Apulia (official Italian name: Puglia) is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its southern portion known as Salento, a peninsula, forms the heel of the Italian "boot." The region is comprised of 7,469 square miles (19,345 squ km), and its population is 4,031,885 residents (1991). It is bordered by the other Italian regions of Molise to the north, Campania to the west, and Basilicata to the southwest. It is neighboring to Greece and Albania, across the Adriatic and Ionian. The region extends as far north as Monte Gargano, and was the scene of the last stages in the second Punic War. Geography Bari is the capital of the region, which is divided into the provinces (and their capitals by the same name) of Bari, Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce, and...