Italia Puglia (53 images)

Puglia, also known as Apulia, is in the south of Italy; the heel of Italy's boot. Puglia is the long strip of land, 400km from north to south, that makes up the "heel" of Italy. It was for centuries a strategic province, colonized, invaded and conquered (like its neighbours, Calabria and Sicily) by just about every major power of the day, from the Greeks through to the Spanish. As elsewhere in the South, each ruling dynasty left its own distinctive mark on the landscape and...
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Puglia, also known as Apulia, is in the south of Italy; the heel of Italy's boot. Puglia is the long strip of land, 400km from north to south, that makes up the "heel" of Italy. It was for centuries a strategic province, colonized, invaded and conquered (like its neighbours, Calabria and Sicily) by just about every major power of the day, from the Greeks through to the Spanish. As elsewhere in the South, each ruling dynasty left its own distinctive mark on the landscape and architecture - as seen, for example, in the surviving traces of Roman agricultural schemes and the fortified medieval towns. There's no escaping some of the historical influences in Puglia. Perhaps most distinctive are the Saracenic kasbah-like quarters of many towns and cities, the one at Bari being the biggest and most atmospheric.
The Normans endowed Puglia with splendidly ornate cathedrals; there's one at Trani which skilfully blends many strands of regional craft traditions from north and south. And the Baroque exuberance of towns like Lecce and Martina Franca are testament to the Spanish legacy. But if there's one symbol of Puglia that stands out, it's the imposing castles built by the Swabian Frederick II, all over the province - foremost of which are the Castel del Monte and the remnants of the palace at Lucera.
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