The thousand-year-old olive trees along the ancient Via Traiana
Between Fasano, Ostuni, Monopoli and Carovigno, at the foot of the Murgia, the coastal plain hosts one of the most extraordinary agricultural landscapes in the Mediterranean: the Piana degli Ulivi Secolari, the plain of the centuries-old olive trees, with tens of thousands of monumental olive trees, many of which are several hundred and some over a thousand years old. Their huge, twisted, hollow trunks, shaped by time and the wind, take on the most incredible forms, and many have been given names. They are mostly of the Ogliarola and Cellina di Nardò varieties.
The plain is crossed by the remains of the Via Traiana, the Roman road built by Emperor Trajan in the second century to connect Benevento with Brindisi, which ran close to the coast, and dotted with fortified masserie, the farms where the oil was produced, many with underground oil mills carved into the rock. Since 2007 a regional law has protected the monumental olive trees. In recent years the landscape of the Salento further south has been devastated by Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium that has killed millions of olive trees, and its advance is a threat also to this area, which has become a symbol of resistance. Many masserie offer tastings of extra virgin olive oil and tours of the groves.
Tip: explore the plain by bicycle along country roads between Fasano and Ostuni; in October and November you can watch the harvest and pressing.
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