Natalie´s Travel notes

Il Portico near Cisternino (Apulia)


The Countess Stefania Puglisi Allegria moved from Sicily to Apulia and bought some land with six of the famous trulli on it.

Here in the Itria Valley on the famous wine street from Cisternino to Locorotondo, where you can find age old olive trees, almond trees and lots of different fruit trees, I spent two weeks with my husband and two friends in September 2000.

Il Portico produces its own healthy vegetables, corn and grapes for a wonderful white wine.

We especially liked Concentina, the maid, who put fresh flowers on our kitchen table, cleaned our room and was always smiling. She is the “good soul of Il Portico”.

Stefania Puglisi Allegria and Alessandro have created a wonderful, quiet and typically Apulian Agriturismo offering Vegetarian Cuisine at the Il Portico restaurant. In the evening we asked Alessandro for suggestions for our next day trip and enjoyed our after dinner glass of homemade Limoncello.

The Mediterranean Diet menus prepared by the chef (Dora from Apulia) were so rich in their variety and so delicious that we did not miss meat dishes at all. Dora makes bread, forms Orecchiette, the ear-shaped pasta using their own flour, prepares a tasty tomato pomorola and a great mushroom risotto and a fabulous purea di fave. We also loved the homemade jams and their almond milk. You can feel that the owners enjoy cultivating this land. They have refurbished the trulli with great care using Apulian raw material and the garden gives the place a fairy tale atmosphere.

Nearby Amenities

The villa is near the town of Cisternino. There are small stores, bars and restaurants in the village. There is one restaurant that belongs to the Azienda Agrituristica Il Portico. More restaurants are in surrounding villages, about 10 to 15 minutes away. There are a lot of choices.

Our hosts provided a basket of provisions, including fresh vegetables from their garden, regional cheese and very wonderful olive oil as a good bye-gift.

About the House
The biggest trullo that we rented has two bedrooms with one double bed in each of them, a kitchen with a table and four chairs and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. There was not much hot water. We slept very well in the beds and never used the kitchen, because we had booked the trullo and half-board and the meals were so delicious and almost too much to eat.

Do you recommend this vacation rental to others?

I've already recommended Il Portico as a must to several of my friends, who enjoy staying in a quiet countryside place with a wonderful restaurant offering vegetarian Mediterranean Cuisine.

Things to do in this area

One could write a book about things one can do in Apulia or even in the Valle d´Itria alone. Here are some suggestions:
Days trips to the baroque town Martina Franca, to Locorotondo and the trulli town Martina Franca or to Monopoli, eating, drinking, and just relaxing at Il Portico, sunbathing at the beaches of the Coast of Bari. Il Portico is about 30km from the Adriatic Sea and about 40km from the Ionian Coast. We also visited Castellana Grotte and went shopping in Monopoli and Bari.

Our tour operator Capeland offers the trulli apartments and rooms.


Natalie Hoerner
email: office@capeland.it
Capeland Tour Operator
V. B. d´Acquisto 17
I-90046 Monreale
www.capeland.it

Pauline edited this message to remove some of the large photos - they are too large to display here. Instead go to Natalie's website to look at her photos.

[This message was edited by Pauline on October 16, 2002 at 03:46 PM.]