Monopoli is a beautiful Apulian town in Bari province, on the southern Adriatic coast. There are various theories concerning the origin of the town's name. Some refer to the term “Manopoli” (mano meaning hand) because of the 'hand shape' of the promontories and indentations of the urban coastline.

This word had already been used by the Piedmontese cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi and even in a map from the Florence state archives dating back to 1400. Its Old Town, with almost all the houses painted in beautiful white, can easily compete with more famous towns within the same region.