What is Cisternino known for?

Whitewashed labyrinth of stone alleys and arches, Borghi più belli and Bandiera Arancione, the postcard of the Itria valley. Pork-and-cheese rolls grilled at the butcher-restaurants of the centro storico, ordered at the counter and eaten next door, the Puglian standard. Member since 2003, named Cittaslow City of the Year in 2014, the local commitment to slow food and slow living formalised.

Cisternino is a comune in the province of Brindisi, Apulia region of Italy, about 41 kilometers from Taranto.

Apulia · Brindisi

Cisternino

An Itria valley borgo on the southern Murgia, whitewashed, Cittaslow since 2003 and Cittaslow City of the Year in 2014.

41 km / 25 mi

Nearest hub (Taranto)

11,139

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Cisternino sits on the last rise of the southern Murgia, looking down over the Valle d'Itria with its drystone walls, vineyards and trulli. The centro storico is a knot of whitewashed houses, narrow stone alleys, low arches and small courtyards that has earned the town the comparison to a North African medina. The Chiesa Madre di San Nicola di Patara was built in the fourteenth century on the foundations of a tenth-century Basilian church; excavations between 1999 and 2000 uncovered thirteen burials, Byzantine fresco fragments and coins beneath the floor. The neoclassical facade dates from around 1848. Cisternino carries both top-tier institutional signals, Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione, sits in the Itria Valley DOC wine zone, and was named Cittaslow City of the Year in 2014. The town is known across Puglia for its butcher-restaurants: bombette and grilled meats ordered at the counter and eaten on a paper plate at a side table.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Chiesa Madre di San Nicola di Patara
Fourteenth-century mother church built on a tenth-century Basilian foundation, with Byzantine fresco fragments and thirteen burials excavated beneath the floor.
Centro storico
Whitewashed knot of stone alleys, arches and courtyards on the Murgia edge, often compared to a medina, the heart of the Borgo più bello recognition.
Torre Civica
Civic clock tower in the main square at the entrance to the centro storico, the gateway between the modern town and the white labyrinth.
Belvedere sulla Valle d'Itria
Panoramic terrace at the edge of the centro storico, the Itria valley spread out below with Locorotondo and Martina Franca visible on clear days.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the months the Itria valley is green and the centro storico is walkable without sweat. July and August reach the mid-thirties on the plateau and the white alleys fill with day-trippers; by ten in the morning the main passages can be shoulder to shoulder. Late afternoon and dusk are the times to walk, when the limestone catches the sun and the crowds thin. November through March is quiet and cool, several restaurants close, but the white stone in low winter light is the photograph that the high-season pictures miss. The Pietre che Cantano music festival in late summer is the year's cultural peak.