Lu sule, lu mare, lu ientu
'The sun, the sea and the wind' have shaped Apulia, the 'heel' of boot-shaped Italy. It's a peninsula of a peninsula, reaching out across the Adriatic towards Albania, a land of olive groves, rocky beaches, with mountains in the north and vast tracts of fertile farmland, timeless villages, and busy ports. It's the home of Gianni Spadavecchia. His last name means 'old sword' in English but inworld, he shortens it to just Spada - way easier to type.
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| Gianni Spada at the HIE conference in October. Apulia is called 'Puglia' in Italian - don't let that g fool you, it's pronounced Pull-ya |
Italy has the most UNESCO sites in the world, and there are 1.5k museums in the country. So much history! There are about 300 recognized archeological sites, but you'd have to add several zeroes to that figure if you were to count all the places with notable archeology. With so much out there, it would be completely impractical to make them all accessible. There just aren't the resources to preserve, protect, excavate and investigate every single one of them, so many of these treasures remain buried, or otherwise undeveloped in terms of a visitor friendly destination. And of course, not all of us can take a day trip to Italy to check out these fascinating treasures.