Robert Seymour Conway and Thomas Ashby

“ From Barium a road probably ran direct to Caelia, and thence south-south-east to join the Via Appia some 25 m. north-west of Tarentum.
Barium was an important harbour, though less so than Brundusium and Tarentum, which, however, belonged to Calabria in the Roman sense. Apulia, with Calabria, formed the second region of Augustus, though we once find Calabria treated as a part of the third region, Lucania (C.I.L. ix. 2213) . The Hannibalic and later wars had, Strabo tells us, destroyed the former prosperity of the country; in imperial times we hear little or nothing of it. ”

“ The industries of Apulia are mainly pastoral or agricultural. Besides sheep, a considerable number of horses, cattle and swine are bred; while despite the lack of water, which is the great need of modern Apulia (in 1906 arrangements were made for a great aqueduct, to supply the three provinces from the headwaters of the Sele) , cultivation is actively carried on, especially in the province of Bari, where grain, wine, olives, almonds, lemons, oranges, tobacco, &c., are produced in abundance, and the export of olive oil is attaining considerable importance. ”

“ That of Bari, east-south-east of Foggia and divided from it by the Ofanto (Aufidus) , the only considerable river of Apulia, 104 m. long, is a hilly district with a coast strip along which are the majority of the towns—the lack of villages is especially noticeable; in the circondario of Barletta, the north-east portion of the province, there are only eleven communes, with a total population of 335,934. That of Lecce, to the east-south-east again, is a low flat limestone terrace. ”