Apulia

Italians have been keeping quiet about their "heel" for years - and for good reason - sun-filled, brightly coloured, a region of olive trees, wheatfields and vineyards, almost biblical in their multitudes, a singular finger of level land, pointing benevolently at Greece, that juts out into the southern Adriatic.

From the green three-sided promontory that is the Gargano National Park in the north, to the flatter central area dotted with conical-roofed "trulli", topped off by the region's capital Bari, to the southern Ionian-Salento tip and gateway to the Balkans, Puglia is the perfect place for an uncrowded holiday.

Vibrant sunlit colours are Puglia's trademark look - the deep blue of its vast skies, the dark silvery green of its olive groves and vineyards, stitched alongside patchwork gold wheatfields, the rich burnt terracotta orange of the earth and the bright white of ever-present dry-stone walls, whitewashed villages and the ubiquitous ’trulli’, especially populous between Alberobello and Martina Franca. One is never more than 30 miles from Puglia's coasts.
Interlaced by lively fishing villages, they have something for everyone: dramatic limestone cliffs plunging into a turquoise sea, as in the northern forested Gargano area, referred to by the Greek hero, Diomed, as "the happy land"; or they can be bustling, yet beautiful, as at walled Molfetta and Giovinazzo in the central section, where gaily-painted fishing boats land the day's exotic catches; or at the Ionian-Salento peninsula where the coast does a u-turn and reverts to a rocky grandeur.

But nowhere is one far from a tranquil gold-white sandy beach, reminiscent of the Caribbean, the cleanest waters in the Mediterranean and just made for relaxing.

Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Normans, Saracens and Emperor Frederick II, who studded the region with so many castles and towers, they all left their mark on the people, the cuisine and architecture. Numerous flat-topped whitewashed houses are more typical of Greece or North Africa than Italy.
The Normans graced most towns with delightful Romanesque cathedrals, at Trani overlooking the sea, and the "must-see" prime example at Bitonto, with its fine pulpit dating from 1229.

Pugliese food and wine is so good that most of Italy buys it and the rest of Europe consumes it. For tasty morsels of what to expect in Puglia, see the Local Food and Wine sections below.