PUGLIA

Provinces -This region has 5 provinces: Bari, Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce, Taranto
Chief town - Bari
Surface - kmq 19347
National Parks- National Park of Gargano (1991)

Reliefs - Passes - Coasts - Islands:

A mountainous zone rises to the border of Campania and Molise, or rather the Mountains of Dàunia that are raised over the 1100 ms. The promontory of Gargano has covered from enchanting woods of Forest Umbra. Besides in the northern part it goes down up to the lakes of Lesina and Varano. In the southern slope it goes down very quickly toward Adriatic Sea and Tavoliere of Puglies that it is a wide zone of lowland, ploughed by streams and rivers. A lot of marshy zones, of this territory, have been reclaim for making its cultivable. To south of Tavoliere, rise Murgies, that are an undulated highland, deprived of water and from the composition carsica.

The Trullis of Alberobello

Always in Murgies the famous Caves of Castellano are also found, while Salento (or Peninsula Salentina) has the same nature of Murgies, but it is lower and less fertile.
The coasts are marshy in the territories of the coastal lakes of Varano and of Lesina. Generally they are low and sandy except a brief line of the promontory of Gargano where tall and steep are. The coastal shore is a lot of uniform. This its linearity has interrupted from Gulf of Manfredonia where the mountains of Gargano predominate and from the natural harbors that are that of Taranto, Brindisi and Capo of Otranto.

Unlike the near regions, the territory of Puglia is the more omegeneos of Italy owed to the lack of the Appennineses.

Agriculture - Stock-farm - Fishing:
The agricultural production is one of the most remarkable in Italy. Develop are the crops of the grapevine and the ulivo that don't require terrestrial very fertile. Puglia to the first places is set for the production of oil, wine and table grape. Very important is the production of oat and vegetables, that of almonds for which Calabria is second alone to Sicily, of hard wheat in the territory of Tavoliere, of fig trees in the proximities of Bari, of tobacco and sugar beets in Lecce. The breedings are above all of ovini. It is tried of to also increase that some cattle that it is very scarce. The fishing is made in the whole coast, and it is practiced above all that of tall sea. We remember the fishing of the shellfishes and the deriving molluscs in the greatest part from the breedings in Taranto. The principal gardens are those of Manfredonia, Gallipoli and Monopoli.

Industry - Tourism:

Feast of Madonna of Martyrs in Molfetta

Puglia is one of the region of the Midday more industrialized, beneficiary of the harbors that allowed the commerce with the countries of Mediterranean and the Middle East. Big part of the establishments have been built in the triangle Bari-Brindisi-Taranto, facilitated of the discovery of layers of methane in the proximities of Basilicata. In Taranto and Bari rise establishments to refine the oil to manufacture synthetic fibers and plastic subjects. An ultramodern iron plant is to the first place for the steel production in Italy. Numerous are also the industries for the workmanship of agricultural products as the establishments of wine, conservieri, of the tobacco and the oleificis.

Position and Frontier:
Puglia is also called ‘the heel of Italy '. It is extended in the extreme southeast of the italic peninsula. It confines to north and to east with Adriatic Sea, to south with Ionian Sea and to west with Basilicata, Campania and Molise.

Rivers - Lakes:
The only rivers that have a remarkable importance are Ofanto that goes down in Adriatic and Fortore that marks the configne with Molise. Others less important are Candelaro and Carapelle.

Climate:
The climate is Mediterranean typically: dry heat in summer and mild in winter. In the territory of Puglia the rains are very rare. Only in winter there are some rainy precipitations. Puglia is the least rainy region than Italy.

Population:
Puglia is a highly populated region and extend to increase more always. The phenomenon of the emigration is decreaseing notably, above all after the industrial development. City as Bari and Taranto have doubled their number of inhabitants in little time. The agricultural population has assembled in the big rural suburbs. As in the whole southern Italy the isolated houses are very rare. Only in the zone of Murges there are still some typical residences called trullis.

Communication:
In Puglia there are three railway lines that connect the Region with the rest of Italy: along the adriatic coast races the line for Ancona-Bologna, while from Bari and from Taranto those for Naples. The highways allow of to connect Bari with Bologna and Naples with Rome. The road net allows some good connections with all the places. The most important aeroporios are those of Palese next to Bari and of Casale in the proximities of Brindisi.