Italy is famously packed with glorious cities to explore, which means a magical spot like Bari – which would be a headliner in many other countries – here tends to be overshadowed by the likes of Rome, Florence, Venice, its fellow southern-Italian destination Naples, and even neighbouring Apulia (Puglia) region gem Lecce. But to miss out on Apulia’s capital – astride the Adriatic Sea right on the heel of Italy’s famous boot shape – would be a shame for reasons I’m about to go into. And the reason I’m about to do so is that this, along with Genoa and Verona, is one of Iberia’s three newest destinations, with service launching later this spring. Amazing history, culture, nightlife, and delicious cuisine fed by top-notch local ingredients – it’s all here, so…incominciamo!
Located in the Apulia subregion Basilicata, with a population of a bit over 323,000, the city’s history stretches back centuries before the Romans to an Indo-European people called the Peucetii, but later, ancient Roman Barium began gaining in significance as a strategic port and nexus for the eastern Italian peninsula thanks to its 42 kilometres (26 miles) of coast, and to this day it remains an important Mediterranean port, critical to the country’s economy (on the other hand, this also means Bari is on the front line of Italy’s current controversy over illegal immigration, as many migrants land here, though they have negligible impact on the visitor experience).
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