Cisternino (Puglia)

Cisternino is a town in the province of Brindisi in Apulia, on the coast of south-eastern Italy, approximately 50 kilometers north-west of the city of Brindisi. Its main economic activities are tourism, the growing of olives and grapes, and dairy farming. Cisternino sits in a historic zone of Itria Valley, known for its prehistoric conical, dry stone houses called 'trulli', which are preserved under UNESCO safeguards due to their cultural significance, dry stone walls ('muretti a secco'), and its fertile soil which makes it the home of the Salento wine region. The architecture is typical of the region with an old historical center containing white-washed, stone buildings with cool, shaded, cave-like interiors, narrow streets, and churches. The town also features several community squares, each of which is built on the edge of the hill allowing for some spectacular landscapes. In Cisternino and the surrounding area, there have been several Bronze Age finds, including different types of hand tools. Evidence would suggest that the region was also a seasonal home to ancient hunter-gatherer humans.