Experience the best of Vieste

Vieste sits on a rocky spur at the eastern tip of the Gargano, the spur of Italy's boot, with the Adriatic on three sides. Its old town is a tangle of steep white lanes and stairs above the sea, with a Romanesque cathedral, a castle built under Frederick II and houses that overlook the water. Pizzomunno, a tall white limestone pillar, rises from the beach beside the old town and is the subject of a local love legend.

The coast south of town is lined with sea caves and white cliffs, and boats go out to see them, while wooden fishing platforms called trabucchi stand on the rocks. Behind the coast lies the Gargano National Park, whose Umbra Forest of beech, oak and pine is part of a UNESCO listing of ancient beech woods. Boats run to the Tremiti Islands, and Monte Sant'Angelo, a mountain town with a cave sanctuary of St Michael, lies inland.

Orecchiette with turnip tops, grilled fish, shellfish from the Adriatic and panzerotti, fried turnovers, fill the menus, with sweet Gargano oranges and lemons, olive oil and caciocavallo cheese from the hills. The beaches are busiest in July and August, while the forest stays cool even in the hottest weather.