The Fig Tree in Puglia: Amidst “Forgotten Landscapes” and New Fig Groves

A report from BridgePugliaUSA, a fantastic website newsletter that showcases Apulian livestyle, its artistic and cultural heritage, food, crafts, wine and gastronomy. 

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Drying figs in the Slalento

Figs have always represented one of the most important crops on the Apulian agricultural scene; of all the woody species that have sustained the regional agricultural economy, it could be said that they rank third in importance below the olive tree and the vine. Theirs is certainly a longstanding presence; the immigration of oriental peoples, before the Roman domination, which took place in these lands, and the commercial relationships with the places of origin of those peoples, may have enabled the importation of plants, and amongst these, also of diverse varieties of figs. As Ferdinando Vallese affirms: “Even when they hadn’t transported plants, the dried figs were certainly one of easiest and the most popular long-life foods in the voyages undertaken by the ancient peoples that populated the Mediterranean basin”. ... (click HERE to read the entire article)