Bicycle Italy.org

[Old Bike in Apulia Port - credit: Andrea Rinaldi]

Suggested N° of Days: 1 Week

Attractions to Visit

[Trulli di Alberobello - credit: boadiceafairy]

Alberobello’s Trulli - This village’s habitations are Trulli, particular houses built of stone without any use of mortar. They are circular, conical-roofed whitewashed.

Their roofs, topped with peaks, have concentric rows of gray slate and looks they are painted with astrological or religious symbols.

Their characteristic is that in the surrounding inside temperature remains almost constant irrelevant of outside temperature, therefore it is fairly warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is on the Unesco World Heritage list.

[Beach near Gargano - credit: *Blunight72]

Beaches - The coastline round is rocky between Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto. There are beaches around San Cataldo, San Foca, Casalabate and Torre Chianca on the Adriatic coast. Porto Cesareo on the Ionian coast is a beautiful beach to relax or make a tour bike around. The coast from around Gallipoli to Santa maria al bagno is good too. (link apulia coast tour)Headland of Gargano, bike through beautiful path with hard hairpin turn. (LINK ostuni, umbra forest)

[Ostuni view - credit: fataetoile /Cinzia]

Ostuni - Cycle along the scenic ridge road to Ostuni. Known as “The White City”, Ostuni is on the remains of a prehistoric town destroyed during the final throes of the Second Punic War. Its labyrinthine alleyways and cobblestone streets are ideal for exploring by foot or by bike. Visit to the Spanish-influenced, fifteenth-century Cathedral
(LINK Ostuni, umbra forest)

More to see:

• Umbra Forest (LINK ostuni, umbra forest)
• Tremiti islands (LINK Apulia coast tour)
• Olive Groves
• Byzantine stronghold Otranto

Apulia Cuisine

[Orecchiette - credit: Geomangio]

• Go north from Bari towards the Gargano Peninsula, you will pass dozens of miles of olive groves.
• Cereals and grains gown on the flat stony plateau that extends south from Bari, reaching all the way to Taranto.
• Puglia boasts a great culinary tradition, well known for orecchiette, pasta that bear in mind the shape of the human ear
• Altamura, renowned for its bread and friselle, disks of dried bread dipped in water and seasoned, with olive oil, hot peppers, and freshly tomatoes.
• Fine cheeses and excellent lamb and kid
• Apulia produces much more wine than any other Italian region

[Apulia Countryside - credit: paolo m? rgari]

Land Characteristic

The bicycle is the ideal way to see Puglia’s rural countryside. The region’s small roads and natural cycling tracks allow visitors to reach most of the monuments and significant cultural sites with complete freedom and independence.
Possibility of renting bike

Suggested bike tours

• Bike on small roads through orchards to the sea
• Alberobello tour, an UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Cycle through olive groves to the Roman ruins of Egnazia
• Cycle along the coast’s ancient stone villages, prehistoric menhirs and Byzantine crypts

Wether

The sunny days of the mediterranean climate allow you to bike Apulia all the year round. If you want to avoid the hot summer temperature, i suggest Spring as the best time to visit Apulia.

What people say

- “We just returned from their road biking tour of the Puglia region and it was great”

- “As for food? It’s amazing what is on offer. Puglia is mainly rural and that means loads of fresh produce.”

- “My wife and I, with our two boys aged 4 and 7 just completed the Butterfield & Robinson Homebase trip in Puglia in June 2007. This was without a doubt the best family vacation, and perhaps the best vacation my wife and I have enjoyed (short of our honeymoon!).”