Eat! Play! Live!
The Heel of the Boot
Puglia, Basilicata, Italy
November 5-14, 2008
About Puglia
Puglia (English: Apulia) is the southeastern portion of Italy romantically referred to as "the heel of the boot." It borders the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. Puglia is composed of six provinces from north to south: Foggia, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Bari, Brindisi, Taranto and Lecce. Due to settlement or occupation through time by the Greeks, Romans, Goths, Lombards, Normans, Turks and Venetians, the region is rich in archeological findings, history and culture.
Size: 19,345 sq km
Capitol of Puglia: Bari
Population: 4,072,839 (est 2007)
The People: Ethnic Italian (95%), global immigrants (5%)
Religion: Roman Catholicism (87.8%)
Language: Italian (including occasional dialects of Neapolitan, Sicilian
and the rare Griko and Faetar in some parts of the region)
Literacy Rate: 98.4%
Government: Parlimentary Republic
Current President: Giorgio Napolitano
For more information on Puglia, Italy, see the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apulia
