Welcome to Puglia!

Bari
Brindisi
Foggia
Lecce
Taranto

Puglia is adorned with a long, beautiful coast line, largely free of tourists and development. The heel and spur of Italy's boot produces hearty fruits and vegetables, a main addition of Puglian cuisine.

Puglia's cuisine is fairly uniform, due to the friendly attitude in this flat country side. Relying on the same ingredients through out the region.

Tomatoes, fennel, peppers, lettuces, wild chicory and onions grow well there and are eaten raw at the beginning of a meal or served at the end of a meal with fruit. Between courses, pasta takes center stage. The types and shapes of pasta, made from Italy's best durum wheat, are more numerous here than in any other area of Italy. The most popular cuts are maccheroni, spaghetti, cavatelli, tiny gnocchi, and the region's most famous creation, orecchiette ("little ears"). Pasta sauces typically contain cauliflower, eggplant, chickpeas, fava beans, and broccoli florets.

Sheep's milk cheese is another important component of Puglian cuisine, as is the bounty of excellent seafood (particularly oysters, mussels and clams pulled from the Adriatic Sea.

Puglia is also reputed for its fabulous deep green olive oil, which competes with Tuscany and Liguria in quality. But grapes are probably the region's most important crop, as Puglia produces more grapes, both for eating and wine-making, than any other region in Italy.

Bari

A hidden treasure just inland from the Italian coastline, this gem of a town thrives and is built on agriculture, primarily that of wine, olives and almond production – the ideal hide-away or get away for any exploratory traveler.

Casamassima can be found in the Bari Province of the Puglia Region in the Southern Zone of Italy. Only 223 meters above sea level from the Adriatic Sea, this idealistic Italian hovel is the picturesque village of Italian life. Consisting of an approximate population of around 16,388 (equating to about 211.7 people per square kilometer) this township is located on one of the eastern terraces of the Murge.

The Murge is a characteristic area of Puglia, that is composed of limestone hills, near the edge of the Bari basin (conca di Bari—A depression formed when the underlying limestone is eroded by underground water and collapses).

Brindisi

The Province of Brindisi has an area of 1,839 sq km, and a total population of 402,422 in the 2001 census. It was established in the year 1927 and is administratively divided into 20 Municipalities, with capital the city of Brindisi.

The territory goes from the southern Murge hills to the Messapian plain, which was once covered by marshes, and was always a border area between Roman Apulia and the greek-influenced Salentina peninsula.

The very long coastline - over 80 km - is characterized by a great number of small bays alternating to sandy or rocky beaches, which make it a paradise for tourists.

The main cultivations are olive trees and vineyards, whose production is of high quality and renowned all over Italy and beyond, as well as artichokes, tomatoes and watermelons.

Foggia

The Province of Foggia is administratively divided into 64 Municipalities.

The Parco nazionale del Gargano, established in 1995, is a peninsula partly mountainous and partly covered by the remains of an ancient forest, Foresta Umbra, the only remaining part in Italy of the ancient oak and beech forest that once covered much of Central Europe, and in the north are two major salty lakes, Lesina and Varano; the coastline is a sequel of greatly spectacular bays and cliffs, a paradise for summer tourism.

Monte Gargano is also the site of the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the archangel Michael, Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano. Another area of great beauty is the picturesque Tremiti island group.

The province includes vast territories of intensive agriculture, in previous centuries largely used as pastures for the flocks coming in the winter months from Abruzzi, Molise, Irpinia and Lucania.

Today is also a place of pilgrimage due to the presence of the sanctuary of San Pio da Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) in San Giovanni Rotondo.

courtesy: italyworldclub.com

Lecce

Situated at the south-estern edge of Italy, the province occupies the area called Penisola Salentina with the Adriatic Sea to the east and the Ionian to the south and west, a unique landscape of rugged, reddish territory, villages of white-painted houses, all between sea and sky of astounding blue, and including the two splendid lakes of Alimini Grande and Alimini Piccolo. Here and there magnificent churches and palaces, witnesses of the historical heritage of crossroads of cultures, thanks to the strategical position on the channel of Otranto.

Also the local cuisine shows traits of the Arab, Spanish and Greek dishes, and the local dialect has many similarities with ancient Greek.

The ancient name of the province was Terra d’Otranto, with capital Lecce, including also the territory of the present province of Taranto.

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, the capital of the province of the same name and an important military and commercial port. It has well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, some shipyards for building warships, and food-processing factories.

Taranto history dates back to the 8th century BC when it was founded as a Greek colony. The ancient city was situated on a peninsula, protected by a helm; the modern city has been built over the ancient Greek necropolis.

The islets S. Pietro and S. Paolo protect the bay (called Mar Grande, Big sea) where the commercial port is located. Another bay, called Mar Piccolo (Small sea), is formed by the old city, and there fishing is flourishing; Mar Piccolo is a military port with a strategic importance; at the end of the XIX century, a channel was excavated to allow the military ships to enter Mar Piccolo harbour, and the ancient Greek city become an island. In addition, the islets and the coast are strongly fortified. Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is also called "the city of the two seas".

Links to fascinating sites