I was six years old when I slept for the first time in a “trullo” a very curious building, with a conical roof that in my imagination seemed the hat of an elf, and that had always fascinated me. I have grown among “trulli”, because my grandmother was used to spend summer holydays there and I often went to visit her. I spent hours to look at them and their whiteness nearly blinded me. A summer, as a reward for having been passed, my dream of living for a few days in a “trullo”, became reality. My grandmother took me with her and immediately I felt like living in a fairy tale. I still remember her deep and black eyes while she tucked me with a light blanket(in the “trullo” even in summer the temperature is always low). The colour of her eyes was in contrast with the white of these nice buildings.  A lot of “trulli” with three cones(the pinnacle is covered with thin slabs of stone, called “Chianche”)lay, in an enchanted valley: the “Valle d’Itria”. In the early days of summer holiday “we were used to take care” of the “trullo”. We white washed with brush strokes almost obsessive, trying to give more splendor to this authentic architectural miracle of civilization. It was almost a  competition among all the neighbours there were no prizes but it was the local custom: as my grandmother said:”the white must be more and more white”. That white still now that I’m forty, continues to be the main colour for in this area. Ostuni, Cisternino, Fasano, Ceglie Messapica, are the countries near Brindisi that blind you with the strong light they emanate. White and sunny villages where you can easily get lost and find yourself again, among the narrow alleys and the ups and downs of the stairs. A very trendy kind of paradise: this area is the “buen retiro” of foreigners (especially British and American) and numerous show men. VIPs like to spend their holidays here, some of them even buy a house, as the former coach of the national soccer team, Roberto Donadoni, who has found the farm of his dreams in Fasano or the actor Raz Degan who chose to live in a “trullo” in Cisternino. Katherine Price Mondadori, along with her children Martina, Francesco and Filippo, live in Ostuni, while Kean Etro, the creative scion of the Etro family, finds inspiration for his fashion collections, walking in the woods around his home on a hill in Ceglie Messapica. And the list is even longer. Who would have imagined that my land, the land of Brindisi, where there are still fairies and goblins,could have become one of the most glamorous and popular area in Italy? A secret land, to be explored during all seasons, better not in summer, to find a more reserved hospitality. And, far away from crowded beaches, were you are even able to feel the pulse of rural life and the breath of the ground filled with green olive trees, whose fruits always make it precious and woods of oaks. A landscape made up of stones like that of Ostuni, whose historical centre, preserves intact the structure and the medieval city walls, and attracts you with a baroque detail, a door painted a “sottarco” bloomed of red geraniums. And you can go around the narrow streets where the houses seem to be embraced each other and which seem to sprinkle talcum powder and you will meet churches (the Cathedral, a Gothic-Romanesque masterpiece) and sontuous and at the same time strict palaces(the Town Hall, the seminary and Palazzo Zevallos). And white is also the country of Cisternino, that, perched on one of the highest hills of southern “Murgia”, appears to be designed into space, with fantastic milky houses and cloisters. The silvery country Fasano, instead, enchants you mainly for the surrounding landscape, where the green of the trees makes a contrast with the white of “Masserie” (most transformed into elegant farmhouses and charming relaises), scattered here and there as if they wanted to hover in the air, a witness of an ancient rural civilization. And finally,“Ceglie Messapica”. As soon as you arrive here, you immediately notice a road sign that well summarizes the top: “Ceglie Messapica, a city of art and gastronomy”. The town is, in fact, the undisputed capital of fine cuisine of Valle d’Itria, with numerous awards for its chefs, and is one of the oldest, full of rock settlements and artefacts ranging from prehistoric to the Hellenistic age. The country is on the summit of the hill and it’s pleasant to follow one of the many paths that lead to the top of the square, where the mighty “Castello Ducale” dominates, with the soaring Tower Square that goes back to the first century. Every time I come back home, I love to walk through the streets of these villages. I let me lead by my personal memories, with the certainty of facing some wonders, coming from a staircase or a narrow street. And each time, I, always, find the same magic of when I was a child.

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