One of the greatest treasures of the Puglian soul is Ostuni, Italy the White City, whose houses appear whitewashed to excess, as if especially designed to render you blind. Proudly set atop a lone hill, this town offers you totally immense views of the Adriatic and an expanse of olive groves that never seems to end. Stroll its maze-like alleys, passing doorways painted all colors of the sky and ocean, and you find yourself suddenly touching a 'la dolce vita' in progress.
Jump To
- Why Visit Ostuni?
- My Travel Philosophy
- The Best Ways to Reach Ostuni, Puglia
- Ostuni Italy Map
- Arrival in Ostuni and First Impressions
- Checking Into My Hotel in Ostuni
- Best Places to Stay in Ostuni for Every Traveler
- My Lunch at a Local Ostuni Restaurant
- Olive Odyssey: Cruising Ostuni's Ancient Groves
- Best Things to Do in Ostuni, Italy
- Where to Eat & Drink in Ostuni, Italy
- Evening: Sunset and Reflections
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Why Visit Ostuni?
Ostuni isn’t just an aesthetic delight. Its white-washed buildings are not just beautiful: they’re also a historical (and technical) device for combatting the ravages of the relentless southern Italian sun, keeping the houses below them cool enough to be tolerable.
Ostuni is also an archaeological delight: its main tourist attraction is its 15th-century Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and its magnificent rose window, squeezed into a mass of Gothic and Romanesque bones.
Ostuni was not just an escape from the encroaching normalcy. It was my adult wish for moments and depths, as well as a place where ‘mozzafiato’ architecture combines with a culinary scene replete with revered olive oils and fish from the Adriatic. Both too vivid and too perfect to miss.
My Travel Philosophy
The magic of travel is that it takes you out of your comfort zone, exposes you to new things and helps you to grow a little in the process. Ultimately, it’s mood that I respond to when confronting a novel locale: the way that it makes me feel, makes me think. Places with soul are irresistible to me: those that have a WOW factor, whether it involves landscape, history or the vibrancy of the people who occupy the local scene.
On all counts, Ostuni has it.
It’s Ostuni’s ability to deliver mini-serene moments amid a mosaic of centuries-old narrative, and with the locals treating you almost like a resident – whether you’re putting your feet up on a beach at the Lido Onda Blu, getting lost in the gorgeous maze of the Centro Storico, or munching on some down-to-earth dining – that makes this tourist town so damned easy on the soul.
The Best Ways to Reach Ostuni, Puglia
Arriving in Ostuni, one is faced with a number of travel options, each of which is attractive in its own way. Even the journey itself is part of the fun.
By Air
The closest airport to Ostuni is Brindisi Airport (also known as Salento Airport), around 35 miles away. Drive for 50 minutes or so along the SS16 to get to Ostuni from Brindisi. That’s if you land at the airport. If you arrive by train or ferry, the SS16 is the quickest option too. If you arrive by plane and don’t fancy renting a car, you can pre-book a private transfer direct to your accommodation.
By Train and Bus
If you are traveling by public transport, Ostuni works by train and bus from nearby hubs like Bari and Brindisi. You can get from Bari by train in about 1 to 1.5 hours, and from Brindisi it will take you roughly an hour. When your train pulls in at Ostuni’s station, get on a local bus heading into the Centro Storico (Old Town). This is definitely the more economical way to go, and a train ticket from Bari will cost around €4, and a bus ticket from Brindisi will be around €3.
By Car
And driving to Ostuni puts YOU in the driver’s seat to explore the region at your leisure. Roads are easy, especially if you arrive via Bari or Brindisi; just take that good ol' SS16 and you're all set. You can pick up a car right at the airport in either of the two cities, and this will allow you to navigate Puglia’s beautiful terrain and its picturesque towns with no fuss.
Exploring Nearby
Ostuni serves as a launch-pad for a full-on Italian-heel assault, both geographically and in terms of its sights. Car or public transport can get you to Alberobello with its famous Trulli houses, and Lecce, a baroque master-work, in just a few hours. It’s a great way to get your bearings in Pugliese Italy.
The means of getting there – however swift, cost-effective, or scenically driven – will be the measure of your travel sensibility, and your expectations.
Ostuni Italy Map
Arrival in Ostuni and First Impressions
Go into Ostuni in Italy and you walk out of the frame of a postcard rippling into hues of pulsating white, spreading out into a three-dimensional landscape of olive groves that roll down to the Adriatic Sea to stunning effect from the dizzying height of Corso Vittorio Emmanuel II. A web of tight, winding alleys that unfolds as the friendliest labyrinth for the wandering soul, teasing out mysterious courtyards and knock-out views around the next corner.
Architectural Alchemy
The art of Ostuni’s architecture is proudly Mediterranean in style. While the houses are bedazzled in snow-white lime and streams of sun drip down vertiginous roofs, it’s a functional alchemy – a magic that wards off the blistering rays and helps keep homes shaded from the fierce glare. At the heart of the old town is a tightly cinched knot of winding, cobbled alleys – dignified, honey-handed houses glazed in white, Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque.
The most impressive sight at the core of town is the majestic Ostuni Cathedral, which combines Gothic and Romanesque styles, with the pinnacle of its beauty being the lavish rose window on top. Down the road, the Arco Scoppa is a golden swirl of an archway that stands in sharp contrast to the monochromatic white structures around it.
It is a fascinating combination of ‘busyness’ and tranquillity: the central square, Piazza della Libertà, is alive with the sounds of both local and tourist life in peak season: children’s laughter, the murmur and the chatter of café voices, and glass on glass. Here, a generous cone of local gelato, or an espresso freddo (‘chilled’) offers not just a mere ‘refreshing’ break, but an opportunity to participate in the town’s spirited, yet easy-going, life.
Into the Blue
Close by, the clarity of the Adriatic makes diving to visibility depths of more than 50 meters an irresistible expedition into the world beneath the waves. A sea the colors of blue and green slowly shades into sky, smoothing the senses and clearing the head.
Ostuni also opens up on to prehistoric times, with its Museo di Civiltà Preclassiche della Murgia Meridionale, and the ‘Woman of Ostuni’, a 28,000-year-old pregnant figure whose poignant presence suggests a profound continuity of human life on those lands. It’s something in that landscape. You reconnect with what has unfolded there. You reconnect to that part of our human saga.
And at its edge, the dance of the tides that results from the connection of the Adriatic and Ionian seas creates an extraordinary ecological and geographical past, present and future — one that is in perpetual flux, reshaping the coastline constantly, and providing the marine habitats with a constant drive for change and direct agency.
Checking Into My Hotel in Ostuni
Picked out by Booking.com, my lodgings for this Italian retreat were located at a place called Dimora Le Volte. Here, I had my own entrance – a kind of secret passage, so the feeling of privacy, of intimacy, and of being cut off from the tourist trail increased. The place had air conditioning so essential for the consistent Italian summer heat, the decor was good – comfortable but functional, there was a kitchenette devoted to all my needs, a sitting room and a bedroom that would welcome you in.
Location-wise, it couldn’t have been better: just off a busy corner, a stone’s throw from the main drags – and therefore only a short five-ten-minute stroll from the center of everything. In between the hotel, its cafes and shopfront restaurants were a series of twisting streets, filled with cosy cafés and shops – just one narrow pathway inviting you to lose yourself a bit further in town’s heart, its warming, endearing madness.
Best Places to Stay in Ostuni for Every Traveler
But if you want to stay somewhere else in Ostuni, there are plenty of options that put you right in the thick of things, whether your taste runs to luxury, old-world feel or just a peaceful vista. Here are some popular picks:
Masseria Cervarolo
Masseria Cervarolo is the place for you if you’re an authenticity freak – you’re made to feel like you’re in an Apulian trullo, but it’s got a modern outdoor pool, where most of the rooms are filled with antique furniture. It’s just up a small hill overlooking Ostuni.
Buze Luxury Suite
Comfort levels are surely the height of luxury along with some superb reviews in Buze Luxury Suite. Maybe you want to grab a touch of class with all the shiny trimmings against a glorious backdrop?
Paragon 700 Boutique Hotel & SPA
Paragon 700 Boutique Hotel & SPA is located in a magnificently restored 18th-century palace only a stone's throw away from Costa Merlata and featuring luxury accommodations, on-site dining, private parking, and a seasonal outdoor pool, this is an absolute knockout.
La Sommità Relais & Chateaux
Set back from the hustle at a bend in the road, this hotel promises a peaceful stay featuring fine dining and beauty within a historic setting at La Sommità Relais & Chateaux.
Relais Porta del Sud
Relais Porta del Sud is the right place; not all that huge but pretty well located, for those who don’t want it too relaxing and would rather have the small stuff big and the big stuff bigger. For those who like being at the center of it all.
Centro di Spiritualità Madonna della Nova
Centro di Spiritualità Madonna della Nova has enough space to strew out, mellow enough to seem like any old Sunday morning, distant enough to ensure the sound of your retreat yet with all mod cons.
Masseria Ayroldi
Masseria Ayroldi is not just a farm stay, it’s the incongruity of old-world charm and rustic experience leavened with chic, modern niceties such as an infinity pool that you can loll by and on-site dining that allows you to wrap yourself in the languorous atmosphere of the Ostuni landscape.
My Lunch at a Local Ostuni Restaurant
Ostuni is a place immersed in tradition, where ancient loaves, weird pastas, and the ghosts of countless invaders jostle for space to create a food landscape at once ancient and modern.
Ristorante Taverna della Gelosia in Ostuni, a warren of whitewashed stone run by a local family, hits that homeliness note with an authentic seaside terrace and fiercely hospitable welcome. Lunch was rightly vaunted, its dishes nodding to tradition while playing with ideas. Octopus, cooked just right. That white wine singing with it. A decent vegan line-up, too, and the vegans around my table were singing its praises. At the high end, the restaurant is very much about expensive ingredients done simply, but – echoing Southern Italy itself – it’s real.
A Glimpse into Ostuni's Agricultural Soul
Good talk goes with good food, and the two on the table were as rich as the other. You hear this a lot around here: people bonding over an interest in the food and an interest in the view. Less than an hour’s drive from Ostuni in Zollino, they are keeping it old-school down there, growing dwarf peas with history tinier than marbles, and harvesting them by hand in the fields – little strings on little sticks, straight from the necks of old ladies.
This commitment to heritage is what the region can be defined by. You see it in the so-called Pane di Altamura bread – so historically important they’ve made it law protected – or in humble pasta such as orecchiette: literally, meaning a "small ear". You can make them in Puglia with just flour and water, and so much spirit comes out of them.
Cucina Povera: The Culinary Philosophy of Puglia
Puglia continues to make lunch and dinner from a culinary ethos of ‘cucina povera’, where little becomes much not by turning necessity into luxury but by finding a way to make something out of almost nothing: the art of transforming a burnt wheat field into news of gold. Depending on whose hands pushed and pulled or pulled and pushed, each wave of conquerors left its legacy, from Byzantine cheese making to Spanish spin on paella.
And the land below, fertile and dry and lit up by the late-spring sun, is full of olive groves and vines. The award-winning olive oils and hearty reds of Ostuni are served up in copious quantity in the "masserias" — old farmhouses renting by the day, where dinner is as imbued with the history of the building as it is with the products its fields produce.
Olive Odyssey: Cruising Ostuni's Ancient Groves
My tour began at Ostuni’s conscience: Piazza della Libertà. Here, I met my guide, a local with a touristic passion and a trove of information on the region; we clambered into a traditional Ape tuk-tuk, those unmistakable three-wheeled signs of Italian ingenuity. Conceived by Piaggio in 1948 for a struggling postwar economy, these little buggies are precisely the right size for Ostuni’s tight, coiling roads, and the cool wind through our hair and the dizzying views across the olive groves were exhilarating as we travelled along the old town’s alleys.
On the Road: Encountering the Ancient and the Alive
As you journey along the country roads between the olives that drape over the Apulian foothills near Ostuni, natural salience is abundant – if only you open your eyes to it. There’s a sense, as you drive, of our weight as humans here; of the ancient becoming bodily real.
And at Masseria Brancati you can check your wristwatch against an olive tree radiocarbon-dated to at least 3,100 years in age. It’s still alive and still making olives: it’s the living bridge between then and now, still traversing the chasm between 1400 BC and 2024 CE. The historical presence these trees have carries with it a world-making weight: the trees themselves, pocked and scaly and old, interrupted and screwed up, are husks of the living that sit at the centre of Ostuni’s agricultural story. They are innocent of generations of apocalyptic spasm.
The Soul of Olive Oil: Tradition in Action
Our guide was knowledgeable: he outlined the ins and outs of these olive groves and how they’ve been forcefully extracting their ripened olio gushers for time immemorial. The process is old-school: the olives, pits, skin and all, are ground in massive granite wheels, then pressed. And while this is picking olives for the fruit juice we know as olive oil, it’s also about preserving the olives’ soul via artisanal customs passed down like a cherished family china set.
The Finale: Tasting the Liquid Gold
Really, the highlight of the day is the olive oil tasting. And when you’ve seen the passion and energy that goes into the planting, the picking, the back-breaking milling and pressing by hand, the oil seems different. It feels richer and full of taste, each drop imbued with the spirit of Puglia. The precious ‘liquid gold’ — that’s what Puglia pumps out. It produces more than 40% of Italy’s olive oil, and Ostuni is definitely known for it: the oil is top-notch, clean and pure.
Best Things to Do in Ostuni, Italy
Stepping into Ostuni, in Southern Italy,-makes you feel like you’re uncorking a vintage wine: good wine is old wine, saturated with history, in a landscape, with delicious food, sprinkled with unexpected pleasures. This is your guide to Ostuni at its best:
Explore the Old Town (Centro Storico)
Drop yourself into the Centro Storico – Ostuni’s historic center – it's gnarled white-washed alleyways full of potted greenery and achingly medieval history; little old-world shops, intimate trattorias, beloved works of local art. Here the town earns its nickname – the White City, a given for any storied old Italian town – and gifts it with the verdant, picturesque cobbled paths that entice the centuries-worth of surefootedness with which to traverse it.
Visit Ostuni Cathedral (Duomo di Ostuni)
Duomo di Ostuni, the central hub of the old town, is a stern and enduring sentinel in this white Italian maze. Europe’s second-largest rose window is fitted into the façade of this 15th-century cathedral, a structure built under the warm barefoot spirit of Gothic and Romanesque. Carved out of the yellow pietra gentile so local to the area, the façade is still gleaming as the light fades. Inside, the air is reverent; frescoes covering the ceiling, a statue of Saint Francis standing in silent sentinel, all part of a culture and a center of religious life in Ostuni.
Walk Under the Arco Scoppa
The Arco Scoppa is a particularly austere stone archway that connects the Bishop’s Palace to the Seminary, but one that is so full of meaning. You can have a coffee at one of the cafès around the Arco Scoppa in the Palazzo Vescovile zone, do some ‘people-watching’, enjoy a spritz or just sit back and breathe in the old town - it’s still one of Ostuni’s photographic highlights.
Relax at Nearby Beaches
Head south down the Adriatic from Ostuni, not much more than a catapult’s distance, and you’ll find yourself at beaches that beckon you to take it easy. Your best bet for a long sandy stretch is Spiaggia di Pilone, or Spiaggia di Torre Pozzelle, where the velvety golden shore feels like a wide-berth invitation to families. Here, the kids can run and tumble, while the adults can strap on a snorkel and greet the locals.
Then there’s Spiaggia di Torre Pozzelle. This is where the unscripted are to be found: at the mercy of nature, a patchwork of sand and stone that is less trodden and quietly dramatic. Here is the point where the water dared you to dive in, and where you better pack it in yourself, bare bones, including a parasol for that midday sun.
Parking is free here, as it is at the other end of town, the Lungomare, where the sea’s green lining meets the great expanse of sand. You can pay for shade and for a spot to sit. But, really, this is about the sea and the sky. So whether you go swimming or simply sunbathing, you’ll share in that dolce far niente (‘sweet, gentle idleness’), and your mind will be folded into the Lido’s wave of slowness.
Enjoy Local Cuisine
In Ostuni, set your heart on a cooking class in which you roll out orecchiette, those little, ear-shaped pastas that cling to sauce like nothing else, and toss them with whatever comes fresh from sea or land – perhaps some spicy cima di rapa (turnip greens) or fresh seafood. These sessions are as much an invitation to the local life as a class, with chefs who are as much storytellers as cooks, and ingredients that traveled maybe a field away. Then, after dirtying your fingers with dough and your hands in dance, you sit and feast on what you have made, likely with a glass of hearty local wine to wash it all down. If you want to really get into Puglian life, do it over a meal at a Masseria: a fortified farmhouse.
Visit Museums
Ostuni is stocked with museums that could keep any history buff or art-nerd (like me!) busy for days. The Museo Diocesano, located in the old Episcopal Hall, is a trove of art, liturgical vestments and relics taken from local churches. This place, which opened in 2017, comes set with pizzazz. The captions tell you what you’re looking at, and a QR scan will get you an audio guide.
Then there’s the Museum of Preclassic Civilizations of the Southern Murgia, housed in a monastery that is filled with the very, very old – Neolithic, Paleolithic and beyond: prehistoric burial sets, casts of a prehistoric woman and her fetus, bring this place a mix of local and international attention.
Shop at Ostuni Market
On Saturday mornings, Ostuni’s heartbeat becomes audible again. The volume is turned up to just the right pitch in the newer stretches of the town towards Via Gabriele D’Annunzio, at the weekly local market that runs between 8 in the morning and the one o’clock bell. This is local life, unadulterated by tourists and it’s an opportunity to wander from stall to stall among the fresh seafood, bright fruit and vegetables and olives, or to buy olive oil from the producers of oils of guaranteed quality. There’s also clothing and local crafts bedecking every inch of space in a true cornucopia of local culture for anyone eager to immerse in local life. For the tourist, there is nowhere better to taste and experience Oltrà’s fruit and crafts.
Take a Tour on an Ape
Cruising around Ostuni in an Ape Calessino, one of those hilariously zippy three-wheelers that can tear through the medieval pockmarks of its streets, it is a slow enough ride – good, because you’ll want the time to look around and take it all in. The stark white buildings against that screaming blue sky: the imposing Ostuni Cathedral. And if you traverse the city limits, you’re into the olive groves and those funny trulli houses. Head down the coast, and it’s all about the fish. Italy doesn’t get much more authentic than this.
Photography and Views
Ostuni is a classic old Italian seduction. Its postcard-perfect vistas and architectural charm make it a photographer’s paradise. The blue door, with its ‘photograph me now!’ éclat of blue against the town’s whitewashed walls is certainly an Instagram must.
Where to Eat & Drink in Ostuni, Italy
Cielo– A hip, upscale spot for Italian, seafood and Mediterranean cuisine.
Osteria Ricanatti – They’re turning Italian and Mediterranean classics into modern comfort food. Great for traditionalists with an interest in innovations.
Masseria Il Frantoio – Italian and Mediterranean staples served in a rural-chic setting.
Sapere & Sapori – This place is a combination of Italian cuisine and health foods, a prime choice for those who want to eat right.
Garbato – Italian, Mediterranean and European – with serious wine bar action to boot for oenophiles.
Evening: Sunset and Reflections
Come the evening, Ostuni does not invite you in. It pulls up a chair for you. After the sun disappears, it sends its ropes of pink, orange and purple robes out near the horizon. Corso Vittorio Emanuele II is the best seat in town, for when this municipal stage show kicks into gold-hour mode. And the way to really juice it up – if you’re thirsty, that is – is to secure a table on the top of Ristorante La Vecchia Terrazza. The kind of place that leads you to sip more slowly, think more deeply and settle your soul.
It is best to walk here as the day fades so the ancient centre of Ostuni can ensure an easy passage into the evening. Start at the Piazza della Libertà then move through the dark, narrow courtyards of the old town, guided above and around by its massive encircling white walls. Along the way, you will pass by small shop fronts, past the grey fortress-like face of the Ostuni Cathedral, and under the Arco di Scoppa.
Ostuni is not just a meandering through old streets, it is a session of free association, a collective review of the day’s encounters: the hushed shades of a quiet city, the weathered beauty of ancient rock, the distant strains of a guitar somewhere in the distance. All this material, and the pause that I take for it, help to organize my thoughts on how new experiences make us who we are in this world.
Personal Reflection
Ostuni isn’t a come-and-see but a come-and-grow type of destination, a crash course in living – in cramming the various strands of history, of culture, into some of Italy’s finest garnishes – if that’s the right expression. You don’t just see: you feel it. I admit, it's cliché, but you take in the city, then it takes you in.
And when the day slips into night, you might still be nursing that last scoop of gelato from Cremeria La Scala and staring up at the sky’s canonical canvas – its chiaroscuro, its muted tints waiting to hold memories in place – when you start to feel Ostuni’s quiet wisdom creeping through the open pores and into your veins. Ostuni is less of a temporary visitor; it’s more of a guest that stays with you for a long time after you’ve unpacked back home.
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