Puglia, also known as Apulia, borders the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Gulf or Taranto and Strait of Otranto to the south. You can easily visualize it by thinking about the heel portion of Italy's "boot" shape. Known for its history and brilliant blue seas, Puglia is also home to some fantastic diving, including two very important wrecks dating back to the Second World War: The HMS Regent, and the HMS Quail.
HMS Regent
Launched in 1930, the HMS Regent had been assigned to patrol the southern Adriatic, after sailing from Malta on April 12th of 1943. Only six days later, on April 18th, people in the area of Barletta heard a huge explosion, which is assumed to have been the sound of the HMS Regent striking the mine that took her to the bottom, where she still lies today, in 28 meters of water.
An R Class submarine belonging to Britain's Royal Navy, the Regent is 163 feet long and has a 16 foot beam. Designed to attack and sink larger subs, the Regent is one of only 10 British R Class submarines built. She had been in water too shallow to dive while a mission in which an Italian officer had been taken onboard to act as a hostage as some of the sub's crew went ashore to work on a hostage exchange. Regent had been under attack by Nazi aircraft all morning, and after a cluster of 7 large bombs fell nearby, the ship's captain simply had enough. Deciding to abandon his mission, Captain Browne headed out toward open sea in an attempt to flee from the worsening bombardment.
Then, before making it out into deep water, fragmentation bombs began to fall, and ultimately, while attempting to escape, she collided with the mine. Sixty-five British crewmembers and the Italian officer lost their lives in the tragedy; when you dive this wreck, you're diving a submerged grave site.
HMS Quail
A Q class destroyer belonging to the British Royal Navy, the HMS Quail was damaged by a mine and withdrawn from active service only about a year into her career. Launched on June 1st of 1942, she struck the mine on a brisk November morning in 1943, with the stern section taking on water and suffering a huge amount of damage to the extent that even the aft gun was blown off and 8 men, along with19 other crew members, lost their lives.
After being stabilized, the ship was towed back to port, but it was determined that she was not repairable. On June 18th of 1944, while being towed to another destination for salvage, she began taking on water and sunk between Bari and Taranto. The 358 foot long ship now lies in 90 meters of water and was discovered by a team of Italian divers in June of 2002.
Given Puglia's position and the amount of coastline the area boasts, there are plenty of opportunities for diving in the region. Trips to both wrecks as well as to other popular dive sites can be arranged with Puglia dive operators. There are several to choose from, and some are affiliated with local hotels, so an all-inclusive vacation is fairly easy to arrange.