Ostuni sits on three hills about eight kilometres inland from the Adriatic in southern Puglia, between Bari and Brindisi. It is called la Citta Bianca, the white city, because the old town is lime-washed white throughout, and from the surrounding olive plain it appears as a single white mass on a hilltop.
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THE WHITE IS THE DESTINATION AND IT IS NOT DECORATIVE. The lime wash began as a practical measure, reflecting heat and acting as a disinfectant during plague years, and it is still maintained. The effect at close range is a maze of narrow lanes, arches and external staircases in which almost every surface is white and the only colour is a door, a balcony of flowers or a cactus in a pot. It photographs extraordinarily well and it is also disorienting: the lanes loop, climb and dead-end, and getting lost in them for an hour is the ordinary experience rather than a failure.
THE SECOND THING, AND IT IS THE HONEST LIMITATION: OSTUNI IS NOT A SEASIDE TOWN. Its own beaches are eight kilometres downhill at the marina, Costa Merlata and Pilone, reached by car or a seasonal bus, and the old town has no sea access at all. A good deal of accommodation marketing implies otherwise. If you want to walk to the sea, Polignano a Mare up the coast is the town that does that, and our Polignano a Mare packing list covers it.
THE THIRD IS THAT THE OLD TOWN IS BUILT ON A HILL AND IS ALL STAIRCASE. Almost nothing in it is flat, the lanes are stone worn smooth, and the gradient is steep. That is the packing story, as it is in most of this batch: shoes first.
The White Lanes, the Cathedral and the Olive Plain
A maze on a hill, a Gothic rose window, and some of the oldest olive trees on Earth.
THE OLD TOWN is the attraction and the way to see it is to walk up without a plan. From Piazza della Liberta at the bottom, the lanes climb through arches and under bridges to the CATHEDRAL at the summit, a late fifteenth-century building with an unusual Gothic rose window of twenty-four spokes and a facade that is pointedly not baroque, which is rare in Puglia. The terraces on the way up give views over the olive plain to the sea.
PIAZZA DELLA LIBERTA is where the town gathers, with the obelisk of Sant'Oronzo and the cafes. The evening passeggiata here is a genuine institution and the whole town takes part.
THE OLIVE GROVES below the town are not scenery, they are the economy, and they contain MONUMENTAL OLIVE TREES that are genuinely ancient, some estimated at well over a thousand years old, protected by regional law and visitable at several masserie. The oil from this plain is among the best in Italy. Several masserie, the fortified farmhouses of the plain, now function as hotels and restaurants and are the characteristic way to stay in this area.
ONE HONEST NOTE ON THE GROVES: XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA, a bacterial infection, has killed millions of olive trees across southern Puglia since 2013, and in places the landscape includes stands of dead and skeletal trees. It is visible, it is distressing to see and it is part of what this region is now. Mentioning it is more useful than photographing around it.
Otherwise: the Museo di Civilta Preclassiche holds the skeleton of a pregnant woman buried around 25,000 years ago, found nearby and known as Delia, which is a startling thing for a small town museum. And the beaches, when you get there, are genuinely good: Costa Merlata is rocky coves and Pilone is sand.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Valle d'Itria and the Coast
Trulli inland, baroque to the south, and the whole heel within two hours.
ALBEROBELLO is 40 minutes inland and has the trulli, the conical drystone houses that are a World Heritage site, covered in our Alberobello packing list. LOCOROTONDO and MARTINA FRANCA in the same Valle d'Itria are quieter and arguably better, the first a circular white town and the second baroque and elegant.
POLIGNANO A MARE is 45 minutes north up the coast, and MONOPOLI between them is a working port town with a good old centre. LECCE, the baroque capital of the heel, is an hour and a quarter south, and BRINDISI is 40 minutes. MATERA, over the border in Basilicata, is about an hour and a half and is one of the great sights of southern Italy.
Getting around: A CAR IS NECESSARY for everything except the town itself. Ostuni has a station but it is two and a half kilometres below the town and connected by an infrequent bus, and the beaches, the masserie and the Valle d'Itria are not reachable otherwise. In the old town, drive nowhere: park below and walk up. Note that much of the old town is a restricted traffic zone and the fines arrive months later.
When to Go
May, June, September and early October. July and August are fierce.
A hot Mediterranean climate with a long dry summer. June to September runs 29 to 34C with strong sun and little rain, July and August regularly exceeding that; winter from December to February is mild at 13 to 15C and is the wet season; spring and autumn are warm and are the best times to come.
MAY AND JUNE ARE THE PICK: warm enough to swim from June, the plain still green, long days and the town not yet full. SEPTEMBER AND EARLY OCTOBER are equally good, with the sea at its warmest after the summer and the olive harvest beginning in late October.
JULY AND AUGUST ARE GENUINELY FIERCE. This is one of the hottest parts of Italy, the white lanes reflect heat and offer very little shade in the middle of the day, and the town fills with Italian holidaymakers in August with prices to match. If you come then, see the old town before nine, go to the beach, and return in the evening. The locals do exactly this.
WINTER IS MILD, QUIET AND CHEAP, with the old town almost empty and a number of restaurants closed. It rains in short heavy bursts. The light on white walls in winter is lovely and the olive harvest runs from late October into December.
Is Ostuni Safe for Women Travelers
Very safe. Heat, the gradient and the drive to the sea are the considerations.
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
THE HEAT AND THE GLARE ARE THE FIRST HAZARD AND THEY COMPOUND EACH OTHER. White lime-washed walls in a Puglian July reflect sunlight from every direction, including upwards off the paving, and the lanes have almost no shade in the middle of the day. People burn here in places they do not expect, under the chin and the nose, and sunglasses are genuinely necessary rather than a style choice. Dehydration is the common problem and the standard mistake is a long climb at two in the afternoon.
THE GRADIENT AND THE STONE ARE THE SECOND. The old town is a hill of stepped lanes polished by centuries of use, slick after rain, and the descent is where ankles turn. Flat shoes with grip; this is not a town for anything else.
THE DRIVING IS THE THIRD and it has a specific local shape. The roads down to the coast and across the plain are narrow and often walled, Puglian driving is assertive, and the beach roads in August are busy. The drink-driving limit of 0.05 is enforced and the masserie serve generously. And the restricted traffic zone in the old town catches a great many visitors: the cameras are automatic and the fine arrives at your home address months later via the hire company.
Italy is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as an Italian resident. That means the same ticket, the co-payment Italians make, rather than nothing, and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. Italian public hospitals are good and the emergency department, the pronto soccorso, treats anyone who arrives. Pharmacies, farmacie, are marked with a green cross, are staffed by pharmacists who can advise and dispense for minor problems, and post a rota for nights and Sundays on the door. Tap water is drinkable across the country, including from the public fountains that are common in Italian towns.
On crime, Ostuni is a prosperous small town with very little. Ordinary caution about bags belongs on a crowded summer evening in the piazza and at Bari or Brindisi stations rather than in the lanes. A car left visibly loaded at a beach car park is the one real property risk, and it is a genuine one in August.
Socially this is easy and welcoming. Ostuni has a substantial international visitor trade so English is widely spoken, eating alone is unremarkable, and the evening passeggiata is a comfortable thing to join alone. Away from the old town, in the villages of the plain, less English is spoken and a few words of Italian help.
The Ostuni Packing List
Shoes with grip for a hill of worn stone
Stepped lanes, polished stone, steep gradient, slick after rain. This is the first item. For the groves and the coastal paths, waterproof hiking boots and merino wool socks.
Sun protection, doubled, because the walls reflect
A wide brim sun hat and high factor sunscreen applied to the places upward-reflected light reaches, under the chin and the nose included. Sunglasses are equipment here rather than an accessory: a white town in full Puglian sun is genuinely dazzling.
Light covering clothes, long rather than short
Loose and long beats bare skin in this heat, which is what people who work outdoors here wear. A long sleeve sun hoodie is the single most useful garment for a midday walk or a day on the rocks at Costa Merlata.
Base layers, for the evenings and the shoulder seasons
Puglian evenings cool off more than the daytime suggests, and spring and autumn mornings are properly cool. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women works for a cool April morning and does not hold smell across a week of hot days, which cotton will not manage.
Water, as the heat item
An insulated water bottle. The old town has fountains, the olive plain and the beaches have far less, and dehydration is the most common thing that goes wrong here.
Swimwear, and the car to reach the sea
Two sets. Remember the beaches are eight kilometres downhill, so a beach day is a drive and a bag rather than a stroll.
The small things
A light rain layer for winter and spring. Something that covers shoulders and knees for the cathedral. A phone torch for the lanes, which are atmospheric and dim after dark. AND THE TWO LOCAL NOTES: park below the old town and walk up rather than risking the restricted traffic zone, and do the white lanes before nine in the morning in summer.
Essential Resources for Women in Ostuni
Emergency numbers: 112 for all emergencies, the single European number for police, ambulance and fire. 113 for police directly. 1530 for the coastguard, which covers the beaches. 1515 for forest fires, which matter in a dry Puglian summer. Coverage is good in the town and on the plain.
Main hospital or clinic: Ostuni has a local hospital, the Ospedale Vito Fazzi di Ostuni, with limited emergency provision. The larger emergency departments are at Brindisi, about 40 minutes, and the Ospedale Perrino there is the provincial hospital, with Bari an hour and a quarter north for anything major. Dial 112.
Official health authority: the Ministero della Salute, the Italian health ministry. Carry a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU card. Ostuni's own hospital has limited emergency provision, so anything serious means Brindisi at 40 minutes or Bari at an hour and a quarter
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Rome.
Official tourism authority: ENIT, the Italian national tourist board. And with the Ostuni tourist office in the old town, which holds the seasonal beach bus timetable, the masseria and olive grove visit arrangements and the cathedral opening hours
Ostuni is not a seaside town. Its beaches are eight kilometres downhill and need a car or the seasonal bus, whatever the accommodation photographs suggest.
The white walls reflect sunlight from every direction, including upwards off the paving. Sunglasses are necessary and sunscreen goes under the chin.
The old town is a hill of stepped lanes. Park below and walk up, and note the restricted traffic zone cameras are automatic.
Xylella has killed millions of olive trees across southern Puglia since 2013, and stands of dead trees are a visible part of this landscape now.
Solo women safety assessment: Ostuni is an easy and welcoming place to travel alone, a prosperous small town with a substantial international visitor trade, so English is widely spoken, eating alone is unremarkable and joining the evening passeggiata in Piazza della Liberta is a comfortable thing to do by yourself; out in the villages of the plain less English is spoken and a few words of Italian go a long way. Crime is minimal, with ordinary caution about bags belonging to a crowded summer evening in the piazza or to Bari and Brindisi stations rather than to the lanes, and the one genuine property risk is a car left visibly loaded at a beach car park in August. The hazards are environmental. THE HEAT AND THE GLARE COME FIRST AND THEY COMPOUND, because lime-washed walls in a Puglian July reflect sunlight from every direction including upwards off the paving, the lanes offer almost no midday shade, and people burn under the chin and the nose where they never think to apply sunscreen; dehydration is the common failure and the standard mistake is a long climb at two in the afternoon. THE GRADIENT IS SECOND: the old town is a hill of stepped lanes polished by centuries of use and slick after rain, and the descent is where ankles turn. Third is driving, with narrow walled roads, assertive local traffic, generous masseria hospitality against an enforced 0.05 limit, and automatic restricted-zone cameras whose fines arrive months later.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For the region as a whole, see the Puglia packing list; for the trulli inland the Alberobello packing list; and for the cliff town up the coast that genuinely is on the sea, the Polignano a Mare packing list. For why wool rather than cotton across a week of 33C days, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
