Apulia, Italy

Apulia (Italian: Puglia) is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of �tranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southern portion known as Salento, a peninsula, forms the high heel of the Italian "boot". The region comprises 19,345 sq.km (7,469 square miles), and its population is about 4 million. It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. It neighbors Greece and Albania, across the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, respectively. The region extends as far north as Monte Gargano, and was the scene of the last stages in the Second Punic War.

Apulia is mostly a plain (see Tavoliere delle Puglie); its low coast, however, is broken by the mountainous Gargano Peninsula in the north, and there are mountains in the north central part of the region.

Farming was the chief occupation, but industry has expanded rapidly. Farm products include olives, grapes, cereals, almonds, figs, tobacco, and livestock (sheep, pigs, cattle, and goats). Manufactured products include refined petroleum, chemicals, cement, iron and steel, processed food, plastics, and wine. Fishing is pursued in the Adriatic and in the Gulf of Taranto. The scarcity of water has long been an acute problem in Apulia, and it is necessary to carry drinking water by aqueduct across the Apennines from the Sele River in Campania.

Services and tourism are increasingly replacing agriculture as the main resources of the region.