Population: 4.090.068
Surface (Kmq): 19362
Density (Inhabitants/Kmq.): 211
Main city: Bari (BA)
Other towns: Brindisi (BR); Foggia (FG); Lecce (LE); Taranto (TA).

Puglia (or Apulia) forms the heel of the boot of Italy and has a long coastline, facing the Ionian and the Adriatic Seas. The region is essentially a flatland with wide arid expanses, terraces and table-lands poor in water. The coastal areas are essentially high and, in the Gargano district, plunge steep into the sea; in other areas, they are sandy or rocky, but usually flat. Puglia boasts one excellent archeological museum, a host of cathedrals dating back to the 10th century, several highly atmospheric Greek and Roman ruins, a gleaming necklace of lively fishing villages, one of Europe's largest forests, a chain of medieval hill towns, and some of the very cleanest beaches and water in the Mediterranean. It also has its own subspecies of architecture, called barocco leccese. Characterised by extremely ornate carvings that cover the entire surface of churches and palazzi, its apex is reached in the delightful little city of Lecce.