*** Notably less crowded and more peaceful than other Italian regions, Puglia is a lovely area that offers pristine natural beauty alongside impressive historical monuments. Inland, rolling vineyards and wheat fields fill most of the horizon and are interrupted only occasionally by small villages and towns. The 11,000-acre Umbra Forest, one of Europe's largest forests, is another important feature of the interior. Home to a variety of plant and animal species, this is a great place to explore on foot or on bicycle. 
 
The Gargano promontory rises like an island from the flat plains of the Tavoliere, geographically and culturally different from the rest of Puglia. Its landscape is remarkably diverse: beaches and lagoons to the north, a rocky, indented eastern coast and a mountainous, green heartland of oaks and beech trees - reminiscent of a Germanic forest rather than a corner of southern Italy.  
 
For centuries the promontory was extremely isolated, visited only by pilgrims making their way along the valley to Monte Sant'Angelo and its shrine. Nowadays tourism has taken off in a big way, especially on the coast around Vieste, but in 1991 the whole peninsula became a national park, helping to protect the Gargano from overbearing development and ensuring that much of the interior remains supremely unspoiled and quiet. 
 
It is very nicely suited to simply relaxing in a quiet place , on a hillside overlooking the sea , although the beaches (both rock and sand) are not far from here and there are hill towns and a plenty to discover in the valley and nearby mountains.