Southern Italy before the Normans

Regional strategy is shaped to a great extent by the geography of an operational theatre; hence, the study of the topography of southern Italy is essential for a the better understanding of the factors that affected Norman and Byzantine strategic thinking in the region and for explaining the course of events that unfolded in the decades after the coming of the Normans. Apulia's northern limits are fixed by the lower Fortore River, with the area between the Fortore and the Ofanto, known by its Byzantine name of Capitanata (modern Foggia). To the east, the Capitanata forms a fertile lowland peninsula, the Gargano. Situated between the Ofanto and the Brindisi-Taranto line is central Apulia, which is blocked to the west by the southern Apennines.

Most of the cities in Apulia were, and still are, situated on the shoreline, not just for reasons of commerce with other Mediterranean ports, but most importantly because of the rough limestone terrain and the absence of any rivers in the Apulian interior. The Via Appia, one of the oldest and most strategic military roads built by the Romans in the late fourth century BC, connected Rome with Brindisi via the Apulian countryside and along with the Via Traiana, an extension of the Via Appia through Benevento and coastal Apulia, is strategically connected to the Via Egnatia that reached Constantinople. The Basilicata (modern Lucania) between the River Bradano to the north and the Monte Pollino massif in the south is the most mountainous region of southern Italy, an inhospitable terrain with unreliable rainfall and dry rivers for half the year. Finally, the Terra d'Otranto (modern Lecce province) is a rock of limestone that divides the Adriatic from the Ionian Sea.