Alberobello and Trulli - End of Day 2 at the Masseria Montenapoleone

Last night was a chance to see some of the sights of Puglia, with a foodie theme in the mix. Alberobello is known as the capital of Trulli, and dates back to the 2nd half of the 16th century when a little feud under the Acquaviva family, Counts of Conversano were populated by farmers. There was a diktat that stated the houses could not be made with mortar and if they were, the Counts could demolish the houses and expel the farmers. Barons were also prohibited to build urban areas without royal blessing, a historic rule from previous Spanish control.

 

Trullo come from the greek word tholos meaning Dome. The Domes were originally had a perimeter wall made of visible stone, similar to the roof, but more recently the bases have been rendered to show a smooth painted surface. Made of limestone, the dome and stone base had no mortar to hold them together. If you want to know more, come a see for yourself, its 'truly' wonderful, PUN intended!

So before visiting the Trulli (plural of Trullo), we had a visit to a well know local Wine Museum for some history and tasting. The Albea winery was founded at the  beginning of the 20th century, and hosts both production areas, and a museum and tasting on the 2nd floor.

My Guide Veronica - Hippy Chick

You can find details of the various wines here. The treat for me (and honour), was our host saw me swishing, holding my glass at an angle, and generally behaving like I might have a clue about wines so went away to find a bottle of their 'Very Special' wine.  Albea has won some awards, the most prestigious for them is for LUI, a 2009 red made from the Troia grape, you can read about the grape variety  here. The award put it in the list of finest wines in Italy, but you will have to come here to find out, it was really beautiful.

Dinner was in Braceria Fasano, a butchers with attached restaurant. On the menu was an aperitif (selection of dishes), which included Beef Carpaccio, Cured Ham, Taralli (little round bakes savory snacks), Polpette (little meat balls made of Pork and Beef) and Olives, they were all delicious. As it was getting late, we had a small taster for mains, some local sausages, Liver, Spicy and Pork all delicious too.  Dessert was a couple of home made cakes slices, one with a vanilla custard the other chocolate. Limoncello finished the meal off nicely. 

As i was the only client on the course, I was then 'persuaded' to join my good friend Angelo at his private bar 'Doppio Passe', which is quite common apparently. A group of people club together and pay say 50 Euro a year to go to a members only bar, when you go the owner cannot charge you for drinks. We had a good time chatting with an ex Progressive Punk band member, to a student who had received her PhD a few hours earlier.  Thanks Angelo for a fantastic time my friend.

Tomorrow its off to Martina Franca to see the market and have a tour of this historic Baroque town.