Ostuni (also known as the White City) is a municipality of 32,514 inhabitants in the province of Brindisi. Geographically it belongs to the region of Salento. Ostuni rises on three hills to an altitude of 218 metres. It is located 8km from the Adriatic coast in the High Salento. The Murgia, on whose southern extensions the city is found, is a cavernous area, essentially made up of Cretaceous limestone. It is therefore a rather dry area and without any waterways: in their place there are the so-called “blades”, riverbeds of a seasonal nature, with deep ditches and steep embankments. Another characteristic from a geological point of view are the canyons, the carstic gullies. The most important economic activity is tourism and agriculture (mostly olives and vineyards).
There is an important and numerous presence of so-called manors, or rather fortified farms in both the Ostuni forest and on the coast, where the agricultural activity of large land owners is carried out. From World War II to today, apart from the development of agriculture and the transformation of related activities (oil, almonds, wine) the city has become a renowned tourist destination, prized for its cultural, historical and architectural assets.

Numerous tourist villages, for example Rosa Marina, have sprung up along the coast, one of the cleanest of the Puglia coastline. The most peculiar characteristic of the historic centre, something that fascinates tourists, is the lime paint of the houses up to the roofline. This, going back to medieval times, comes from, apart from the easy availability of lime as a raw material, the need to ensure that the alleys and narrow spaces of the medieval town would be well-lighted, whether from direct or reflected light. As already pointed out, this custom acquired an historically important role in the 17th century, when the lime paint was the only way to keep the Black Death from spreading in the town and augmenting the contagion to the point of wiping out the town.

This is also why Ostuni is often called the White City or the Crèche City, and it is a characteristic that makes it both recognisable and unforgettable to visitors