Patrizia 
Bari is not usually the first place travelers picture when they imagine a beach holiday in Puglia. The regional capital is better known for Bari Vecchia, the Basilica di San Nicola, focaccia barese and its long seafront. Yet one of Bari’s great advantages is that you can combine a genuine city break with surprisingly easy … Leggi tutto
The best beaches in Gargano are not concentrated around a single resort or along one uniform stretch of coast. This mountainous promontory in northern Puglia has two remarkably different seaside personalities: long, sandy beaches around Vieste and the northern coast, and a far more dramatic southern coastline where white limestone cliffs plunge into the Adriatic … Leggi tutto
Salento is one of the few places in Italy where choosing a beach is not simply a matter of deciding which stretch of sand looks prettiest. The peninsula is bordered by two very different coastlines: the Adriatic to the east and the Ionian to the west, with Santa Maria di Leuca marking the transition at … Leggi tutto
Puglia does not have one single type of coastline. That is the first thing worth understanding before choosing where to spend your beach days. Along roughly 800 kilometres of coast, the region moves from the pale limestone cliffs and pebble coves of the Gargano to the small rocky inlets around Polignano a Mare and Monopoli, … Leggi tutto
Puglia is one of the easiest regions of southern Italy to enjoy as a family, but it rewards a little planning. The region is long, summer temperatures can be intense, many historic centres have uneven stone streets, and some of the most beautiful beaches are far easier to reach by car than by public transport. … Leggi tutto
Gargano National Park is one of the places that most clearly challenges the usual image of Puglia. Instead of endless olive groves and flat countryside, this corner of northern Puglia rises dramatically from the Adriatic, combining limestone cliffs, dense forests, mountain villages, pilgrimage routes, wetlands, sea caves and some of the region’s most striking beaches. … Leggi tutto
Seeing Polignano a Mare from the clifftop is impressive. Seeing it from the Adriatic explains why the town looks the way it does. From the water, the whitewashed buildings appear to balance directly above the limestone cliffs, narrow openings in the rock turn into surprisingly large caves, and familiar places such as Lama Monachile and … Leggi tutto
Rising alone above the rolling countryside of the Alta Murgia, Castel del Monte is one of those buildings that looks almost too geometrically perfect to belong to the Middle Ages. Eight sides, eight towers, an eight-sided courtyard and a position chosen to dominate an enormous sweep of inland Puglia give Frederick II’s castle an appearance … Leggi tutto
Few buildings are as immediately associated with Puglia as the trulli of Alberobello. Their whitewashed walls and conical limestone roofs have become one of southern Italy’s most recognisable images, but seeing them in person is considerably more interesting than simply photographing a picturesque street. Alberobello contains entire neighbourhoods built around this unusual architectural tradition. Some … Leggi tutto
Puglia rewards travellers who resist the temptation to treat it as a checklist of white villages and famous beaches. The region is long, geographically varied and surprisingly diverse: Romanesque cathedrals face the Adriatic in the north, trulli and olive-covered countryside fill the Valle d’Itria, Baroque streets dominate Lecce, while the Salento peninsula alternates between rocky … Leggi tutto