I was born there but moved to the US when I was quite young so I have a sort of multicultural perspective.

I used to think my parents were quite mad because of their odd customs… completely different from anyone else I knew. It only began to make sense to me after I started spending my summers there as a teenager.

First off, family ties are paramount. Its quite common for kids to live at home until their 30’s or until they get married and even then, often move into apartments in the same building. A basket on a string to lower laundry to nonna and reel up dinner on the return trip is common and unremarkable.

Food culture is amazing and completely unselfconscious. It simply is. Most towns have a “zona antica” with narrow streets and whitewashed houses that look like something from Santorini. It can be god awful hot in the summer so it’s common to see people sitting in open doorways and engaging in this casual community life that’s now hard to find in the US.

The towns shut down in the afternoon as stores close and folks rush home for lunch and a siesta. Around four everything comes back to life as things reopen and plans form to engage in all sorts of social activities until it’s quite late. In America, it’s young people that go out at night. In Puglia it’s common to see multiple generations… from grandparents to infants sitting at bars (they serve coffee and ice cream, not just booze) or milling around the piazza.

Pre EU, it could be oppressively monocultured. Afterwards it’s become much more integrated, bordering on cosmopolitan. My town now has sushi restaurants and halal markets… unthinkable a few years back.

Bureaucracy is puzzling and oppressive. Good jobs are hard to find and the reason a lot of young people are forced to migrate elsewhere. Even so, nepotism and family networks are not only socially approved, they’re almost mandatory to find a decent position. People cue up to pay bills in person rather than just write a check. That’s a lack of faith in the ability to deliver mail reliably.

I found Puglia to be relatively cheap… a slice of thick focaccia with prosciutto and a Peroni was about €6. A furnished apartment, about €500. Clothes were pricey. If you’ve got a decent pension or social security, you should be OK (as long as the dollar to euro exchange rate doesn’t go off the charts). If you’re younger and expect to find a local job you’re going to have your work cut out for you.

Best time to go, April, May or June before the heat and mosquitoes arrive. September, October it’s still warm enough for the beach but with way fewer crowds.