Puglia, a land in the plural

With this guide, we want to show a different face of our land and share the true and heterogeneous soul mixed with many colours.

If for Puglia you mean a big region extended with over 400 km of area, it would be more accurate talking about "Puglie", as people used to do in the past. Actually, this land proves its richness of traditions and flavors, those ones of the limestone villages, of the castles and of the colours of the sea.

We are in the heart of a Puglia very different than that classic postcard picture which every tourist images in his mind, just all beaches and sea. Our main goal is to lead you to the discovery of a less known but genuine place.

Visiting Puglia, it's a continuous sensory experience: different sounds and flavours, ancient Romans roads, art and traditions melt with archaic existential geometries represented by our trulli and farmhouses.

The Murge

The first big demarcation to consider is the wide landscape of Murge. A piece of land which includes four districts from Bari 'till Murge Salentine; a Karst landscape characterized by gravine, blades, caves and fascinating woods dotted to the south with the very famous trulli of the Itria Valley.

The Itria Valley

Known as the "Valley of Trulli", this portion of territory welcomes the visitor with a charm with no equals. There's nowhere else in which you could feel suspended in time. Secular olive groves fields, interposed by trulli and farmhouses, dry stone wall and in the background the warmth of the red land which smells and makes the landscape a sequence of chromatic effects.

The valley extends among the districts of Bari, Brindisi and Taranto and includes the towns Martina Franca, Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternino, Ceglie Messapica, Noci, Ostuni, Putignano, Castellana Grotte.

The South Bari Coast

n the south of the Land of Bari, just beyond the Valle d'Itria district, there are small white villages overlooking the sea. A delight for the eyes, the colors of the sea blend with the city life of these small pearls of the Mediterranean. Among all the poetic Polignano a Mare stands out, clinging to its jagged rocks and the ancient buildings of the historic center on the sea. The nearby Monopoli dazzles the visitor for its white aspect that reflects the sea from which it is surrounded. Finally, the beautiful Conversano famous for its castle with the rich art gallery dedicated to Paolo Domenico Finoglio.

The Ionian Coast

0 km from the Adriatic, you reach the Ionian coast, captained by Taranto, the Greek "city of the two seas" by tradition, rich in evidence of its glorious history enclosed in the "National Archaeological Museum" where one of the largest collections of artifacts from the Magna Graecia era, including the famous "Ori di Taranto". The west coast of Taranto stretches for about forty kilometers to the border with Basilicata, it is less known and visited by tourists, but it represents a real discovery: unspoilt beaches with dunes and crystal clear sea. To the south of the Gulf of Taranto instead, we find the famous seaside resorts of Punta Prosciutto and Torre Lapillo. Within the Ionian territory, rows of vines stretch between dry stone walls and ancient trees, it is the "Land of Primitivo di Manduria" Apulian DOC wine. Not to be missed is the visit with tasting at the Primitivo di Manduria Museum.

The Big Salento

Beyond the province of Brindisi, the doors of the great Salento open up. A triumph of colors, secret corners and emotions. Starting in the dark and finding yourself in the full light of dawn almost touching the rising sun at Punta Palascia, the Otranto lighthouse, the easternmost point of Italy. In these parts, on clear summer days, Greece and Albania seem very close to us with the mountains on the horizon.

In these areas, it is a must to stop in Otranto and visit its mysterious cathedral on the sea and then go south to the cape of Santa Maria di Leuca, where the two seas meet. The capital of Salento is the beautiful city of Lecce, where the Baroque triumphs in all its architectural and artistic expressions.