Puglia with Open Arms

This tale is a love story, a Valentine, to the Puglia region of Italy. Suffused with Mediterranean warmth and geniality, it follows the adventures of Samy Ben Meddah, of North African origin, as he meets Italian counterparts from the north shore of the Mediterranean. Behind the southern warmth of Puglia there lurks a serious subject, the problematic of immigration and culture shocks in a transcultural world. The author presents a wide spectrum of immigrations: geographical, temporal, and artistic. But the whole is leavened by wit and the Southern joie de vivre. As Samy leaves Puglia, he summarizes its manifold attractions:

It is simple... natural... welcoming... convivial... seductive... generous... affectionate... Then it will be forever part of my journey... for to return here is to find again an old friend... with whom I lived an unprecedented love... It is also to leave again for new horizons... for so many encounters... so many communions...