The town on the cliffs and the beach of Lama Monachile
South of Bari, Polignano a Mare stands on a sheer limestone cliff about twenty metres above the sea, hollowed out at its base by sea caves. Its white old town, entered through the Arco Marchesale, is a tangle of lanes ending suddenly in balconies over the sea, terraces suspended over the waves with breathtaking views of the coast.
Its most photographed image is Lama Monachile, a small pebble beach squeezed between two high walls of rock at the bottom of an ancient ravine, crossed by a Roman-era bridge of the Via Traiana, on which the town's houses are built. Polignano is the birthplace of Domenico Modugno, the singer of "Nel blu, dipinto di blu", known worldwide as "Volare", who is commemorated by a statue with open arms on the seafront. The cliffs host one of the stages of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, with divers plunging from a platform on a house about 27 metres above the water. The Grotta Palazzese, a cave in the cliff, houses a famous restaurant suspended over the sea.
Tip: boat trips from the port explore the sea caves under the town; in summer, Polignano is very crowded, so spring and autumn are ideal.
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