Apulia appeal

Puglia may be familiar to you from the labels on bottles of Italian wine, but it's also known as Apulia. It's attractions include uniquely quirky dwellings, finest olive oil and glorious regional food. But these may soon be joined by a statue of our own travel regular Marion Bull

Palm Sunday morning, and an old woman clutching an oversized olive branch makes her way down the lane to join a procession to church. Everyone is carrying a branch, so from a distance it looks like an entire olive tree migrating along the narrow street. It could be any southern Italian village, except that the church, the shops, restaurants, and every house in Alberobello centre is a trullo - ancient, dry stone dwellings whimsically topped with conical roofs and mystical signs painted on them. No one's quite sure why.

It's like being on a film set of giant chess pieces. Once you get used to the dazzling white facades (they seem to have no shortage of decorators here) and the marble-shiny flagstone pavements, it's a delight to explore.

Somebody emerges from a low front door. "Buon giorno," she smiles, as if she's known me for years. Visitors are still treated as friends in Apulia (Puglia in Italian), on Italy's elegant boot heel, that struts proudly into the Adriatic, self-sufficient, seemingly as far from the rest of Europe as you can get. This is the original ecotourism. With its rural traditions and recipes based on organic wild ingredients, handed down from one generation to the next, the locals laugh at the thought. "We've been green all along!"

It's a gentle landscape, at its prettiest in spring and early summer, when poppies and ox-eye daisies cover the meadows. Uliveti, centuries-old wild olive trees, so gnarled that they sprawl sideways, are surrounded by nets from the last shaking (October is harvest time). By the look of the trees, they can hardly take much more. But these produce some of the best organic olive oil anywhere. It's known as "liquid gold", much revered for thousands of years, not only for food, but in medicinal and cosmetic uses. There is an olive oil museum in nearby Fasano, in an 11th century Benedictine monastery.

Some of the locals are proud to show visitors round their trulli - Alberobello is a Unesco World Heritage Site after all, and mass tourism still hasn't reached this far. But if you stay in a B&B trullo, a few surprises await: I didn't expect to need heating on when it was warm outside, but the massively thick limestone walls are built to keep it cool in summer and warm in winter. I woke up under one of the cones (they used to add cones over the years as the family grew) thinking I was in a rather posh cave. You have the dubious pleasure of tourists peering in at you. Still, it made me feel like a local, and the fantastic atmosphere in the Via Monte Nero, the main street, at night, with the trulli eerily lamplit, is worth staying for.

In the nearby L'Aratro restaurant, the owner, Domenico Laera explained every course.

"Our dishes are found nowhere else in Italy. We have a passion for our land and our family recipes," and then carried away by his own enthusiasm, he crescendo'ed, "and if you write about our little town, we'll build a monument to you!"

Here in the Itria Valley, three picturesque towns, Locorotondo, famous for its wines, Cisternino, voted one of Italy's best small towns, and Martina Franca, are a short drive away. South of Brindisi lies the city of Lecce, the Baroque architecture capital of Italy.

Another type of accommodation found in Apulia is the masseria. These are elegant former country manor houses and farms, where both landowner and workers' families used to live. The celebrated Il Frantoio, near Ostuni, has an underground millstone olive oil press. Their organic extra virgin olive oil comes from the 180 acre estate. A former nobleman's house, less than half an hour's drive from Alberobello, it has its own private beach, Lido Bizzarro, at nearby Torre Canne with thermal springs known for their healing properties. From here I visited the Roman site of Egnazia with its mosaic floors, and the old fishing port. I didn't make use of Il Frantoio's vintage car, which was just as well, as a fisherman presented me with a bucket of live octopus.

Still, it might have been handy. Il Frantoio's chef, the proprietor's wife, Rosalba, has been called a genius by the Italians. Expect something like 14 courses for lunch. If you are still awake by evening, the 16th century walled citrus garden is candlelit, perfumed by the heady scent of orange, lemon, and grapefruit blossom. It's almost too beautiful to leave.

Between here and Brindisi (the nearest airport to Il Frantoio) I visited Ostuni, known as the "white city" built on three hills, where old women still make pasta by hand in open doorways in medieval back streets. But I just had to return to the Alberobello to stay another night in a trullo.

"One cone or two?" said the owner when I arrived. You have to try to keep a straight face.

Information

Alberobello is one hour's drive inland from both Brindisi and Bari airports served by Ryanair and Alitalia.

Public transport is not accessible and non-existent in rural areas, so a hired car may be necessary. A train from Bari stops at Alberobello (a two-hour scenic journey). The station is 500m from Alberobello centre. Some UK operators offer tours of the region.

B&B/self-catering, self-contained Trulli (not accessible), Alberobello Tel: 0039 080 432 3860 www.trullidea.com

Trullo Liliana (accessible) with accessible restaurant in the vicinity Tel: 0039 392 426 6607 www.trullimania.com

In the countryside near Alberobello: Trullo La Difesa (accessible). Tel: 0039 080 439 5117, www.trulilovely.com

All trulli prices from approx. £30 per person per night.

Masseria Il Frantoio (not accessible; easy reach first floor rooms facing courtyard), Ostuni. Tel: 0039 083 133 0276. Prices vary seasonally, look for special offers, www.masseriailfrantoio.it

Masseria Torricella (accessible), Alberobello, 0039 080 930 9994 From £40 per person per night.

Useful website: www.agriturismo.it