A marvellous combination of art, history, landscape and tradition, this Italian southern region has a rich gentle character, yet still concealed to the most. Many local legends tell about some of its villages having miraculously escaped from the fury of hurricanes and typhoons thanks to the intercession of pale Eastern saints. Another very famous tale claims that Saint Peter landed at Santa Maria di Leuca as he chose the white stones of Salento, the utmost symbol of both purity and earthiness, as the start of his evangelizing journey. Modern Apulia, Salentine Greece, is a complex mixture of ancient heritage and present achievements :rustic charm, great food, classy beaches, but most of all the light. The light is one of the elemental forces of this landscape. It’s different because the long spur of the region, the “heel” of the boot shaped country, with the long miles of the silvery green olive groves, is settled between two seas, the blue, cobalt waves of the Adriatic and the lapis coloured Ionian sea that mix and highlight their reflected sparkles in the unpolluted Apulian atmosphere. Invaded and conquered for centuries, the rich land saw alternating owners: Greeks and Romans, Orthodox and Roman Catholics, Christians and Muslims all left their marks in the constant settlement and resettlement of the countryside. A gateway to the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, the area is crisscrossed by historic roads, from the rural, grassy “tratturi”, seasonally used to allow the moving of sheep from the mountain pastures of Abruzzo to the fertile plains of Apulia, to the basalt paved Via Appia, the consular road down to Brindisi, where the Romans used to take off East bound. Amazing views and historically relevant sites are as numerous as the stones: the choice is difficult if not impossible. South of Lecce houses the highest concentration of megalithic sites, and deep in the heart of the country there is an impressive alignment of standing stones; the pre-historical enigmas in Ostuni, the white village with narrow streets and higgledy steps, still wait for an adequate solution; funny shaped buildings called Trulli make the most meaningful trait of the town of Alberobello… Then, the crystal clearness of the seas, as the 200 mile coast round trip will reveal a thousand stunning surprises: dunes, salt marshes, reeds, oaks and pine trees, myrtle, broom in the natural park, then the sudden view of uncontaminated coves among the sandy shore and the rich scent of past all around….Baroque and Gothic monumental churches, noble residences, and the large fortified area made by more than 20 among castles and towered farmhouses, assembled in an ideal chain along the Ionian and Adriatic coastline, some of Byzantine memory, some other revealing a Saracen heart…