Gargano

The Gargano promontory, rising like an Island from the flat plains of the Tavoliere, is geographically and culturally different for the rest of Puglia. Its landscape is remarkably diverse: beaches and lagoons to the north, a rocky indented eastern coast and mountainous green heartland of oak and beech trees, reminiscent of a Germanic forest rather than a corner of southern Italy. For centuries, the promontory has been extremely isolated, visited only by pilgrims making their way along the valley to Monte Sant' Angelo and its shrine.