Discover Puglia
Puglia encompasses the spur and heel of Italy’s boot, and is bordered by two seas, the Adriatic to the east and the Ionian to the south.
Apulia’s strategic position as the Italian peninsula’s gateway to the east made the region both an important thoroughfare and a target for colonizers and invaders like Greeks, Spartans, Romans, Normans and Spanish, who left their cultural traces over the centuries.
Leave the trulli, olive trees and drystone walls of the Itria Valley, and follow the way to the most beautiful beaches of the Adriatic or Ionian coast.
Take a journey at the Adriatic marinas of Fasano and Ostuni, Polignano a Mare and Monopoli, with their beaches and small coves in the low rocky coast.
Further south, search out an untamed corner of the Ionian marine nature reserve and enjoy sea breezes and the perfume of Mediterranean scrub, a natural paradise of inlets and high dunes overlooking the Ionian sea.
In the Ionian area, Greeks founded the Magna Grecia civilization.
Brindisi area was and still is the point marking the end of the Roman Appian way.
In Bari area the Norman legacy is seen in the magnificent Romanesque churches, sanctuaries and castles like Castel del Monte, erected by king Frederic II.
In Lecce area, known as the Florence of the Baroque, displays the architectural mark of the Spanish colonizers.
Matera it is known world wide for the historic sassi districts, which have their origin in Paleolithic times and have never been uninhabited until nowadays. This makes Matera one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.
Apulian city until 1663 and now capital city of Basilicata, it encapsulates the traces of all the conquerors who have invaded the region of Apulia over the centuries.
