Puglia, southern Italy, is known for its whitewashed hill towns, centuries-old farms and hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean coastline. Lecce is known as Florence of the South for its baroque architecture. Alberobello and the Itria Valley are home to stone trulli.

Provinces of Puglia italy

Guide to Property for Sale in Puglia

Houses for sale in Puglia with sea views are constantly requested by clients. Buying property in Puglia is attractive as prices of property in southern Italy are lower than in the north of Italy. Two bedroom houses for sale in Brindisi, ready to live-in, start at around 60-70,000 Euro. A trullo requiring restoration in a Puglia medieval villages such as Alberobello can be bought for 40,000 Euro. Properties for sale in Salento in the south of Puglia can be found for even less.

Luxury property for sale in Puglia is also on offer. Villas with sea views and pools on the Puglia coastline are plentiful and attract excellent rental income from the thriving tourist market. If you buy a masseria or villa with a sea view in Puglia you can expect full occupancy during summer months.

Property in and around Ostuni, Carovigno and Ceglie Messapica is in demand as they are within easy reach of the coast and Puglia's international airports of Brindisi and Bari. Wherever you are in Puglia, however, you are never more than an hour's drive from the Adriatic or Ionian coast. Puglia is a perfect location for a great second home or to retire to in a typically Mediterranean climate of hot and dry summers and mild winters.

Overview of Puglia

Puglia  Salento coast

Puglia has a coastline on both the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Most of the beaches are wide and sandy, giving way to rocky coves, some with magnificent sea caves in Gargano and the Salentino peninsula. The rocky Tremiti archipelago, off the Gargano coast, is an amazing natural environment. The Murgia National Park is panoramic, while in Gargano's wild Umbra forest has salt pans and lakes.

The marine reserve of Torre Guaceto and the deep ravines of Laterza of Altamura add to Puglia's charming landscape.

Between Bari and Brindisi lies the Valle d'Itria a beautiful area of trulli, vineyards, masseria and villages dotting the countryside. Valle d'Itria, one of Puglia' attractive areas, is a high, fertile that stretches from Putignano in the north to Ostuni in the south. The area is gently rolling countryside with easy access to the beaches of the Adriatic and the Ionian seas and half a dozen picturesque towns, including Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Cisternino, Ostuni, Ceglie Messapica and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Alberobello. There are also the beautiful caves of Castellana Grotta, which run for about 3km under the north-eastern edge of the Valle d'Itria.

The Salento coast in the south of Puglia is called the Maldives of Italy because of  the crystal clear water and the sandy beaches.

Art and Culture of Puglia

Ostuni

Puglia has  wide range of places that testify to its ancient origins: from prehistory to Magna Graecia, from the Imperial Age to the Renaissance and the Baroque splendour of Lecce and  Salento.San Giovanni Rotondo  the monastery of Capuchin friars of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Padre Pio died in 1968.

Alberobello is the town of the trulli - ancient and peculiar stone houses with a conical roof, built without mortar- is so unique that it has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Another UNESCO site in the town of Andria, Castel del Monte, an unrivalled masterpiece of Medieval architecture commissioned by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th Century.

San Domino, San Nicola, Capraia, Cretaccio and Pianosa are the five islands of the Tremiti Archipelago, a tiny paradise where history and nature merge perfectly and offer a wonderful landscape to explore.

Ceglie Messapica, has an 11th century castle, with a huge square-plan tower. The church of San Leucio, containing beautiful furniture of the 17th century and nearby are the beautiful Montevicoli grottos.

Ruvo di Puglia, with one of the most important Romanesque-Pugliese cathedrals (13th century);

Finally, many festivals, fairs and historical celebrations are held all year-round in every part of Puglia: the Carnival of Putignano, the San Nicola Festival in Bari and the Disfida di Barletta (Challenge of Barletta) are the most famous.

The Night of the Taranta at Melpignano, the festival of tarantella dance every August.

Towns in Puglia

Trulli Alberobello Puglia

Alberobello and the Itria Valley. Home to trulli, stone houses with distinctive conical roofs.

Bari. regional capital,  a vibrant port and university town

Carovigno,  a few kms from the coast and the natural Reserve area of Torre Guaceto. 

Ceglie Messipica, many restaurants, shops and bars. Ceglie boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant. In many of the restaurants, fresh seafood, wonderful, local vegetables and excellent wines abound.

Lecce, known as the Florence of the South for its baroque architecture.

Ostuni, Citta Bianca (White City) 8 km from the Adriatic sea. There are also a number of excellent restaurants in Ostuni. You go up towards the historical centre through a succession of narrow, winding streets made of white houses pressed together, painted windows, arches and steps.

San Vito dei Normanni, the town lies close to Brindisi and the airport link for ease of accessibility, and at the same time is in the countryside  so that the feeling of space and rural surroundings are not taken away from you.

Santa Maria di Leuca is the southernmost tip of the Salento peninsula where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian. A popular resort since the early 1900s with attractive Art Nouveau villas lining the seafront. The town has a lovely marina.

Sports and Leisure in Puglia

Beach in Puglia

All along the coast you can sail, windsurf, kitesurf or just relax on a sandy beach.

For scuba divers there are the Tremiti Islands: coves, caves and deep seabeds, populated by lush vegetation and many species of fish. Santa Maria di Leuca, between the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea, is also a must for divers.

Puglia is a perfect region for cycling. There are many itineraries to choose from along the paths of the Gargano Park or the Murgia National Park.

Food and Wines of Puglia

Pasta broccoli tomtoes

The hallmark of Puglia's cooking is homemade pasta called orecchiette and strascinati, pasta still made according to historic traditions. The key locally produced ingredients used in Puglia's cuisine there include olive oil, artichokes, tomatoes, aubergine, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Puglia with its 800 km (497 miles) of coast and two seas, offers a great variety of fish specialties.

Among the quality products  are Altamura bread, famous for its crispness; sweet and juicy Clementine Tangerines from the Gulf of Taranto; the Bella della Daunia, a type of olive cultivated in the area of Foggia since 1400, and the famous wines and extra-virgin olive oils, all with their very own characteristics according to production area.

History of Puglia

For centuries Puglia was a strategic province, colonised, invaded and conquered (like its neighbours, Calabria and Sicily) by just about every major power of the day, from the Greeks through to the Spanish. As elsewhere in the South, each ruling dynasty left its own distinctive mark on the landscape and architecture - as seen, for example, in the surviving traces of Roman agricultural and the fortified medieval towns. There's no escaping some of the historical influences in Puglia. Perhaps most distinctive are the Saracenic kasbah-like quarters of many towns and cities, the one at Bari being the biggest and most atmospheric

The Normans endowed Puglia with splendidly ornate cathedrals; there's one at Trani which skillfully blends many strands of Puglia craft traditions from north and south. And the Baroque exuberance of towns like Lecce and Martina Franca are testament to the Spanish legacy. But if there's one symbol of Puglia that stands out, it's the imposing castles built by the Swabian Frederick II, all over the province - foremost of which are the Castel del Monte and the remnants of the palace at Lucera.

The coast of Puglia was occupied at times by the Turks and at other times by the Venetians.

In 1861 the region became part of the Kingdom of Italy, with the regional capital city of Turin

Geography of Puglia

Puglia is bordered by Molise in the north, Campania and Basilicata to the west.

Provinces

Bari (regional capital), Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce and Taranto, Barletta-Andria-Trani.

Getting To Puglia

Puglia has three international airports at Bari, Brindisi, Foggia

By Road, take A14 from the north or E842 from Naples

Rail connections for all the major places, while small, private branch lines head into areas in the Gargano and on the edges of Le Murge.

Most places can be reached by bus.