Old Puglia

By Desmond Seward and Susan Mountgarret

Puglia is the heel stretching down from the spur of the Italian boot. It boasts very beautiful landscapes, wonderful old cities with Romanesque cathedrals, Gothic castles and a great wealth of Baroque architecture. And yet, though far from inaccessible, until quite recently it was seldom visited by western tourists.

Today, however, Puglia is becoming fashionable as “an alternative Tuscany”. There are radio and television features on it, travel supplements which describe its beaches and cooking, and supermarkets stock Apulian wine, oil, bread and pasta. Yet almost nothing about the region has been published in English since the days of Norman Douglas and the Sitwells. One can find “holiday histories” of Tuscany, but there is no popular introduction to Apulian history, not even in Italian. Thisbook has been written to fill the gap by providing a simple, readable study of the region.

Desmond Seward was born in Paris and educated at Ampleforth and St Catherine’s College, Cambridge. He is the author of many books including The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders, The Hundred Years War, The Wars of the Roses, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry V as Warlord.

Susan Mountgarret was the co-author of Byzantium - A Journey and a Guide which brought her to Puglia to study its ‘rupestrian’ churches.