Puglia will lavish you with history, memories, music and legends with its 700 kilometer-long coast surrounded by a crystaline sea, awarded with many blue banners (In Italy, the seas are classified with colored banners based on their cleanliness); the liveliness of the landscape, the pungent wildness of the Murge (Apulia's mountainous region), the immense golden sea of grain from the Tavoliere (Puglia's plains) or the small white towns built on the cliffs of the Gargano, with its past crossed by thousands of sea and land routes, that remind one of memorable wanderings, both mythical and historical.

Part of the Puglis landscape

Tremiti island

Puglia is an all-around tourist attraction.  If you are looking for touring in nature, you won't be disappointed by its national parks, the sea and forest reserves, the coasts and mountains embellished with grottos (caves), the ravines, and not to mention the Tremiti Islands.

Deers - National Park of Gargano

Beech trees in the National Park of Gargano

 WWF oasi in Salento - Acaya

If you are looking for spiritual tourism, Puglia is a place of worship, with places such as Monte 
Sant'Angelo, San Giovanni Rotondo and Santa Maria di Leuca.   Puglia is a land of ancient civilization that is also characterized by its historical-cultural tourism: the Salentine Baroque, Castel del Monte, the Romanic-style churches spread throughout the territory, the Norman or Aragon castles, the rocky crypts, the ancient suburbs, the dolmens and the menhirs, the fortressed country houses, the towers lined along the coasts, dry-stoned constructions, the thermal spas and the trulli of the Itria Valley. 

Let's not forget the accomodations available for tourists, all of high level: country houses, agritourism centers, hotels, bed and breakfasts, resorts, and vacation houses.

Crochettes

Flower of Scardaccione

Capperi flower

For those who come and visit the beauty-filled region, imagine what an incredible welcome that awaits you.  From one end to the other of Puglia, this region offers the possibility for many vacations, different from one another, all within kilometers from each other.

The region overlooks the southernmost part of the Adriatic Sea, with the Gulf of Taranto, the Salentina peninsula and the Ionian Sea.    It flourished under the ancient Greeks, and was dominated by Normans, Swabians and Arabs.    Provincial towns include Barletta, Trani and Alberobello, with its picturesque "Trulli", Brindisi has the Roman column and the Church of S. Maria del Casale, and in the province there is Ostuni, the ruins of Egnazia and Selva di Fasano.

Grotta Porcinara di S. Maria di Leuca

Baia di Peschici

Near Foggia is the Gargano, the Umbra Forest with Mont Sant'Angelo, and the Shrine of S. Michele; then Lucera, and the towns of Siponto, Vieste, and Manfredonia, not forgetting the Tremiti Isles.    Lecce, with its Baroque monuments; Otranto, Gallipoli, Marina di Leuca have fine beaches, while Taranto's Museo Nazionale should not be missed.  Typical dishes: "recchietelli", fish soup, and fusilli, to be enjoyed with Aleatico, Moscato di Trani, delle Murge or del Salento wines.

Attractions - the Touristic districts in Puglia

Appennino Dauno
The provence of Foggia is also known as Daunia, the first and oldest name, from a legendary king that came from Greece.

What to see -Appennino Dauno
Rione Fossi - Chiesa Madre - Arco dei Mille - Arco Calabrese - Chiesa di Santa Maria di Anzano - Chiesa Madre - Chiesa dell'Annunziata - Torre medievale cilindrica - Palazzo Ducale - Cattedrale 

Brindisi
Brindisi territory, lies NE of the Adriatico and is limited by the SW provences of Taranto and Lecce, that occupy that part.

What to see - Brindisi
Duomo - Chiesa di San Benedetto - Chiesa di San Giovanni Sepolcro - Chiesa della Santissima Trinità o di Santa Lucia - Chiesa del Cristo - Chiesa Santa Maria degli Angeli - Chiesa di Santa Teresa - Chiesa San Giovanni Sepolcro - Chiesa e Convento del Soccorso - Castello Dentice di Frasso 

Gargano 
Rocky mountains on a headland that pushes into the southern Adriatico, that makes up the sub-regione pugliese, il Gargano.    Monte Calvo marks... 

What to see - Gargano
Lago di Varano e di Lesina - Canale Capoiale - Palazzo Baronale - Chiesa del SS. Crocifisso di Varano - Chiesa di San Cirillo - Chiesa Madre San Nicola - Grotte di Minitillo - Castello - Chiesa del Crocifisso - Crocifisso di Varano 

Golfo Jonico
The Gulf of Ionico includes part of the tarantino coast , deprived of the high coast line but is widely marked with sandy bays, wet by the crystal-clear sea.... 

What to see - Golfo Jonico
Torrione - Chiesa Madre di San Giovanni Battista - Cappella di Santa Maria del Casale - Grotte - Caseddi - Palazzo Baronale d'Ayala - Chiesa Matrice di Santa Maria - Masseria Civitella - Fontana monumentale - Chiesa di San Francesco 

Murge
The Murgia (or le Murge), is a very wide sub-regione pugliese, corrisponding to a Karst-formation on a high rocky rectangle form... 

What to see - Murge
Cattedrale - Castello - Corso Federico di Svevia - Cattedrale - Claustri - Santuario - Chiesa di San Nicola dei Greci - Chiesa Madonna dei Martiri - Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Assunta - Chiesa Madre 

Puglia Imperiale 
Puglia Imperiale, land of high monumental-history prestige, in perfect association with nature. Andria, Barletta, Bisceglie, Canosa di... 

What to see - Puglia Imperiale
Cattedrale - Castel del Monte - Chiesa di Sant'Agostino - Chiesa di San Domenico - Torre dell'Orologio - Museo Diocesano - Porta Sant'Andrea o Arco di Federico II - Castello Federiciano - Cattedrale di Santa Maria Maggiore - Il Colosso di Eraclio 

Salento
Salento occupies the most southern part Puglia, for this it is named the heal of Italy.   The penisola salentina is situated between sea and ... 

What to see - Salento
Castello Medioevale - Cappella della Madonna del Ponte - Chiesa Parrocchiale - Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore - Chiesa di Sant'Antonio - Santuario Santa Maria della Lizza - Chiesa dell'Addolorata - Chiesa di San Quintino - Chiesa della Beata Vergine - Chiesa di San Giuseppe 

Tavoliere
Tavoliere is a pre-historial base marine that gave the origine to the wide plans of Italy, after the planes of Pianura Padana.    The territory ... 

What to see - Tavoliere
Palazzo Baronale - Chiesa Madre - Borgo-Castello di Castropagano - Cattedrale - Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista - Castello - Parco archeologico dei Dauni - Cattedrale di San Tommaso - Museo Civico - Chiesa Parrocchiale 

Bari 
The grounds of Bari is developed on a levelled and straight territory, around the capital of the region, Bari. The city together with the surrounding areas... 

What to see - Terra di Bari ( Bari's ground)
Museo civico - Basilica Cattedrale - Castello Marchesale - Chiesa di Santa Maria del Principio - Chiesa Madre - Torre Normanna - La Casina Don Cataldo o Casina di Monsignore - Bari Vecchia: Piazza Ferrarese - Bari Vecchia: Piazza Mercantile - Basilica di San Nicola 

Valle d'Itria 
The Valle d'Itria is a territory that crosses three provences of Puglia, Bari, Taranto and Brindisi; coincide with the  inferiore parte... 

What to see - Valle d'Itria
Museo del Territorio - Aia Piccola - I Trulli - Rione Monti - Chiesa a Trullo - Trullo Sovrano - Trullo Siamese - Casa d'Amore - Il Santuario - Museo Nazionale e Parco Acheologico di Egnazia 

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The Abbey of San Leonardo di Siponto dates from the 1000s and was at one stage home for knights of the Teutonic Order.    The church is the only functional building amongst the abbey ruins which are now pressed up against the HGV noisy four lane trunk road which services the ugly port of Manfredonia.   It's only open for mass at 6pm every Sunday, so this is normally as close as you will get to the 1200s carved porch - which is a good reason to have a powerful telephoto lens on hand or get a good picture book. 

The town of Sipontium had a long and interesting history before it was abandoned in the mid 1250s in favour of Manfredonia, after a lot of the lands around it disintegrated into mosquito infested swamps.   Further down the road from the Abbey, the littered wasteland which doubles as an archaeological site outside the impenetrable fencing of the 1100s Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore di Siponto, was built over a much older church and is closed on Tuesdays. 

One of the Western European's oldest pilgrimage shrines is found in a huge cave (grotta) in the town of Monte Sant'Angelo (894m).

UBI SAXAQ PANDUNTUR IBI PECCATA HOMINUM DIMITTUNTUR.  HAEC EST DOMUS SPECIALIS IN QUA QUALQUE NOXIALIS ACTIO DILUTTUR.

"In all the space of this tavern the sins of men are forgiven.   This is a special abode where all sin is washed away"

Words used by Saint Michael when he appeared here to Bishop Saint Lawrence Maiorono.

Approaching Alberobello the trulli appear and outside of town they are usually a tool-shed or outbuilding.  In town there are over 1000 ,usually used as dwellings.  They are round or rectangular at the base and made of whitewashed blocks of stone ,usually limestone with or without limestone mortar bonding. 

View of part of the town

Trulli

The magical characterisitic is the roof of flat gray limestone tiles overlapped in sprial courses to produce a conical top.  Pinnacles roofs, bearing religious, mystical or folk symbols, some trulli are multiple.  Many have extending wings or niches that are bed alcoves or hold cupboards.  The town hall is a two story one,Trullo Sovrano and there is a modern church in "Trullo style", San Antonio. Some large trulli have attics, others cover cellars. The windows are very small and the stone walls are extremely thick, often over 3 ft.  One should plan to stay and have lunch in a trullo-restaurant as the town is a paradise for photographers!

Trulli 

San Antonio church

Visit the trullo sovrano (sovereign trullo) at Piazza Sacramento in Alberobello.  The 15 meters structure, the only true two-story trullo, was built during the 16th century as headquarters for a religious confraternity and became later the private house of a rich family.   The trullo sovrano is open daily from 10am to 1pm and from 3pm to 7pm, charging 1.50 euro (2007) per person, which includes an interesting short guided tour.