Bitonto is a city located in the Puglia region of southern Italy, about 12 km from the sea. The document provides details about daily life and culture in Puglia, including typical foods like orecchiette pasta and olive oil, religious festivals, dances like tarantella, beautiful coastal areas and archaeological sites such as the Trulli of Alberobello. Historic churches, castles, and the architecture of Renzo Piano are also mentioned. The culture of Puglia is characterized by ancient traditions that have been preserved.

1. Bitonto is situated in
Puglia in the south of Italy.
This city is about 12 kms
from the sea.

2. In the morning we wake up at 7.00, and we have breakfast.
Our breakfast usually consists of a cup of cappuccino with a croissant
and a glass of fruit juice.
But there are some who prefer to soak biscuits for breakfast in a glass of
warm milk with chocolate or with coffee, an alternative is to
drink only coffee.
After breakfast we wash and dress ourselves. Then we go to school on
foot or by car.

3. Our school day starts at 8.10 and ends at
13.10 without a break.
Our school includes chemical and biological
sector, where the principal subjects are
chemistry and biology, we also
study subjects such as Italian, mathematics and
English.
Our school is equipped by computer, chemistry
and biology laboratories where we have a lot of
lessons during the week.

4. When the school day ends we go
home for lunch.
Usually lunch in Puglia is composed of
a first course, usually consisting of pasta
(with sauce, vegetables, etc.), a
second course of meat
(beef, mutton, pork and
chicken), cooked in a pan, broiled
or grilled, served with salad
or fries or baked, and the second
course can also be replaced by fish with
vegetables.
At the end of the lunch we eat fruit and
for the sweet tooth dessert cannot be
missed.

5. After lunch we do our homework, study for the lessons of the next day and
then we carry out our favourite activities.
Some people prefer staying with friends at the café, surfing
the Internet, playing computer games and doing sports.
One of the boys' favorite sport is soccer, or training at the gym, the
girls practice dance, volleyball and aerobics.
Our afternoon activity ends at about 6.30 pm when we return home to wash
ourselves and prepare for the evening.

6. Some people prefer spending the evening at home watching a
movie, other people prefer going out with friends.
The latter spend the evening talking and walking. Late in the evening you
can go to a pizzeria or a fast food restaurant to get a hot dog, a slice of
pizza, a fried or baked panzerotto and obviously you cannot miss fries.
Around midnight we return home to sleep ... ...

7. On Saturday evening after
supper, we go to the
theater, cinema, shopping
center, pubs, games
rooms and for the lovers of
the nightlife there
are nightclubs where you can
dance and have fun until the
next day.

8. Puglia cuisine is mainly characterized by the
prominence given to the raw material, both land and
sea, and the fact that all the ingredients
aim at exalting and not at altering
the basic flavors of the products used.
During the milder seasons, preference is given to
vegetables and fish, while in the other
seasons beans, homemade pasta served
with various sauces, alone or with vegetables or fish
prevail.

9. The typical
courses of our
region:
"Orecchiette
with horse
meat sauce“……

10. ……"orecchiette with
turnip greens",
the "mashed fava
beans with chicory,"
"Cavatelli with
mussels "or baked
rice
from Bari also
called potatoes, rice
and mussels

11. Another typical product of
our city is olive oil.
It is an excellent
product for flavoring.
Extract from olives
that are picked by hand it
has a low acidity.
Important in the
Mediterranean diet, it is
used in different ways and
in all courses.
That’s why, BITONTO IS
THE OIL CITY.

12. ….other delicious typical foods
of our country are:
• focaccia;
• pizza;
• freshly baked hot bread;
• taralli;
• toasted bread with tomatoes
(bruschetta);
• various foods in oil
(mushrooms, artichokes, tomatoes,
eggplants and peppers)

13. A deep religiosity is
present in many folk
events:
Processions, celebrat
ions of patron
saints, festivals are
accompanied
by lights and band
concerts:
Puglia boasts an
ancient tradition in
the field of musical
bands.

15. In our
territory there are
many natural
areas, churches
and museums to visit.
In the north of
Puglia, there is the
Gargano.
It’s an
imposing promontory
situated on the sea
coast.
The interior area is
covered by
dense vegetation and
is sparsely
populated……

16. ……you can visit the
caves of Castellana,
a complex
of underground
caverns of carsic
origin, it
is a big abyss, its depth
is 60 meters.
The white cave and the
cave dome of Milan, so
called for the particular
shape of the
stalagmites are of
particular interest.

17. ……or you can visit the
Trulli of Alberobello,
those stone
buildings of prehistoric
origins.
The trullo was a
typical farm
construction, where the
worker who
cultivated the
land, could have a bed to
sleep and keep the tools
of the field.

18. At the border
between Puglia and
Basilicata,
you can find the Stones
of Matera.
The Stones are the heart
of the
historic city, which
is an urban
settlement derived from
various forms of
development which have
occurred with the
passing of time.

19. The del monte
castle: built in the
territory of Andria, in
the first half of the
eleventh century
by Frederick II
of Svevia.
The building has an
octagonal plan and every
angle is an octagonal
tower.
The interior space is
divided into two
floors consisting of 8
rooms per floor.

20. The last thing to visit is our sea.
Our sea is one of the most beautiful
in Italy.
We have both sandy
and rocky coasts.
The sea of Puglia is one of
the favorite destinations
for travelers from
northern Italy and also from other
nations:
Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Austri
a etc.

21. L'infinito The Infinite
Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle, These solitary hills have always been
E questa siepe, che da tanta parte dear to me.
De l'ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude. Seated here, this sweet hedge, which
Ma sedendo e mirando, interminato blocks
Spazio di là da quella, e sovrumani the distant horizon
Silenzi, e profondissima quiete opening inner silences and interminable
Io nel pensier mi fingo, ove per poco distances.
Il cor non si spaura. E come il vento I plunge in thought to where my
Odo stormir tra queste piante, io quello heart, frightened, pulls back.
Infinito silenzio a questa voce Like the wind which I hear tossing the
Vo comparando: e mi sovvien l'eterno, trembling plants which surround me,
E le morte stagioni, e la presente a voice from the inner depths of
E viva, e 'l suon di lei. Così tra questa spirit shakes the certitudes of thought.
Infinità s'annega il pensier mio: Eternity breaks through time, past
E 'l naufragar m'è dolce in questo mare. and present intermingle in her image.
In the inner shadows I lose
myself, and the drowning in the
sea-depths is a pleasure for me.

22. The poet imagines
the infinite space, in front of which
his soul is afraid.
He thinks about the infinity of time
and his existence seems to him
nothing.
The hedge is the boundary
between what can be perceived by
the senses and what cannot be
perceived.

23. …… Or you can visit the churches.
In central and northern Puglia, the Romanesque
style dominated. The most representative
buildings are the Abbey of Saint Nicola in
Bari, dedicated to the patron; the cathedral of
Bitonto, dedicated to Saint Maria Assunta and
Saint Valentine, considered the most complete
expression of the Romanesque; the cathedral of
Trani, unique for its location on the sea.
Then you go to the south of
Puglia characterized by the Baroque style, as the
Abbey of Santa Croce and Piazza Duomo
in Lecce.

25. Another important
church is San Giovanni
Rotondo, projected by
the Italian
architect Renzo Piano.
Renzo Piano after
this invention
has received a lot
of criticism because of
the style used which is
more adapted to a
stadium than to
a church, disappointing
those who
wanted a more
classical structure.

26. There
are pilgrimages, processions,
rituals typical of rural
culture.
The feast of St. Nicholas“ is
well known: 7 to 10 May
every year in Bari there are
torch - light
processions, waving of
flags, processions to the sea.

27. Tarantella is a typical Puglia
dance.
The best example is Pizzica
practice since the
twentieth century
You dance in couple, not
necessarily made up
of individuals of the same
sex, danced especially
in private family occasions.

28. Puglia a land of
ancient traditions, still
preserves beautiful
costumes in almost every
corner of its
territory. There
are costumes that can be
admired, especially during t
he holidays in honor of the
saint
patron, festivals always rec
all crowds in pilgrimages.

29. In Putignano (Bari), the
carnival is celebrated: it is a
manifestation of ancient
origin consisting of parades
of common people who
recite verses in
dialect, dances of masked -
maidens, parades of
allegorical
floats and "masks“
produced by papier-mâché.