Murghe, Le Murge, Murgia, or the Altopiano delle Murge (Italian for “Murge plateau”) is a region in Puglia, Italy. Most of it lies within an area in the central part of the the Puglia (Apulia) region of south-eastern Italy, across the provinces of Bari, Barletta-Andria-Trani, Taranto and Brindisi. See also the Bassa Murgia and Itria valley to the south. The name is believed to originate from murex, a Latin term meaning “sharp stone, sharp rock”.

The Murghe area is a high, rectangular-shaped plateau. Covering a total of some 4,000 square kilometres and bordered on the north by the Tavoliere delle Puglie and on the west by the region of Basilicata, the land descends gently to the Adriatic coast and to the south, until it reaches the Terra di Bari. 

The Murge can be divided into: coastal Murgia, Terra delle Gravine, Valle d’Itria, Taranto Murge and Salentine Murge. Two ridges create a diagonal between the north-west and the south-east, with the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Fossa Bradanica to the west, the Ofanto Valley to the north and the Salento peninsula and the Ionico Tarantino arch at its southern point. The plateau lies mainly in the Metropolitan City of Bari, and in the Barletta-Andria-Trani province, extending into the Brindisi and Taranto provinces to the south, and Matera in Basilicata to the west. 

The interior of this vast region is composed of three sub-zones. In the northwest, on the border with Basilicata, lies the Alta (Upper) Murgia, with two important wine production centres, Minervino Murge and Gravina di Puglia. A distinctive characteristic of this area is karst formations, which give it a strikingly “lunar” appearance; although it seems at first sight a rocky desert, it is rich in aquifers, which are in some cases quite deep, and boasts a myriad caverns, strata, and ravines, with crevasses exceeding even 100 metres in depth. In addition to karst, the pre-Murgia has tufaceous soils as well, in the Castel del Monte area, with low hills that slope gently to the sea, near Barletta and Trani on the coast.

The interior climate is typical of hillslopes, with significant day-night temperature differentials and generous rainfall; the weather grows milder as one approaches the coast, thanks to the mitigating influence of the Adriatic, which reduces both the severe temperatures of the winter winds from the Balkans as well as the summer heat spells.

The star grape variety of the area is the native Nero di Troia. Others found here are Bombino Nero, Aglianico, and Montepulciano, and the white grapes Bombino Bianco, Pampanuto, Greco, and Malvasia Bianca. On the coast, the native grape par excellence is Moscato Bianco, which yields Moscato di Trani DOP, a dessert wine.

Nero di Troia is the focus of two DOCGs, Castel del Monte Rosso Riserva and Castel del Monte Nero di Troia Riserva, plus Castel del Monte DOP and Rosso Barletta DOP. Castel del Monte Bombino Nero DOCG focuses on Bombino Nero, while among the whites, the Murgia boasts one of Italy’s oldest whites, Gravina DOP. Finally, the Murgia IGP denomination embraces the entire area.

The viticultural history here is deeply rooted in mythology as well. The Greek hero Diomedes is said to have landed here on his return from the Trojan War, and here he planted a shoot of what was destined to become the area’s iconic variety, Nero di Troia. In the 13th the magnificent Castel del Monte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.