A land of sea, hills and endless plains, the Apulia region attracts visitors for its amazing coastline (more than 800 kilometers across Adriatic and Ionian Sea), but also for its art cities and picturesque historical villages, where old religious traditions still live untouched, its countryside masserie immersed in olive groves, and its plenty of farm products that tell of unique ancient flavors.
Puglia can surely now take its place in the first rank of Italy’s famous regions. Clearly, everything the Italophile craves is there in abundance: ancient towns heavy with the tangible past; extravagant churches dreamt up by Europe’s finest architects; the footprints of an endless procession of conquerors and cultures, stamped in stone, gold and marble; seas of olives; olive – green seas; and food the equal of any in Italy.
Travellers bored or worn down by the crowds of Campania and Tuscany can find still release in the baroque splendour of Lecce, ‘Florence of the South’, or one of many lesser (but no less beautiful) Pugliese towns.
