Puglia

Imagine Italy as a shapely leg whose foot is shod by a Manolo Blahnik high-heeled boot. Puglia (Apulia), is Italy's elegant stiletto heel. The southern reaches of the Salentine Peninsula are virtually surrounded by the immemorial waters of the Adriatic on the east, the Ionian Sea to the south east, and the Gulf of Taranto, across which lies the Region of Calabria. In the mountainous north, Puglia is bordered, in clockwise fashion, by Basilicata, Campania, and Molise. Albania is a mere 80 kilometers (50 miles) across the Adriatic.

The modern English-speaking traveler will find Puglia exotic in many ways, partly due to its historical evolution, but also because socially and culturally, Puglia is just now catching up to the rest of Italy. Throughout it's history, up until recent times, feudalism persisted. Agrarian and social reforms, which were begun in the late 19th century, only really started to take hold in the mid 20th century.

As you explore Puglia's cities and towns, and outlying areas, you will encounter Greek and Roman ruins, paleo-christian ruins, and public and ecclesiastical buildings done in every major style from Romanesque, to Gothic to Renaissance. You will even encounter a local architectural style called "barocco leccese", a fanciful, almost hyperbolistic strain of the Baroque, found in Lecce and other towns and cities.