Puglia
books & films 

BOOKS on Italy and Puglia

Christ Stopped at Eboli, The Story of a Year, by Carlo Levi,1947, a southern Italy memoir, the author was forced to relocate to a remote village in Basilicata (on the border with Puglia) as punishment for anti-fascist political activity

The Normans in the South 1016-1130, John Julius Norwich, 1970, history of the Norman Hautville brothers who conquered southern Italy taking control of the so-called County of Apulia and Calabria (later Duchy) slowly consolidating their power throughout Southern Italy ruling all of it as the Kingdom of Sicily from 1130 

A Concise History of Italy, Christopher Duggan, 1994, discusses the background for the 1861 creation of the Italian state and the turbulent political history of the country since then

Extra Virgin, Annie Hawes, 2002, well-written, insightful and totally hilarious tale of two English sisters who move to Italy and had to figure out how to deal with it

Casa Rossa, Francesca Marciano, 2003, follows the lives of a mother, daughter and granddaughter from Puglia over course of 20th century

La Bella figura: A Field Guide To The Italian Mind, Beppe Severigni, 2007, a look at the real Italy, the real Italians by the New York based Italian editorialist

The Italians, John Hooper, 2016, lively account of contemporary Italians by an editor from The Economist  

A Book of Mediterranean Food and Italian Food, Elizabeth David, 1950, classic book with explanations and recipes from the Mediterranean basin

A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford Wright, 1997, historical look at the culinary influences flavoring the Mediterranean basin

Salento Flavors: The Taste of Tradition, Anna Maria Chirone Arnò, 2012

Puglia in Cucina: The Flavours of Apulia, William Dello Russo et. al., 2016

MOVIES set in Puglia

The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964, the neorealist director set his recounting of the gospel in Puglia as a substitute for the Holy Land

Our Lady of the Turks, Carmelo Bene, 1968, experimental film by the great Pugliese theater actor, director and philosopher

Stardust, Alberto Sordi, 1973, about a theater company trying to stay afloat in southern Italy during WWII

Christ Stopped at Eboli, 1979, Francesco Rosi with Gianmaria Volontè, based on Carlo Levi the book, see above 

Fasten Your Seatbelt, Ferzan Ozpetek 2014, the Turkish director’s comedy-drama set in Salento

Pinocchio, Matteo Garrone’s 2019 version

Tolo Tolo, Checcho Zalone, 2020, the Pugliese comic director here he deals with the issue of immigration

The Life Ahead, Edoardo Ponti with Sofia Loren, 2020, a Holocaust survivor, ex-prostitute hosts the children of prostitutes in her home in Bari

No Time To Die, James Bond movie partly set in Puglia

​​

​

​

​