Puglia or Apulia occupies the southeast part of the Italian peninsula. Its coasts, washed by the Adriatic Sea, may not face the opposite coasts of the Balkan Peninsula, which are almost 80 miles away, but there is a continuous communication between them. The Greeks, today, consider Puglia as the gate for their entry to Europe, since the northern passages through Skopje and Serbia are considered more difficult and quite inaccessible routes. As far as the Italians are concerned, they visit the Ionian Islands and the western coasts of Greece by thousands, feeling very familiar with the Greeks. The 2000-year presence of the Greeks in Southern Italy has created invisible bonds and helped to maintain close relations between the residents of the two countries.

The Adriatic Sea from Termoli. The distance from the Balkan coast is only 100 nautical miles.	The region (Regione) of Puglia.

Contemporary (and Latin) names derived from the ancient Greek names of cities and villages at the Puglia area.

BARI (Barium)

BRINDISI (Brundisium)

EGNAZIA (Egnatia)

GALLIPOLI

CANOSA DI PUGLIA

SANTA MARIA DI LEUCA

MANDURIA

ORIA (Uria)

GRAVINA IN PUGLIA (Silvium)

TARANTO (Tarentum)

OTRANTO (Hydruntum)

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