Locorotondo is one of the prettiest towns in the Valle d'Itria, a whitewashed knot of lanes set on a low hill above vineyards, olive groves, and trulli. The name means “round place”, and the old town still curls in a tidy loop of pale houses, little arches, stairways, and balconies bright with flowers.
This is not a town of blockbuster monuments. The pleasure is slower: walking the Centro Storico, looking out from the Villa Comunale, stepping into the Church of San Giorgio Martire, and then driving or cycling into the countryside where the Trullo di Marziolla preserves one of the valley’s oldest dated trulli.
Locorotondo works beautifully with Alberobello, Martina Franca, Castellana Grotte, and Polignano a Mare. Come for a half day if you are racing, but stay into evening if you can; the white stone is at its best when the heat drops and the town starts to glow.