Polignano a Mare

Where Instagram and the Adriatic Sea meet

Pogliano a Mare, this picturesque clifftop dream on the Apulian coast, looks like a place built by an algorithm out of white stone, turquoise water, and a dash of Italian self-indulgence. And that's exactly how it feels.

Here, houses hang over the precipice as if they have no understanding of gravity or real estate logic. Below: the Adriatic Sea, above: selfie sticks. And in the middle: tourists wondering if the postcard view was actually Photoshopped. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. Pogliano is real—perhaps too real for its own good.

The old town? Charming. You can choose between gelaterias and souvenir shops, but hey, you can never have enough ice cream. The famous Lama Monachile – this canyon beach between two rocks – looks as if Mother Nature thought, "Now just a little drama, and that's enough."

Pogliano a Mare is beautiful, but in a way that constantly makes you feel like you should be thankful for even being allowed to enter it.