Day to day, you can live in Manduria’s old town without a car. For the airport and the sea, you will want one, or a plan. Here is the plan.
Manduria’s old town was built before the car, when a town had to fit inside the distance a person covers on foot. It is flat: 77 metres above sea level, and the streets barely rise.
We measured the walk from Piazza Garibaldi to the places of daily life, on Google Maps’ walking routes:
| From Piazza Garibaldi to | On foot |
|---|---|
| Pharmacy | 3 minutes, 190 m |
| Baker | 5 minutes, 400 m |
| School | 6 minutes, 400 m |
| Railway station | 9 minutes, 650 m |
| Supermarket | 10 minutes, 700 m |
| Hospital | 11 minutes, 800 m |
Ten bank branches are within walking distance, two of them on the square itself. Beyond the town, the land is flat enough for a bicycle: the Messapian walls are 2 kilometres away, the next town 8, the first stretch of coast 10.
The honest answer: most people who move here still keep a car for the coast and the countryside. In the old town, it can stay parked.
Brindisi (46 km, about fifty minutes by car) and Bari (about 110 minutes) are the two airports. Taranto Grottaglie, 38 minutes away, has no scheduled passenger flights at present.
Some of the direct routes, from the airlines’ own schedules, read on 30 October 2026:
| Airline | To Brindisi | To Bari |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair, winter 2026-27 | London Stansted; Eindhoven (November to January) | London Stansted, Vienna, Berlin Brandenburg, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Düsseldorf Weeze, Nuremberg |
| Ryanair, added for summer 2027 | Memmingen (from late March), Dublin, Manchester | Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Friedrichshafen, Frankfurt Hahn, Leeds Bradford, Linz |
| British Airways | London Heathrow, May to September | London Gatwick, March to October |
| Air Dolomiti | Munich | Munich |
This is not a complete list: other airlines fly to both airports, and routes change every season. Check the airport’s own departures page, Aeroporti di Puglia, before you book.
By car: about fifty minutes from Brindisi, on flat provincial roads.
By public transport, it takes planning.
Write to us before you book: we will tell you the best connection for your day and time.
From 2028, a train to the plane. RFI, Italy’s rail network company, is building a line of about 6 kilometres from Brindisi Centrale station to the airport. The end of the works is expected in 2028, as reported from the building site in May 2026.
Manduria station is on the Ferrovie del Sud Est line from Martina Franca to Lecce, in service since 1907. The line is being rebuilt as a public project officially called Metropolitana di superficie Martina-Lecce-Gagliano: new track, electrification and a control system for faster, more frequent trains, with 180 million euros of public funding. Manduria is one of three stations on its section to become an interchange, where train, bus and bicycle meet.
What runs now. The section through Manduria has been closed for the works since June 2024, and replacement buses now run along the whole line. In the timetable valid from 14 September to 12 December 2026 there are about nine runs each way on weekdays and two on Sundays and holidays, calling at Martina Franca, Cisternino, Ceglie Messapica, Francavilla Fontana, Manduria and on to Lecce. In Manduria they stop at the station forecourt.
What is coming. Completion is set for 2027. From the rebuilt station you will reach Lecce and Martina Franca with no change, Brindisi and Taranto with one change at Francavilla Fontana, and Bari with one change at Martina Franca. Rome is reached by direct fast train from Brindisi or Lecce. The line runs inland: it does not go to the sea.
Everything about the line, with photographs of the works: manduriashire.it/railway.
Everything after the first week rests on a few pieces of paper, and none of them needs a car.
We do the paperwork with you: codice fiscale, notary, Italian bank account, registered lease.
Day to day, yes. The old town is flat, and the pharmacy, the baker, the supermarket, the banks and the hospital are within fifteen minutes on foot of Piazza Garibaldi. Most people who move here still keep a car for the coast and the countryside.
Brindisi, 46 kilometres and about fifty minutes by car. Bari is about 110 minutes. Taranto Grottaglie, 38 minutes away, has no scheduled passenger flights at present.
Take the STP airport bus to Brindisi railway station (every 30 minutes, every day), then a Ferrovie del Sud Est bus. Line 500 runs from Brindisi to Manduria only a few times a day, Monday to Saturday, so check the timetable or write to us before you travel.
Not at the moment. The Martina Franca to Lecce line is closed for reconstruction and replacement buses run, stopping at Manduria station’s forecourt. Completion is set for 2027.
Not yet. A rail link of about 6 kilometres from Brindisi Centrale to the airport is under construction, with the end of the works expected in 2028.
On the airlines’ own schedules read on 30 October 2026: Ryanair from London Stansted to Brindisi and Bari all winter, with more UK routes to Bari and Brindisi in summer 2027; British Airways from Heathrow to Brindisi from May to September and from Gatwick to Bari from March to October. Other airlines also fly; check before you book.
A place to stay in Manduria’s old town, a short walk from the station, from summer 2027. Hear first when bookings open.
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