The land of Bari, situated between the famous tourist attractions of Gargano and Salento, represents the paradox of the region. It is here that the most well known symbols of this region are gathered together: the cathedrals, the castles, the trulloes and the caves.

Here is the Apulia of culture: history, tradition and mystery, with Castel del Monte, which is the source of knowledge and which holds the answers to many questions asked by mankind.

The land of Bari is the synthesis of three of the most exciting landscapes of Apulia: the Apulia of seaside villages, the Apulia of the magical Itria Valley and the vastness of the Apulian Murgia. Here villages are dazzling with white lime and the purest Mediterranean light. Here are historical towns with houses which seem to be clinging to one another and ancient cities that remind us of the Orient.

LAND OF SUN: RIVIERA OF TRULLOES
There are aristocratic palaces, towers and historical buildings. There are archways, rooms full of treasure, networks of alleyways and narrow streets. There are well-loved shrines of popular devotion decorated like rich chapels, almost museum-like, and then suddenly you come across a little bright square, a flight of steps, huge doorways that lead to delicate gardens that are like dawn, hidden away.

Along the sea , the coast of Apulia is a journey of love and hate: once you open the front door, you are by the sea, a sea of life and restlessness. Big and little ports chase each other, which are often just a handful of boats between the rocks and the cliffs such as the port at Giovinazzo. One may find a white stately cathedral like at noble Trani, the old church and fishing boats of Molfetta and Polignano, which seems to fly above the cliff tops like a seagull, Monopoli that reminds us of the Caribbean. Here you can cross the sea as if following a dream, the thrill of adventure is like sails in the wind.

For those in search of a peaceful retreat after the thrill of those waves, there is the Itria Valley, a colourful fairytale world full of the trulloes of Alberobello, the fairy houses that are the universal property of Unesco. Locorotondo is so high that it seems to be Jerusalem - the principal church shining like a mosque in the centre of the village and houses dotted about like chicks around a mother hen.

Castellana has magical charm and is like an underground Disneyland built drop by drop over millions of years together with the balcony of Fasano forest and the flower garden that is Cisternino.

This is the Apulia of farm holidays, the secret refuge of famous people who are brought here by big international agencies even from Hollywood. The charming freshness, the soft smells, the age-old tastes can all be found by the sea.
But the Itria Valley is famous not only for its trulloes; it is also made up of farms that are like little independents.
Here the crops were grown and eaten in the fields, people worked cultivating vegetables, breeding cattle, walking and riding.
Here evenings were spent in front of the fireplace in the farmyard, where masters and farm labourers met together at night to eat together after a day of labouring under the hot sun.
These farms are like a rosary of objects handed down from one generation to the next, where time passes slowly at a time when the modern industry of Apulian tourism has been able to preserve them unchanged and yet can still offer all the expected modern comforts.


LAND OF MYSTERY: MURGIA
But the land of Bari is not only composed of beautiful landscapes. For those looking for drama and passion there is the stony land of Murgia.
Let's go there as if we were eagles flying in a blue cloudless sky…. Here is the extreme majesty of the Murgia, the acute deafening silence, the bewilderment of its endless horizons, the fear of the absence of limits.
One can cross Murgia like Indiana Jones, as a lively caravan looking for respite, or as jeeps crossing the asperities but one will always encounter all that soul searchers could desire…
Murgia is a stony desert which can only be fully appreciated by those who love it and so are able to welcome it. Under an ocean of light there is Altamura, Gravina, Santeramo, Spinazzola, Minervino. Here are abysses, open mouthed like ogres, here are puloes and ravines. Here are the caves where the Stone Age people lived, where the anxiety of faith has left images of the blessed Christ and the Madonna.
Murgia contains the treasure of over fifteen hundred species of plants including the incredible gift of orchids, cardoncello mushrooms and the bread of Altamura. These were the things that characterised the paradise that charmed King Frederick the Swabian in ancient times, the emperor who came to Apulia never to leave again.