Jesus
The baroque altar in this chapel was made by the Lamberts masters in 1764. The marble is enriched with little ovals of lapis lazuli. Above the altar is the oil painting the “Last Supper of Jesus” made by Gennaro Maldarelli in 1841.
Seeing beautiful paintings like this and some others in the Basilica Croci in Lecce has made me realise that in future travels I would really like to see some of the famous works of art in Rome and Florence.
This is the view onto the Itria Valley at the last stop.
We really enjoyed our day trip here!