Grotte di Castellana - Trulli of Alberobello - Taranto

Route: Bari - Grotte di Castellana - Trulli of Alberobello - Taranto - Bari
Duration: 9 h
Firstly we will visit to the Grotte di Castellana are one of the most important attractions of Puglia and natural heritage of inestimable value to Italy. Located at the entrance of the Itria Valley,  the Grotte di Castellana began to form about 90 million years ago. The tour of the caves to more than 60 meters deep in an amazing scenario made of stalactites, stalagmites, concretions, incredible shapes, fossils, canyons and caves with fantastic names where calcifications from conformations and amazing colors solicit the imagination of children and adults. Next we will make a stop at the Alberobello where  visit to and know what is it trulli and why it were built there .the trulli which are drystone dwellings with conical roofs. A typical trullo has thick walls and is either round-shaped or square. In Alberobello most of the trulli are square-shaped. The big families in Alberobello were living not in one single trullo, but rather in trulli groups. The interior of a trulli is mainly made from wood. The roofs are not painted, but the walls are traditionally painted white. The history behind Alberobello is of course connected with money and cunning Italian aristocrats. When in the 14th century the previously uninhibited area became under the control of the Count of Conversano, he and his successors decided not to construct permanent dwellings here for their peasants, as far as the taxes for the lands with no permanent settlements were lower, than those with officially recognized towns. In order to pay small taxes Alberobello was supposed to be classified as an uninhabited area. For this reason trulli in Alberobello were being constructed in a specific way. Trulli were being constructed from roughly worked limestone, because this material could be easily dismantled and later reused for reconstruction of the dwellings. Because of the jiggery-pokery of their landlord the inhabitants of Alberobello have already been living in trulli for several centuries. Today, AlberobelIo is one of the best preserved historical urban areas of this type in Europe. The historical value of the town increases because the Alberobello trulli are still serving as houses for the local population.Next we will visit to the Taranto which  is Known as "la cittá dei due mari", the city of the two seas, is the most interesting historical site of Puglia. Founded in 707 b.C. by spartan colonists, the city experienced its grandeur in the pre-Roman age. The old greek city of Taras used to be the capital of the so called "Magna Grecia" (big Greece) and nowadays hosts one of the best national archaeological museums of Italy.  We will walk through the narrow streets of what once used to be the ancient acropolis of Taras, reaching the heart of the old town, which is dominated by a fascinating 15th Century Aragonese castle. There, we will discover the unexpected beauty of the Cathedral of San Cataldo, the patron saint of the city. We will visit the most important archaeological museum of Puglia, known for its sophisticated and important collection of gold jewelry of the Magna Graecia age. After free time we return to Bari.
Price: per person