Puglia stretches along the Adriatic and Ionian coasts of southern Italy, offering a slower, more authentic alternative to the crowded northern highlights. The landscape here is ancient and deeply beautiful: endless silver olive groves — many thousands of years old — flat-topped masserie (farmhouses), wildflower meadows and limestone coastlines of extraordinary clarity. Alberobello is the region’s most famous attraction — a UNESCO-listed town of trulli, the distinctive whitewashed stone houses with conical grey roofs that are found nowhere else on earth. Ostuni, the ‘White City’, rises from the surrounding plain like a vision, its cascading white houses visible for miles. Lecce, often called the Florence of the South, is a baroque masterpiece — ornate churches, palaces and piazzas carved from the local golden limestone, all suffused with a languid, elegant energy. Puglia’s coastline is exceptional: the sea around the Salento peninsula in the south is turquoise, warm and remarkably clear, rivalling the finest beaches in Greece. Torre dell’Orso, Otranto and the sea caves around Castro are among the highlights. The Gargano peninsula in the north offers a more rugged, forested character. The food in Puglia is among the best in Italy — orecchiette pasta with cime di rapa, burrata so fresh it trembles, focaccia barese, grilled fish and exceptional local olive oil. Wine lovers should seek out the rich Primitivo and Negroamaro reds. Puglia is best visited from May to June or September to October, when the weather is perfect and the coastal towns retain their authentic character.