suburban housing blocks surrounding a paiara framed by four stone pines outside of Nardo'

…are what have drawn me to this place more than anything, such as the dry-stone conical domes of the trulli, modest shelters or residences found mostly in the central Valle D’Itria (around Locorotondo, Alberbello, Martina Franca, Ceglie Messapica); the fortified farmhouse complexes of the masserie; and the primitive storehouses and temporary shelters dotting the landscape known as paiara (though locals here call them something else which escapes my memory at the moment) built with mortar-less stone construction (just like the walls that divide up the countryside all over the region) which are slightly domed but with flat roofs you can often access with a stair or two wrapping around the perimeter – though what I was most unprepared for here in Puglia was the vivid contrast between the evidence of a picturesque primitive agrarian past, and beautiful historic town centers surrounded – and at times strangled by – more recent sprawling development, much of it the legacy of a 1960’s housing and building boom (the most egregious of which were built with no official approvals and against any codes, known all over Italy as ‘abusivismo’) – but after getting my eyes re-adjusted to this first impression of an ugly mess, I started to feel like there was a meaningful ‘edge’ here – a reality of 21st century life and conflict (not seen in Umbria or Tuscany where restrictive building codes and wealthy foreigners have mostly frozen the place in time) which actually reminded me a bit of L.A. – stimulating me in similar ways.