Locorotondo ( Barese: ) is a town and municipality of the

Metropolitan City of Bari The Metropolitan City of Bari () is a metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the province of Bari and includes the city of Bari and some forty other ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). It was first c ...

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

, southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, with a population of about 14,000. It is situated between Martina Franca and Alberobello in the Valle d'Itria, a green stretch of countryside dotted with the famous whitewashed cone-roofed trulli houses. Locorotondo is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy") and it has been awarded the Orange Flag of the Touring Club of Italy due to the harmony of its shapes and the accessibility of the old town, as it can be easily visited on foot. It is an intricate network of little streets lined with old buildings and it is known for its typical houses called "''Le Cummerse''", which have a regular geometric shape and a sloping roof made of two different layers of limestone slabs. These dwellings have nowadays been renovated and offered to visitors in the form of scattered hotels.

History

The site has been settled since ancient times, as testified by archaeological finds dating between the 3rd and the 7th century BC. The foundation of the town dates back to around 1000 AD as an unfortified hamlet under the jurisdiction of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery of St. Stephen in

Monopoli Monopoli (; ) is a town and comune, municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014), ...

. The estate of various feudal lords for 500 years, it saw an increase in population, housing development, and the construction of the walls and castle. The Caracciolo family, Dukes of

Martina Franca Martina Franca, or just Martina (Bari dialect, Martinese: ), is a town and ''comune, 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 ...

and the last

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

lords, remained in Locorotondo until the beginning of the 19th century.

Heritage and main sights

Locorotondo's heritage includes the Mother Church of "St. George the Martyr", built between 1769 and 1821 and characterized by a renaissance-style façade and some neo-classical elements, the Romanesque church of Madonna della Greca and the church of "San Rocco". It hedges its bets with two patron saints; San Giorgio who is celebrated with a market fair on 22 and 23 April and San Rocco, who is awarded a day of musical celebrations (called la Diana), as he still represents the liberation of the town from the plague of the XVII century. The beauty of the historic centre is also constituted by a labyrinth of white alleys, jealously guarded by their inhabitants. The Locorotondo countryside is an example of an area of

dispersed settlement A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a num ...

s (jazzelere) and has an abundance of trulli dwellings which were built around a communal area called "jazzile". This settlement pattern is due in large part to emphyteutic leases, particularly in the 19th century for the development of vineyards.Anthony H Galt, ''Far from the Church Bells'' (CUP, 1991)

Locorotondo DOC

The town produces a white ''

Denominazione di origine controllata The following four classification of wine, classifications of wine constitute the Italy, Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine: * ''Denominazione di origine'' (DO, rarely used; ; 'designation of origin'); * ''Indicazione ...

'' (DOC)

Italian wine Italian wine () is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine in the world, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, as well as the List of wine-producing regions#Countries, world's ...

that can be made in a still or sparkling ''Spumante'' style. The DOC includes 1,650

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s of vineyards. All grapes destined for DOC wine production must be harvested to a yield no greater than 13

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

/ha. The wine is made predominantly (50-65%) from

Verdeca Verdeca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is primarily grown in Apulia in southern Italy where ampelographers believe that the grape may have originated. In Apulia, it is one of the main grapes in the ''Denominazione di origine controll ...

and Bianco d'Alessano which can make up 45-50% of the blend. Additional grapes are permitted up to a maximum of 5% including

Bombino bianco Bombino bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety planted primarily along Italy's Adriatic coast line, most notably in Apulia. The vine is prone to high yields and often produces neutral flavor wines.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Co ...

, Fiano and Malvasia Toscana. The finished wine must attain a minimum

alcohol level Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

of 11% in order to be labelled with the Locorotondo DOC designation.P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pg 174 Firefly Books 2004

Twin towns

Trzebnica Trzebnica (Polish pronunciation: ; , ) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in west-central Poland. It is the seat of Trzebnica County, and of the smaller administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Trzebnica. It lies within the eastern Trzebni ...

, Poland

History

Heritage and main sights

Locorotondo DOC

Twin towns

References

External links