One of the first things you will notice, once you exit the industrial environs of Bari airport and its immediate surroundings, are small, circular structures with conical roofs which dot the Itria Valley in Puglia. They are the famous trulli houses which date back to the 14th century when they were built as store buildings and houses for farming families. These modest properties were a stark comparison to the Masserie lived in by the richer merchants and mobility in the 15th and 16th centuries.

*A beautiful untouched trullo (Photo: Brushfire Photography)*

A trullo has a dry stone construction with a double layered, limestone, conical roof. They were practical in many ways, including being built over their own cisterns in order to provide a water supply to each dwelling (the rocks cleverly being removed to form the walls) and were easily deconstructed allowing the structures to be quickly hidden from the tax man! There were however often no windows, just a door, making a trullo quite dark and they were also very cold in the winter.

The most famous location to see trulli, in their hundreds, is at Alberobello, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1996. Here, a whole town is made up of districts of trulli, rising over steep hills, creating an almost magical landscape which is best explored in the early morning or late evening to avoid the tourist crowds who swarm through the place in the middle of the day. Some trulli date back to the 16th century and have barely been touched, whereas whole streets in other parts have been completely renovated and are now functioning as shops, restaurants, cafes and galleries for visitors. My favourite building is the ‘Trullo Church’ which is not as old as many of the other structures but was built in keeping with the style of the trulli in 1927 and is completely unique.

I love to see trulli now being re-invigorated in Puglia as accommodation options and also as features at Masserie such as bars and lounge rooms, providing shade for visitors in the hotel grounds. A fantastic example of a trullo being put to perfect use can be found at Rustic Puglia near the town of Ceglie Messapica.

PUGLIA PEOPLE: Claire and Andy James at Rustic Puglia

Deciding to quit the ‘rat race’ and their jobs in London just under ten years ago, Claire and Andy moved to Puglia where they have restored their own trullo which they live in themselves and also provide beautiful accommodation to visitors throughout the year. With their young children, they live pretty much self-sufficiently, just like many other Puglians, and even produce their own delicious olive oil which is bursting with flavour and sunshine (which you can buy here: Rustic Puglia Olive Oil).

Here is their story:

Passage to Puglia: When did you move to Puglia and why?

Rustic Puglia: After a dismal English summer I harked back to my childhood where I was brought up in Portugal, Italy and Morocco with all the sunshine and blue sky that went with it. TV programmes like ‘No Going Back’ inspired us to seek out a climate and lifestyle that would give us an alternative way of life to the one we had in London. We considered Spain but were put off by the number of British expats already there, and even went to investigate Panama. A keen scuba diver, Andy flew to Bari in April 2004 with a friend who had heard there was excellent cave diving along the southern Adriatic. The minute he spotted a trullo the decision to choose Puglia was made!

*Guest accommodation at Rustic Puglia (Photo: Rustic Puglia)*

P2P: How did you find the trullo you then converted?

RP: We did some internet research, made appointments with various estate agents and came out for a long weekend to view properties. We knew we needed somewhere big enough to have a part for us to rent out in order to earn an income, and a part for us to live in. On our last day we were shown an old smallholding – there was the traditional trullo, perfect for holiday rentals, and separate farm buildings that we could renovate as a home for ourselves. We made an offer straight away and were shaking when it was accepted – what kind of madness were we embarking on?!

P2P: What are your key objectives for Rustic Puglia?

RP: It is lovely to share our little slice of Puglia with the people who come to stay and we hope that our philosophy of living seasonally, farming organically and being harmonious with nature is inspiring to our guests. We try to keep connected with everyone who has been in touch with us; we have a lively Facebook page and send out a monthly(ish) newsletter, and returning guests receive a discount on subsequent stays. Our guestbook is bursting with enthusiastic comments from visitors who feel regenerated after staying here – slowing down, hearing the sounds of the countryside, spending time with their family, eating good food. That’s the ultimate objective for our business.

*Beautiful blue sky and pool at Rustic Puglia (Photo: Rustic Puglia)*

P2P: How much olive oil do you normally produce in a year?

RP: It depends on two things – first the growing conditions of each year affects how many olives grow on the trees, and second the yield of the olives (how much oil they produce) depends on both the growing conditions and the weather before picking. For instance, if it’s been pouring with rain in the days before harvest the olives will be saturated with water so the yield of oil will be less compared to their weight. The rule of thumb is a yield of 9-15% which translates as somewhere around 50 litres of oil from 300kg of olives.

P2P: How much time and effort does the process involve for you and your family?

RP: We have about 60 olive trees and each year we have two volunteers come and help us though a brilliant site called workaway.info. The olives are harvested in November by handheld shakers – the olives fall into nets that we lay on the ground under the tree. You get tired arms from shaking the olives off the branches all day! From the nets they’re gathered up and poured into crates and then we have a sort of sieve which removes all the leaves and other bits of debris from the olives. The rule of thumb is 300kg of olives for a single press, which is roughly 13 crates of olives. As soon as we’ve filled enough crates we take them straight to the ‘frantoio’ to be pressed – this is all in the same day because the quicker the olives go from picked to pressed the lower the acidity level of the oil. Ours has an acidity level of 0.2% which is excellent – the range for extra virgin olive oil is a maximum acidity of 0.8%. The oil is cold pressed and we store each pressing in a separate container with the date on it so we know exactly when it was harvested and how much oil it produced. In this way it is a limited edition – when we go out the following day to harvest it will be from different trees on a slightly different area of our land and thus the oil can have a subtly different flavour.

*Olive harvesting is a family affair! (Photo: Rustic Puglia)*

P2P: What other produce do you grow on your land, aside from olives?

RP: We have lots of almond trees from which harvest and sell – this is in August. We also have pomegranate, apple, pear, quince and cherry trees, and wild asparagus and chicory grow on the land. In the kitchen garden we grow tomatoes (of course), lettuce, beetroot, potatoes, garlic, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, courgettes, aubergine, spinach, peppers and artichoke to name a few, as well as rosemary, basil, coriander, thyme, oregano and parsley. Our free range hens provide us with eggs every day too.

P2P: What are the best aspects of living and working in Puglia? And what’s not so great?

RP: We feel much more aligned with the seasons and with nature than we did in London, and we feel more aware of our consumption. For instance, the rainwater feeds our cistern for free but when it’s empty we have to buy water – it reinforces us to be ‘waterwise’. Our house is heated by the wood we prune from our trees, so our land management includes ensuring we look after our trees so that in turn they keep us warm. These aren’t exclusive to Puglia, but they’re our experience of Puglia. We get some very impressive thunderstorms here that sometimes cause power cuts - it wears a bit thin if the electricity doesn’t come back on for hours.

*Perfect use for a trullo at Rustic Puglia (Photo: Rustic Puglia)*

P2P: What do you think are the best things the Puglia region can offer visitors?

RP: It retains its authenticity – wander around the towns out of season and you’ll be hard pushed to see other tourists, you’ll see life as it’s been lived forever. The food is amazing and you can get a cappuccino and a pastry for under €2! Puglia boasts two coasts (the Adriatic and the Ionian), beautiful architecture (Lecce is known as the Florence of the south) and there are more and more marked footpaths appearing to encourage walking through the beautiful countryside.

James and I are super excited to be helping Claire and Andy with their olive harvest this year – a week of labour in the beautiful Puglian countryside, justifying the pasta and wine to be consumed in the evenings sounds perfect!! Do check out Rustic Puglia’s website and Facebook page if you are considering a break in Puglia or please do get in touch with me for other ideas or how you can sample a slice of the Puglian lifestyle!