ITALY FORGOTTEN COAST CHARMING VILLAGES AWAIT TRAVELERS IN THE SOUTHEAST.

Byline: Larry Lipson Staff Writer

ALONG ITALY'S SOUTHEASTERN COAST - Pescara. Not a name that evokes much enthusiasm from travelers to Italy. And no wonder. It has little to offer other than a view of the Adriatic Sea.

But it was our initial destination on an autumn trip that would start with one of the less-favored areas for international tourists, the southeastern coast. In fact, National Geographic Traveler, in its guide of Italy authored by Tim Jepson, calls southern Italy ``another country, a land separated from the rest of Italy by history, geography and economics, a world apart that is poorer, wilder, more backward.''

But hey, this is a new century and things are changing rapidly. Has Jepson visited Bari lately?

Our idea was to pick up our rental car at Rome's Fiumicino Airport and immediately head straight across Italy to Pescara in the Abruzzo. We'd take the A24 and A25, a mere couple of hours of drive time on these major highways, bypassing snow-topped mountains, wheeling cautiously through tunnels. Then we would work our way down the coast of Bari, the capital of Apulia, and move inland to the unique and somewhat mysterious Trulli region around Alberobello.

And what a good idea it turned out to be.

In off-season Italy, the weather was great, with plenty of sun. The kids were back in school. Traffic was heavy only in city centers during rush hours. And hotel rooms were, for the most part, plentiful.

We traversed boring Pescara quickly, found ourselves in Chieti and its pretty seaside resort suburb called Francavilla Al Mare. The small, three-story Vega Hotel, right on the beach, provided the setting for our first night on the Adriatic.

It was a night for a good southern Italian pizza, salad and a bottle of inexpensive Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (the pleasant local red wine) at a caffe across the street from the hotel, followed by a visit to the nearby Turchi gelateria for those delicious, intensely flavored Italian ice creams.

Morning, mid-September on the Abruzzi coast. The sun caressed us. In front of a vibrant green sea, the beach was almost deserted; for Italians, the summer holiday season was over.

Soon, we were on our way to Bari. It was time for sightseeing.

Some 18 miles southwest of Chieti stands Emperor Ludovic II's St. Clemente a Casuria abbey. Built in A.D. 871, it eventually survived continuous Saracen attacks, being restored four centuries later by Cistercian monks.

Its Gothic-Romanesque architecture indicates its ancient lineage. A bronze entry door was installed in 1191. Historically significant are both its altar and crypt.

The abbey gets few visitors on weekdays in the off-season. A friendly gesture on the part of a resident cleric allowed us to park close to the structure instead of in a distant parking lot. This is characteristically Italian. Here's a nation where smiles and warmth always seem to overshadow officiousness.

We stopped at Vasto, a small coastal resort on the A14 highway, our route to Bari. Lunch was leisurely at an outside, tree-shaded table at the Hotel Nettuno's ristorante-pizzeria on the Vasto Marina road.

Unfortunately, we arrived at Bari during the late-afternoon rush hour. Clogged streets and the seeming lack of driving rules demanded inordinate focus. Where are the hotels? We know the word ``albergo'' is synonymous with ``hotel,'' but where are the signs?

Meanwhile, downtown Bari, full of local shoppers crowding fashionable boutiques, art galleries, food stores and such, provided an interesting traffic escapade.

Incidentally, there is not much indication of a poorer, wilder, more backward city here. Look at the names on the stores. You've seen them before: on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills; on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

As we navigated slowly and carefully through one of the narrower Bari byways, a car in the middle of the road suddenly stopped. A rather plump woman opened the driver's door, emerged, gave us a disdainful glare, slammed the door shut and walked off to do her shopping. Yes, with no apparent parking spaces available at the side, she parked anyway - right in the middle of the street. Welcome to Bari.

Well, perhaps in some ways it was a bit wilder.

Eventually we secured a room in the majestic Mercure Hotel, called the Villa Romanazzi Carducci. It was late in the day, but not too late to notice the magnificent grounds of the hotel property.

But there was a dearth of fellow tourists. The hotel appeared to be full of business types, and nearly all of them seemed to be talking animatedly on their cell phones - some, peculiarly, speaking loudly into invisible microphones, gesturing wildly to apparent nobodies.

Bari, the capital of Apulia (or Puglia), has been a port city of importance since the Middle Ages - an industrial and agricultural center and marketplace, a confluence of ancient reminders and the most modern technology. It is the home of the annual Fiera del Levante (Levantine Fair), in its eighth decade, held to promote Mediterranean-area trade every September.

Now we knew why the hotel was full of business people.

The hotel's restaurant, La Taverna, was full, too. Featuring an unusual, cavelike underground design, it allows guests to sip robust, reasonably priced Italian '95 Barolo with antipasto plates such as tartare di jambon Iberico (tartare of Spanish ham) with Indian figs, priced at a mere $8. Or patrons might prefer chef Antonio De Rosa's grilled octopus with cherry tomatoes and capers for around $9. Noticeably, La Taverna's entrees look like real bargains, running from $8 to $14 each and with a fresh fish of the day as low as $4.50.

After a relaxing brunch, we were on our way to Alberobello, seat of the area featuring the remarkable and mysterious Trulli structures.

But first there was a delightful lunch stop at the friendly Trattoria Ciacco in Gioia del Colle and a visit to the impressive Castello Normanno- Svevo, one of a slew of Norman castles built during the reign of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century.

This is an imposing fortress right in the center of the town of Gioia that serves as the home of the National Archeological Museum, which displays a variety of interesting artifacts. The fortress possesses an impressive courtyard, a second-story arched throne room, also an old bakery and a onetime prison.

Soon we reached Terra dei Trulli, the region of Italy dotted with these weird, whitewashed walled structures topped with gray-slabbed conical roofs, most having white pinnacles.

Theories abound as to the origin of the trulli edifices, though their age ranges roughly from 200 to 700 years old. Centered mostly in and around the towns of Alberobello and Martina Franca, they add to their mystique by often having strange stone symbols - sometimes crosses of sorts, sometimes not - atop their conical roofs.

Were they the work of Greeks? Are they of Syrian design? Why aren't there more of them nearby and elsewhere?

There are no definitive answers, only opinions. Yet one thing about the way a trulli dwelling is built stands out as rather obvious. It is enormously practical. It keeps the heat out during the hot summer and is cozily warm in winter. Evidently fairly easy to erect, repair and restore, the trulli certainly do their duty in this day and age.

They draw curious tourists like us to the supposedly poor, wild, backward south of Italy.

IF YOU GO

For general tourism information on Italy, contact the Italian Government Tourist Board office at 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025; [phone]; www.enit.it.

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, box, map

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) The towns and villages along Italy's southeastern coast are appealing on a lot of levels. Bari, top, has been an important port city since the Middle Ages, and today is a confluence of ancient reminders and modern technology. The charm of Alberobello, left, is in its withwashed buildings with conical roofs. An exploration of Marina Franca, far left, might include a walk down a narrow alley that harks to a bygone era.

(4) Arched doors lead to the resident cleric's quarters at St. Clemente a Casuria abbey, built in A.D. 871 near Chieti, Italy.

(5) The garden in back of St. Clemente's abbey features a hand-crafted fountain.

(6) Constructed by Emperor Ludovic II, St. Clememte's endured several attacks by Saracens, the nomadic tribes of Syria.

(7) On a hot day in September, the beach at Francavilla Al Mare, near Chieti, lies undisturbed.

(8) Tourists visiting southeastern Italy are apt to find many vestiges of the past, such as this ninth-century stone engraving.

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Italy