Cisternino & the Butcher-Grill Tradition
Just 12 km from Martina Franca, the hilltop whitewashed village of Cisternino harbours one of the most singular dining traditions in southern Italy: the fornello pronto, where you choose your raw meat directly from a butcher's counter and they grill it for you on the spot to eat at rough wooden tables inside.
How the Fornello Pronto Works
The concept is delightfully simple: you walk into a combined butcher shop and grill room — places like Rosticceria Al Fornello da Ricci on Via Municipio or the cluster of fornelli on Via Basiliani — point at whatever cuts appeal to you, and the butcher weighs, prices and fires them over wood embers while you pour yourself a carafe of house wine from the barrel on the counter.
The specialities to order are bombette (pork rolls stuffed with caciocavallo and parsley), gnummarieddi (lamb offal skewers) and involtini di carne — all cooked to order and served on paper-lined plates with nothing more than bread, a wedge of lemon and a scattering of raw vegetables.
The whole experience costs roughly €12–18 per person including wine, making it one of the best-value meals in Puglia.
Cisternino Itself
Beyond the fornelli, Cisternino's centro storico is a gem — smaller and less visited than Martina Franca, with a tangle of flower-filled lanes, a handsome 14th-century clock tower and sweeping views from the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele terrace over the Itria Valley.
The village is at its most atmospheric in the early evening when the butcher-grills light their fires and the smell of wood smoke drifts through the streets; tables spill out onto the cobblestones in summer and the atmosphere is joyously convivial.
Combine a late lunch at a fornello with a slow afternoon walk through the old town and you have a perfect half-day excursion from Martina Franca by car or, in summer, by local bus.
More of Martina Franca
Discover where to stay, what to do and the best deals for your trip.
Explore Martina Franca →
