Pop singer, Ebi, on a family holiday in Italy

Puglia

With Puglia's ancient sites and unfussy charms, Italy’s most secluded coast makes a rewarding alternative to the tourist-laden north. From its olive trees, whitewashed, hilltop towns, scorched earth and unforgiving heat, Puglia can seem closer to the melting pot of Greece than the grandeur of Rome. It’s not that the Renaissance bypassed southern Italy, but it certainly left fewer calling cards. Don’t come looking for picture-perfect art towns, formal gardens or trophy villas: the draw of Apulia, as it is known in English, is in the unexpected.