Visiting Apulia in southern Italy means discovering a multitude of typical towns and villages, each with their own particularities and tourist attractions. Apulia is certainly one of the most beautiful places in Italy.
From the trulli of Alberobello or the sassi of Matera, to the magnificent Baroque monuments of Lecce, you will find many amazing places in the region !
And if you prefer natural landscapes: go hiking in the Gargano Natural Park, spend a day on the Tremiti Islands or simply relax at the beach.
so what are the most beautiful places ?
1. Diving in Tremiti Islands
The Tremiti Islands have more than 50 diving sites.
Whether you want to admire the underwater world while swimming on the surface with a mask and snorkel, or immerse yourself completely to touch the beauty of the seabed with your finger, the underwater riches of the Tremiti Islands will leave you breathless.
2. Area Marina Protetta di Torre Guaceto : WWF natural reserve
Although its fine sandy beaches, sheltered by rocky promontories with crystal clear waters, would be enough to justify a visit, Torre Guaceto has many other assets : long dunes, a network of wetlands criss-crossed by paths, endemic flora and fauna, and rich seabed.
Come and explore this reserve while it is still intact.
A naturist beach is located in this reserve.
3. Polignano a Mare
Its historic all-white centre, falling steeply to the sea, is one of the most photogenic on the coast with its panoramic terraces overlooking the Adriatic. The city of the singer Domenico Modugno and the artist Pino Pascali is a marvel.
After the enchantment, do not hesitate to get lost in the Terra di Bari, where everything is nothing but millenary olive trees, cicada songs, cypresses and dry stone walls.
4. Alberobello
When we talk about Apulia, we necessarily think of the trulli and this small town. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.
Alberobello has kept its typical character to be discovered from the heights, in its lively alleys or inside the houses. Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and walk around with your nose in the air to make sure you don't miss out on the conical roofs of the trulli that attract crowds here. Here are the most beautiful places in Italy !
5. Vieste and Peschici
Whitewashed houses, trabucchi (a kind of square) stretching their antennae above the waves, beaches and chiselled caves evoking impossible loves or heroic feats...
As the years go by, nothing seems to alter the seductive power of Vieste, with its romantic and trendy atmosphere, and Peschici, renowned for its Moorish buildings and craftsmen's workshops.
6. Lecce
"Ci cammina lecca, ci si ferma sicca" (literally "the one who walks benefits, the one who stops is bored"): this diction is very appropriate to Lecce the baroque because here, step by step, we observe and appropriate all the splendours of the city.
Each untouched courtyard, each untouched street, each unadmired column, are all incentives to walk tirelessly to discover these treasures.
7 . The Caves of Castellana
You have to look up at the light that filters through the opening up there to admit that you are well at a depth of 60m.
An original landscape will offer itself to you during your journey underground, where the stone almost seems to come to life and shape the most disparate objects. In Grotta Bianca, whiteness prevails over total darkness. On your return, you will be happy to have spent two hours walking on this journey to the centre of the earth.
8. Cape of Santa Maria di Leuca
This place in the very south of Salento between Otranto and Santa Maria di Leuca marks the end of the heel of the Italian boot
Here, the beaches give way to a steeper coast, carved out of fjords like Ciolo's, the sea is an intense blue, and the high villages perched high up or nestled in valleys seem to blend into the rock.
This is Salento in its roughest and most magical form. Here, even the tourist seems to adapt to the ancestral rythm of fishermen and hinterlanders. Those who take the time to visit it will be surprised by the incredible number of cultures that have coexisted there.
9. Castel del Monte
Regardless of the ravages of time and invaders, the masterpiece of Frederick II of Swabia stands alone on a hill of the Murges, which it covers like the octagonal crown of imperial power.
A synthesis of classical, Romanesque, Gothic and Arab-Norman elements, this castle has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. However, it still ignores its original vocation: fortress, residence, place of meditation, esoteric symbol?
10. Gravine
These gorges dug by torrents in the limestone rock dot the high plateaus of the Murge.
Gravina in Puglia is home to many rock churches, galleries and caves.
In the Murgia Tarantina, some splendid villages have emerged around the gravines: Ginosa, whose gorges are still partially inhabited, Massafra, with its superb troglodytic churches, or Grottaglie, whose clay soil explains the long tradition in ceramics.
visiting apulia, It's discovering all european heritage
In this region of Puglia, still very traditional and a land of conquests, landscapes and cities are still marked by all influences: Greek, Roman, Norman, German or Spanish....
Visiting Apulia means discovering an infinite History that is maintained every day by local traditions.
Let yourself be charmed by one of the beautiful places in Italy !
To the Southern Sun !
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