itria ValleY bY run
LENGTH: 55 km in four stages
DifficuLTy: almost all simple terrain for a quick and relaxing run in nature
usEfuL iNfo: www.viaggiareinpuglia.it
REcommENDED TimE of yEaR: all year round
miNimaL EquipmENT REquiRED: Gps, suitable water reserve based on the season. We recommend you bring a backpack with a water pocket (there are no water sources along the route). food/energy bars, windproof jacket. poor mobile coverage outside of inhabited areas.
the eternal symbol of the white city. Ostuni.
ITRIA VALLEY highlights
Noci is like a small doorway to an enchanted place: Valle D’itria. Through places rich in history, the culture of the territory and exciting places like alberobello, Locorotondo and cisternino we run until the blue and candid white contrasts of ostuni. surreal!
Thirty-six kilometres of pure beauty.
The roads and cattle tracks are simple. No technical difficulties for expert runners. The main experience is the environment. Run, breathe amidst the infinite dry stone walls that open onto to a perfect countryside, created around the magical forms of the trullos. The only difficulty: trying not to stop every hundred metres open-mouthed, camera on and smartphone at the ready to share your apulian emotions with the world.
VALLE D’ITRIA in 4 stage
i Start Noci – finish aLBERoBELLo - Le porte Trail
ii Start aLBERoBELLo – finish LocoRoToNDo - Trail of the Trullos
iii Start LocoRoToNDo – finish cisTERNiNo - Trail Terra Viva
iV Start cisTERNiNo – finish osTuNi - White Trail
stage i – LE PoRTE TRAIL
from piazza Garibaldi, the centre of Noci, paved with white stone, we run through the swarming life of the town and the curious stares of onlookers. making friends in puglia is unavoidable! We head east, down towards the train station; we run following an asphalt track accompanied by tidy fields and dry stone walls towards a hill where we enter the purest nature thanks to a wide, disconnected pathway. a splendid isolated area. immersed in woodland and ancient walls, borders and continual reference points. We climb. The view of the Valle d’ itria is enchanting. We go round another hill with a splendid dirt road and then straight towards alberobello. The arrival in the centre leaves you speechless. unique.
stage ii – TRAIL of ThE TRuLLos
The alleyways of alberobello. We could follow the trail, true. But to lose yourself here is a pleasure. Labyrinths of trullos, symbols, stairways, climbs, blind corners, sculptures. anyway, with Gps we find the right road eventually! and so we leave. With a heavy heart, we leave alberobello, climbing the hill to the south-east, then down towards state road 604 where a well-marked, narrow cycle path starts bor-
dered with dry stone walls that seem to have been created by designers and architects.
Even the asphalted parts are pleasurable in an alternating of climbs and descents – even difficult ones for both the legs and rhythm. Breath-taking views and trullos on the roadside. uphill arrival in Locorotondo, the historical town centre awaits. Graceful.
stage iii – TRAIL TERRA VIVA
Locorotondo stands at the top of a hill from which you can enjoy the view of the entire Valle d’itria; departure is a steep descent that warms the hearts and legs and takes us to the valleys underneath on stretches that are almost completely asphalted, there are very few dirt track stretches. Their charm and beauty remain unchanged. a continual alternation of trullos and walls that make up asymmetrical geometric shapes in the countryside that never tires the eye. a magical landscape that lets you cross it without tiring. The passage is soft, it adapts to the shapes, the environment. Every footstep brings energy from the land, giving the heart the perfect rhythm. cisternino. True, authentic and magical, it bursts out in all its simple beauty and recharges the runners’ batteries.
Dry stonewalls, accurate, infinite. Outline the territory. lengthen the look. Show the way.
stage iV – WhITE TRAIL
The piazza in the centre of cisternino seems the private home of someone who welcomes everyone with typical apulian warmth. starting from the historical town centre, slipping into a white world to then come out into the dazzling sun of the countryside and head for ostuni, the white city. There it is. facing onto the eastern ridge of the murge plateau with the entire adriatic in front of it. To even just breath a little of its magic though we need to run – and a fair bit! an alternation of hilltops among olive groves and woodlands. a wilder route than the others before it, characterised by dirt tracks that cross a less looked after but even more fascinating countryside. small and surreal villages of isolated trullos among the high grounds like acquarossa wait to astonish and slow the run. you cannot but stop!
ostuni, splendid in its purity, is the perfect reward for this final stage. Now we can rest in the farmhouse. Happy. Enjoying lively sensations.Happy. Enjoying our feelings.
entering the myth. alberobello. uniqueness of Puglia.
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