Apulia is also home to the Salento peninsula

Apulia is also home to the Salento peninsula, the famous boot section. A trip into the history of the country leads to world-famous sights.

The capital and at the same time the cultural center of Apulia is with almost 600,000 inhabitants Bari on the Adriatic coast, the second largest city of southern Italy after Naples. The Cathedral of San Sabino, built in the 12th century, rises majestically. Their artistic interior is a much-visited highlight of the region. The Romanesque basilica of San Nicola rises imposingly on the ruins of the residence of the once Byzantine priest. People from all over the world visit the bones of St. Nicholas of Myra. Every year in May the Baresen celebrate the Fiesta San Nicola. In historical costumes, they carry the statue of St. Nicholas down to the harbor and circle the bay on a ship. To the south-east of Bari, Alberobello's "laces" stand between olive groves and vineyards. The round roofs of the small farmhouses, consist of sloping stone slabs with snow-white-lined, spherical roof tops. The Castel del Monte in Andria is a monumental building from the time of the Staufer Emperor Frederick II. The castle built around 1250 still amazes today with its octagonal ground plan and massive towers.

On the Ionian Sea lies the ancient Greek foundation Taranto with its representative ancient center. A stroll through the wide Piazzas and past proud aristocratic palaces to the Cathedral of San Cataldo, where brilliant marble mosaics and artistic Byzantine frescoes shine. Isola del Borgo Antico is set in the 15th-century Castello Aragonese. Northwest of Taranto, the municipality of Massafra attracts with its world-famous dwellings and grotto churches with artistic frescoes. Lecce, the "Florence of the South" on the Salento peninsula, shines with magnificent buildings in Leccese Baroque. There is the stately Basilica of Santa Croce, the charming church of Saint Niccolò and Cataldo from the 12th century, as well as the impressive Roman amphitheater.