Itria Valley (in Italian: ''Valle d'Itria'') is an area located in Apulia region, in

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

. Itria Valley spreads over

Province of Bari The Province of Bari ( it, provincia di Bari, nap, pruvincia 'e Bari, nap, label= Barese, provinge de Bare) was a province in the region of Apulia, Italy. Its capital was the city of Bari. It has an area of , and a total population of 1,594,10 ...

Province of Brindisi The Province of Brindisi ( it, Provincia di Brindisi) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Brindisi. It has an area of and a total population of 401,652 (2013). Geography The Province of Brindisi is situated ...

and

Province of Taranto The province of Taranto ( it, provincia di Taranto; Tarantino: ; Salentino: ), previously known as the province of the Ionian, is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Taranto. It has an area of , and a total popu ...

, and coincide with the lower part of Murgia upland (Low Murgia). The towns of

Martina Franca Martina Franca, or just Martina ( Martinese: ), is a town and ''municipality'' in the province of Taranto, Apulia, Italy. It is the second most populated town of the province after Taranto, and has a population (2016) of 49,086. Since 1975, ...

Locorotondo Locorotondo ( Barese: ) is a town and municipality of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy, with a population of about 14,000. It is situated between Martina Franca and Alberobello in the Valle d'Itria, a green stretch of country ...

Cisternino Cisternino is a ''comune'' in the province of Brindisi in Apulia, on the coast of south-eastern Italy, approximately north-west of the city of Brindisi. Its main economic activities are tourism, the growing of olives and grapes, and dairy farmin ...

and Ceglie Messapica overlook Itria Valley. "Valley" is an inaccurate term, because Itria Valley has not the typical conformation of mountain area valleys: it is just a depression due to karstic phenomena.

History

Itria Valley place-name is probably derived from Basilian Fathers oriental cult of the ''Madonna Odegitria'' (that is the Virgin Mary who shows the way), patron of wayfarers, which founded - using a natural shelter right in Itria Valley - a monastic site where a fresco portraying the ''Madonna Odegitria'' was found. Over the ruins of this medieval place of worship, located in Martina Franca, the Capuchin Monastery (in Italian: ''Convento dei Cappuccini'') - which nowadays is an interesting tourist attraction - was built in 1545.

Features

The main Itria Valley features are the following: * ''trulli'', the typical ancient Apulian small round houses of stone with a conical roof; * a large amount of

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

s from which they obtain

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...

; *

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

from which they obtain high quality

white wine White wine is a wine that is fermented without skin contact. The colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured pulp of grapes, which may have a skin of any colour. Whi ...

, such as Locorotondo DOC and Martina Franca DOC.

Comprehensive list of the town territories comprised in Itria Valley area

* In

: **

Alberobello Alberobello (; literally "beautiful tree"; Barese: ) is a small town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It has 10,735 inhabitants and is famous for its unique ''trullo'' buildings. The ''trulli'' of Alberob ...

** Noci * In

: ** Ceglie Messapica **

Ostuni Ostuni ( nap, label= Barese, Ostune; scn, label=Salentino, Stune) is a city and ''comune'', located about 8 km from the coast, in the province of Brindisi, region of Apulia, Italy. The town has a population of about 32,000 during the winter ...

* In

: **

{{coord missing, Italy

External links

Valle d'Itria
Valleys of Italy