Ostuni - BR - Brindisi
Puglia
For centuries it was a strategic province, colonized, invaded and conquered by just about every major power of the day. There was a long-lasting Greek influence, though the golden age of Puglia’s past was under the rule of the Normans, followed by Frederick II who, between his return from Germany as emperor in 1220 and his death 30 years later, only spent four years away from here.
Ostuni - Puglia
At the centre of the old town with its white alleyways and Aragonese ramparts, stands the late-15C Cattedrale which has both Romanesque and Gothic elements; it has a particularly beautiful rose window with complex symbolism relating to the passage of time.
Are the predominant colours in the province of Brindisi: the “white” of such towns as Ostuni and Ceglie Messapica and the “green” of the huge olive trees which are real monuments to nature, along with the old “trappeti”, or oil-mills, where olives used to be pressed.
Ostuni, with its typical narrow roads, steps, roofs and little balconies, becomes magic in the evenings when the lights reflect on the white houses while its 15th century brown cathedral impends over them.