In a 2022 Condé Nast Traveler article about Puglia, a region of southern Italy, Stanley Stewart pointed to the area’s particular appeal. “Its seas are as clear and sparkling as the Caribbean, and its coast feels like it has been chiselled out of leftover bits of the Scottish Highlands,” he wrote. It’s not hard to see why travelers might gravitate towards that combination.
Three years later, is Bari, Puglia’s capital city, about to have its moment in the spotlight? In a recent story for The New York Times, Patricia Mazzei chronicled the changes in public perception of the city in question, as well as what that could mean for its residents.
Mazzei described the efforts undertaken by Antonio Maria Vasile, the official in charge of Puglia’s airports, to convince airlines to fly directly from the U.S. to Bari. Earlier this year, Neos announced it would begin seasonal service between New York and Bari; flights are scheduled to begin in June.
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Culture-rich destinations that fly under the radar but leave a lasting impressionOne of the points brought up in Mazzei’s article is Bari’s somewhat challenging history. Novelist Gianrico Carofiglio — who spent time taking on organized crime as a prosecutor in Bari — reflected on the city’s evolution, telling the Times that Bari had become “a place where people come and are amazed.”
Nowadays, the headlines featuring Bari have more to do with its potential as an international destination than its more troubled recent history. Perhaps the biggest scandal involving Bari lately involved a crackdown on deceptive pasta sales — which helps illustrate how far the city has come.
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