THRIFTY Car Rental at Brindisi Airport

Brindisi Airport is the gateway to southern Italy's Puglia region, which forms the "heel" of the "Italian boot" and enjoys a year-round mild climate. Famous for its trulli architecture – tall, conical rooftops on white-washed houses – the Puglia region is ideally suited for a holiday with a rental car. The Brindisi Airport car rental counters are located in the arrivals hall area, Thrifty tel +39 (0) 831 413 682.

The rental fee includes unlimited mileage, loss damage waiver, theft protection, airport surcharges and VAT. Drivers as young as 20 are permitted to hire a car from Thrifty, but they may be subject to a Young Driver's Surcharge. Thrifty offers customers a wide choice of vehicles. The Thrifty Brindisi Airport car rental fleet includes the Hyundai i10, Opel Meriva, Ford C-Max and Opel Adam.

Perched high on a hill top, the historic town of Locorotondo is close to Bari, about an hour's drive from Brindisi. Renown for its fine wines and for an imposing circular centre from which the town derives its name, Locorotondo ("Round Place") is one of southern Italy's most beautiful towns and a highlight on a tour of the Itria Valley.

Close to Alberobello and Martina Franca, Locorotondo lies in the province of Bari, and can also be reached by train, if you don't fancy driving for a day. Its centerpiece, the circular centro storico, is a veritable maze of cobbled streets and white-washed houses, awash with Baroque archways and homes where balconies and staircases are decorated with colourful flowerpots.

All around the town there are examples of historic trulli homes, their conical roofs visible from afar, as you drive past vineyards. Leave your Thrifty rental car in one of the municipal car parks and stroll along the narrow cobbled streets and you'll soon see just why Locorotondo is so popular. It is a charming place, full of cultural treasures. One of them, the Church of St George the Martyr, is a fine example of 18th century religious architecture. Built between 1769 and 1821, the church's white and gold interior also boasts late medieval bas reliefs saved from an earlier church. St George is one of two patron saints that watch over the town's inhabitants. The other saint is San Rocco, who has his own church in the town's historical center.

Also well worth visiting is the Romanesque church of Our Lady of Greece. Chiesa della Madonna della Greca was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and boasts a stunning central rose window.

In the bars and restaurants of Locorotondo they serve the locally produced wine which is very similar to the famous sparkling Spumante wine. In order to receive the coveted Locorontondo DOC designation, the wine must attain at least an alcohol level of 11% - so it's pretty powerful and best consumed in small quantities, when you're out and about with a rental car from Thrifty!