Apulia

Apulia is a region of Italy in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southernmost portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises 19,345 square km, and its population is about 4.1 million. It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. Across the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, it faces Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, and Montenegro, The Apulia region extends as far north as Monte Gargano. Its capital city is Bari.

Geography

Situated at the south-eastern tip of the Italian peninsula, Apulia covers over 19,000 square km in a succession of broad plains and low-lying hills. The central area of the region is occupied by the Murge, a vast karst plateau, and Itria Valley. The only mountainous areas, the Gargano promontory and the Monti Dauni, do not exceed 1,150 metres (3,770 ft) and are to be found in the north of Apulia, which is the least mountainous region in Italy. 32 kilometres (20 mi) north-east of the town Peschici is the Croatian Island of Palagruža.

History

Apulia is one of the richest archaeological regions in Italy. It was first colonized by Mycenaean Greeks. In the 8th century BC, the Ancient Greeks expanded until they reached the area of Taranto and Salento in Magna Graecia. In the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the Greek settlement at Taras produced a distinctive style of pottery known as Apulian vase painting.

From the late 12th to early 13th centuries, it was a favorite residence of the Hohenstaufen emperors, notably Frederick II. A number of castles were built in the area by Frederick, including Castel del Monte, sometimes called the "Crown of Apulia".

After 1282, when the island of Sicily was lost, Apulia was part of the Kingdom of Naples (confusingly known also as the Kingdom of Sicily), and remained so until the unification of Italy in the 1860s. This kingdom was independent under the House of Anjou from 1282 to 1442, then was part of Aragon until 1458, after which it was again independent under a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara until 1501. As a result of the French–Spanish war of 1501–1504, Naples again came under the rule of Aragon and the Spanish Empire from 1504 to 1714. When Barbary pirates of North Africa sacked Vieste in 1554, they took an estimated 7,000 slaves, and the coast of Apulia 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 new capital city at Turin, making the highest government authority remote. In the words of one historian, Turin was "so far away that Otranto is today closer to seventeen foreign capitals than it is to Turin".

Culture

Cuisine

Cuisine plays an important role throughout Apulia. The key locally produced ingredients used there include olive oil, artichokes, tomatoes, eggplants, asparagus, and mushrooms.

Language

As with the other regions of Italy, the national language (since 1861) is Italian. However, as a consequence of its long and varied history, other historical languages have been spoken in this region for centuries. In the northern and central sections, some dialects of the Neapolitan language are spoken: the Bari dialect is spoken in the central section, Foggiano in the northern section and Tarantino in the city of Taranto. In the southern part of the region the Salentino dialect of Sicilian is spoken. The language has been observed to have similarities to that of the Calabrian dialect, spoken in the region west of Apulia.

In isolated pockets of the Southern part of Salento, a dialect of modern Greek called Griko, is spoken by just a few thousand people. A rare dialect of the Franco-Provençal language called Faetar is spoken in two isolated towns, Faeto and Celle Di San Vito, in the Province of Foggia.

The Arbëreshë dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken by a small community since refugees settled there in the 15th century.