Puglia is a southern region that forms the "heel" of the Italian boot. It is famous for the hill villages with their characteristic white plaster, for the countryside with an ancient flavor and for the hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean coast. The interior of the region is mostly flat and hilly, without obvious contrasts between one territory and another.

 

The name Puglia derives from the Latin Apulia, derived in turn from that of the Apuli people (Dauni and Pecezi) who inhabited the center-north of the current region. The southern part, or rather the Salento Peninsula, was instead inhabited by the Messapians and the Salentines and was called Calabria, a name then passed, by a curious transposition, to the other peninsula of southern Italy.

The name Apulia was then forgotten and reappeared in 1043 when the Normans founded the County of Puglia. Subsequently, until the unification of Italy, the name Puglia was lost again and the region assumed three denominations: Capitanata, Terra di Bari and Terra di Otranto.

With the Unity of Italy the name Puglia will return to current use and will be definitively sanctioned by the Republican Constitution in 1947.

 

CUISINE 

AND TRADITIONS

The Apulian cuisine is characterized above all by the great attention that is dedicated to the raw materials, always of the highest quality and strictly local. Extra virgin olive oil, pasta and wine (the main grape varieties of this region are the Primitivo and the Negro Amaro) are of great importance. There are many recipes that this kitchen presents, which has a peculiarity that distinguishes it from the others, of offering different dishes in relation to the different seasons, so that during the milder seasons, ie in spring and summer, preference is given to vegetables and fish, while in the others legumes predominate, homemade pasta seasoned with various sauces, alone or combined with vegetables or fish.

 

Among the many attractions of the region not to be overlooked are all the events linked to the cultural and religious tradition of which Puglia is so rich. Puglia has always been a land of landing, exchange and communication of different peoples, customs and customs on the coasts and inland, artistic taste and religiosity have been preserved and handed down over time. For example, the pizzica and the tarantolate dance, which have their roots in ancient pagan festivals and customs, have remained unchanged and preserved in their original form up to the present day.

 

The Puglia region divides its wine territory between hills and plains. When the Phoenicians and the Greeks arrived in Puglia, they already found cultivations of vines and did nothing but enhance them, as well as the ancient Romans, great lovers of Apulian wines for their undisputed quality. The qualitative level of the wines of Puglia has always held up the game of production in northern Italy and even France since the 1800s.