Locorotondo renowned for its white wines

Also known as the 'balcony of the Valle d'Itria, Locorotondo is one of Puglia's prettiest towns with a proudly conserved, easily-walkable centre and a calm, laid-back atmosphere. It is a whitewashed maze of little lanes lined with historic buildings, some humble and faded, others retaining rather grand baroque archways and architectural details. The old protective walls are traced by a perimeter road offering wonderful views over the surrounding agricultural land, vineyards, olive groves and trulli, dissected by dry-stone walls.

Despite being just 8km from the UNESCO site of Alberobello, instead of trulli houses Locorotondo has cummerse, which are houses with pointed gable roofs - unusual in this part of Italy - examples of which can be found in the tightly-packed centro storico.These simple, angular buildings that predominate the centre are in contrast to the town's true shape, which, as its name implies, is "rotund", both horizontally and vertically due to its circular street plan and curvaceous hill on which it sits.

The town has two patron saints, San Georgio, who is celebrated with a market fair on the 22 - 23 April, and San Rocco, who is celebrated on the 16 August with a day of music and fireworks.

Thursday morning is market day and is bustling with local stalls and traders or you can visit the Cantina di Locorotondo and sample some of their locally produced wine.