Our Southern Italy Snapshots series is into full swing and we’ve stopped both in bella Calabria and hopped off of the mainland with a visit to world-famous Sicily. Today we are at the back of the boot in Puglia, a region that is quickly becoming a must-see destination in the bel paese.
Located east of Calabria in the “heel” of the boot, Puglia, sometimes called Apulia in English, is a long peninsula that juts into the Adriatic and Ionian seas and is home to the Castel del Monte and Alberobello UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Puglia’s six provinces are Bari, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce and Taranto. From north to south, here are five beautiful Flickr pictures of Puglia.
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Photos: Thumbnail, John Mariani; other photos
Simo0082, Nicola Andriano, any colour, Paolo Margari and Paolo Margari all via Flickr
Yeah, Puglia! The best region in all of Italy! But, it’s not like I’m biased or anything! 😉
Not at all! 🙂
This area looks beautiful! Maybe we’ll have to add it to our itinerary?
May-be … We should talk about it!
great post Cherrye.. heading your way in a few weeks. Would love to try to meet up! Joe
Definitely, Joe. Can’t wait!
What beautiful pictures of that area would love to go there and see it in person.
I hope you make it one day soon!
Puglia is certainly one of the gems in Italy’s crown, I visited the port of Otranto back in 1989 whilst holidaying in Corfu. It was en-route to visiting my relatives in the Basilicata and our ship docked there! So scenic and beautiful. I have to argue that Campania is still the region to beat in Southern Italy but Puglia with the views from the Garagano and the historic towns of San Marco in Lamis and San Giovanni Rotondo which of course is home to the great Padre Pio comes very close. Also as my roots are from the Basilicata, my parents being from San Mauro Forte which is small mountain top village making up one of the provinces of Matera famous for its Sassi it has to rank up there with Campania & Puglia! Such a difficult one to call!
We have travelled up and down Italy many times but our last 5 trips have all been to Puglia (with bits of Calabria, Abruzzo and Basilicata.)
Puglia really is a gem. The fact that it is so far away from the tourist traps and not ON THE WAY to anywhere else (actually a dead end) has kept it relatively unknown by most North Americans.
We have gotten to know so many owners of B&B’s (and there are hundreds in Puglia) that we keep going back year after year just to visit. The weather is pretty darn nice too. Wine, Pasta, olive oil and hundreds of beaches makes this the perfect vacation spot (for us anyway)