Back in Maastricht, we list all the impressions of our trullo search. Is it the azure blue sea of Puglia that attracts us? The answer to that is of course 'yes'. Is it the people in the heel of Italy? Si. And not to mention the food. We immediately felt welcome in Puglia. You feel that people are happy and give each other something.

Palm trees
On our previous visit we had visited a trullo with two gigantic beautiful, defining palm trees. Now it appeared that these palm trees had recently been visited by palm beetle larvae. All the leaves were brown in no time, no more saving on. The trees were still there, but in a truncated version as if a green roof would ever grow on it. That beetle is a major problem in the Mediterranean. The government is looking for a solution, just like for the disease that rages under the 11 million olive trees. In tackling the harmful bacteria, the bureaucratic method that characterizes Italy becomes clear. The local government of Apulia works slowly and that can have disastrous consequences because the bacteria also loves grapes and almonds.

Freer life
The house with the truncated palm tree turned out to be from a farmer's family who recently built a bungalow right next to their beautiful trullo with 9 cones. Incomprehensible to us, and of course you did not see that on the photos that were on the internet. We did make a friendship because immediately a home-made bottle of wine was opened, even though it was only 11 o'clock in the morning. They are bon vivants. We, too, want to live more freely, more consciously, with space, in the countryside.

You never know where you end up
We think we have the dream house online. We see a trullo with a large terrace and below that terrace another lamia where in the past the wine was pressed from the vineyard that once was on the 5-hectare plot. We quickly arrange an appointment with real estate agent Pierdonato and an overnight stay at Masseria Genovese in Ceglie Messapica. In any case, we can once again enjoy the special restaurants in this age-old village that is known as the capital of gastronomy. The famous restaurant Cibus is hidden in one of the many alleys where once after dinner a complete tour of the wine cellars and the underground vaults with the most beautiful cheeses and sausages was offered. And while in our very poor Italian we only asked where the toilet was. E ora practico l'italiano ('and now I practice my Italian'), because you never know where you end up ...