Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pounding surf, before heading to
Alberobello (
Click here
)
, home to a dense neighbourhood of
extraordinary cone-shaped stone homes called
trulli;
consider an overnight
trulli
stay.
Stroll around one of the most picturesque
centro storicos
(historic centres) in southern Italy at
Locorotondo (
Click here
)
. Hit the road and cruise on to lively baroque
Lecce (
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)
,
where you can easily chalk up a full day exploring the sights, the shops and the flamboyantly fronted
palazzi
(mansions) and churches, including the Basilica di Santa Croce.
Day five will be one to remember. Nothing can prepare you for Basilicata's
Matera (
Click
here
)
where the
sassi
(former cave dwellings) are a dramatic reminder of the town's poverty-stricken
past. After days of pasta,
fave
beans and
cornetti
(Italian croissants), it's high time you laced up those
hiking boots and checked out the trails and activities on offer in the spectacular
Parco Nazionale
del Pollino (
Click here
)
. Finally, wind up the trip and soothe those aching muscles with a dip in the
sea at postcard-pretty
Maratea (
Click here
)
with its surrounding seaside resorts, medieval village
and cosmopolitan harbour offset by a thickly forested and mountainous interior.
History
At times Puglia feels and looks Greek - and for good reason. This tangible legacy dates
from when the Greeks founded a string of settlements along the Ionian coast in the 8th
century BC. A form of Greek dialect (Griko) is still spoken in some towns southeast of
Lecce. Historically, the major city was Taras (Taranto), settled by Spartan exiles who
dominated until they were defeated by the Romans in 272 BC.
The long coastline made the region vulnerable to conquest. The Normans left their fine
Romanesque churches, the Swabians their fortifications and the Spanish their flamboyant
baroque buildings. No one, however, knows exactly the origins of the extraordinary 16th-
century conical-roofed stone houses, the
trulli,
unique to Puglia.
Apart from invaders and pirates, malaria was long the greatest scourge of the south, for-
cing many towns to build away from the coast and into the hills. After Mussolini's seizure
of power in 1922, the south became the frontline in his 'Battle for Wheat'. This initiative
was aimed at making Italy self-sufficient when it came to food, following the sanctions
imposed on the country after its conquest of Ethiopia. Puglia is now covered in wheat
fields, olive groves and fruit arbours.
