Puglia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea on its eastern coast, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Gulf of Taranto to the south.

Check out the map below to get oriented:

It is a very popular holiday destination for Northern Italians and Europeans in general. It is not only known for beautiful beaches but also for its rich history and UNESCO sites such as the Trulli in Alberobello.

We recommend you start your tour of Puglia in Bari, the region’s capital, centrally located in the middle of almost every site you will want to visit.

To tour the city, take the typical tourist train (trenino) from the port, which will bring you to the most important historical sites in the old town.

The Cathedral, along with the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, is the most important church in Bari, and both of them are must-sees because of their marvelous crypts.

The Castello Svevo (Swabian Castle) was built around 1132 by Norman King Roger II and is currently used for exhibitions. If you stop by the castle, you absolutely must try gelato from the Gelateria Gentile, which locals call “Il bar del Castello” because they eat it while sitting on the Castle’s wall. Get the fig flavor or the pistachio one. You won’t regret it!

Bari is famous also for its Petruzzelli Theater which is the largest in the city and the fourth Italian theater by size. It was built in 1903, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1991. It did not officially reopen until 2009, nearly 18 years after the fire, with a performance of the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven by the Orchestra of the Province of Bari.

If you want to take a rest from city life, you totally should go to Campomarino di Maruggio, which is more or less 80 miles southwest of Bari. It would be a good idea to rent a car and drive down the whole coastline of Puglia in order to take in the landscape and see the small typical towns mostly inhabited by grandparents.

The whole Ionian Coast from Pulsano to Porto Cesareo is just beautiful and full of paradisiac beaches, so don’t be scared to park the car and spontaneously wander through the beaches around the area.

Once you are relaxed and have a nice tan, you can get in the car again and cross the whole region in order to get to Lecce, which is on the other side of those wonderful beaches you’ve just seen. Historic Lecce is a beautiful baroque town and the city is full of surprises. At one moment, you are looking at designer fashions from Milan; at the next you are faced with a church decorated with asparagus column tops.

The town has two important points: Piazza Sant’Oronzo and Piazza del Duomo. Piazza Sant’Oronzo is the big heart of the town, a large square with a strange and incomplete atmosphere, the ancient juxtaposed oddly against the modern. Among the varied structures here is the town’s excavated Roman amphitheatre. The statue of a bishop perched on a column represents Sant’Oronzo, a patron saint of Lecce.

From this beautiful city you can easily reach Alberobello, the city of drystone dwellings known as trulli, which is an exceptional example of vernacular architecture. It is one of the best preserved and most homogeneous urban areas of this type in Europe. Its special features, and the fact that the buildings are still occupied, make it unique. It also represents a remarkable survival of prehistoric building techniques. Here you must try the “panino con la salsiccia” which is a sandwich with meat sausage — it is so juicy and delightful. Alberobello’s trulli are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

After experiencing this prehistoric little town, drive throughout Valle d’Itria, exploring the neighborhood and making stops in Cisternino, Locorotondo or Martina Franca, which is the largest town of this area.

Martina Franca is a fair-sized town (population 49,000). Its jewel is its lovely historic center, a memorable maze of winding alleys, where whitewashed simplicity sits side by side baroque extravagance. The main entrance to the old town centre (centro storico) is through a grand historic gateway, Porto Santo Stefano (also called the Arco di Sant’ Antonio), in Piazza XX Settembre. Just inside the gateway is the pretty little Piazza Roma, one side of which is dominated by the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca’s grandest civic building. Built in 1668, this was once the palace of the Caracciolo family, the dukes who presided over the town’s glory days. Nowadays it houses the town hall, a library and Martina Franca’s tourist information office.

Going up again from the south of Puglia toward the north part, stop at Polignano a Mare, which is a shining gem on the coast of the Valle d’Itria. Perched atop a 20 meter-high limestone cliff above the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic, Polignano a Mare (translation: Polignano by the sea) truly lives up to its name and literally could not be any more ‘at sea’! Polignano is famous throughout the world for three things. First of all is cliff diving. In recent years, the town has hosted the Red Bull diving competition, attracting crowds of 45,000 people in 2010. Second is its outstanding gelato, which you really cannot afford to miss on a hot summer’s evening. The third and possibly most famous export of Polignano a Mare, however, is the great Domenico Modugno, who wrote and sang numerous classic songs, including the massive international hit, Volare (originally entitled Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu).

Your last but not least stop on this wonderful trip to Puglia must be Castel del Monte, which is one of the many castles built in southern Italy in the thirteenth century by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. It’s seen as the greatest of his castles, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Among Castel del Monte’s strange features is its layout: visitors proceed from one room into another in a ring around the courtyard. Gaps carry sound from one part of the building to another. From the first floor, mullioned windows look out over the plains below, with one three-mullioned window facing Andria. The interior was more ornate than it now appears, enriched with carvings, marbles and mosaics. A little of the decoration remains, or has been reinstated, including colorful door frames and fireplaces.

The castle looks like a crown, and in a sense that’s probably what it is: a symbol of Frederick’s status and power, its dominant position making it visible from afar.

Posted by Monica Sciannimanico