The area of Alberobello has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1996 and is a truly amazing place; pun intended! Nancy explained that the town can be considered in two main sections; one side of the town has about 500 trullis and is essentially comprised of holiday accommodation. The other side of town is larger, with about 1500 trullis, and this is made up of commercial activity, shops and restaurants etc, as well as accommodation and is the busiest part of Alberobello.

The non riding group had a private guided walking tour around Alberobello booked for the morning and we met our lovely guide, Milena, at 10:30am. She was a very well informed and delightfully entertaining lady who showed us around the two main parts of the historic site. Milenas grandparents had lived in the smaller part of Alberobello and she took us to the site where they originally lived. She relayed to us, with some sadness, how her grandmother had demolished the family trulli building to make way for a more modern development that would better suit her ailing husband.

Milena was obviously very popular with other folk as well as she was able to secure keys to access a trulli building that had been fitted out in the manner of how people would have lived in them during historic times. They were very small and humble abodes and often populated by large families along with their animals.

Our guided walking tour finished just after 12.30 and we then caught up with the riding group to have a panini lunch before heading off to our next accommodation base. The next three nights were spent at a family owned and run luxury trulli resort, just 12 km out of Alberobello, in an area called Locorotondo. It was lovely trulli resort with accomodation arranged in individual bungalow buildings spread throughout a lush garden setting.  Our room was most comfortable and we even had our own private garden!

The afternoon was set aside for free time at the resort and most of the group spent this time by the pool, having a lovely afternoon of swimming and chatting. I had mentioned to Annabelle this morning that I initially felt I’d been thrown into the cast of ‘9 Perfect Strangers’ but, as with the evolution of the plot in the book, I, too, had become more acquainted and comfortable with the other guests as the day progressed.

Dinner was enjoyed at the accommodation for the first night and this started with aperitivo hour by the pool at 6.30pm where we received a welcome from the manager of our accommodation. I chatted with her after the welcome and she explained she had previously worked in her fathers building and construction company along with her two older brothers. It had been her idea to turn this family owned property into luxury holiday accomodation but her father had initially resisted the idea. Needless to say, he is now very proud of her accomplishment! Her success in taking the risk and developing this accommodation, against a backdrop of a male dominated family, made it just that much nicer to enjoy all that was on offer here! It was another lovely evening of dining and, thankfully, not as late as the previous night.