Apulia known in recent years a rapid development of tourism, but has limitations: it is above national and seasonal.
Key to the success of this region are the long coasts of Puglia, with its beaches and cliffs, the art cities and many villages, the archaeological heritage of the peoples who lived in ancient times, the attractiveness of its food and wine and business tourism, due to the Fiera del Levante in Bari and the numerous trade fairs which take place during the year in various towns in Apulia.
The Gargano coast near Vieste Arco San Felice
A glimpse Tremiti.
The typical paeseggio Murgian with characteristic dry stone walls
The White Grotto in Castellana Grotte [edit] Places of natural interest Main article: National parks of Puglia.
[Edit] TremitiIl Gargano Gargano and the islands, or spur of Italy, is an imposing promontory jutting out of the province of Foggia to 70 km in the Adriatic Sea, which surrounds the north, east and south, just west of the Gargano firm with Tavoliere. The territory of about 2,000 km ², includes the National Park of Gargano.
The inner area, covered by a dense tree line, as in Forest Umbra, is sparsely populated, the inhabitants tend to gather in the coastal stations or at the foot of the mountains, even with the development of recently acquired by the seaside tourism, which is added to the traditional fishing and agricultural activities.
A scenic road, SS 89, extends along almost the entire perimeter of the Gargano, touching many of the larger municipalities such as San Nicandro Garganico, Carpino, Ischitella, and the popular tourist destinations such as Rhodes Garganico, San Menaio, Peschici, Vieste, Mattinata, up to Manfredonia.
Ilparco also includes Tremiti archipelago, located 12 miles north of the Gargano, in the Adriatic Sea. Even being the smallest and second least populous town in Apulia (with less population there is only Celle di San Vito) is one of the most important tourist centers in the region. For the quality of its bathing waters has been repeatedly awarded the Blue Flag
[Edit] murgiaL'altopiano Murge is located in the central area of Puglia. The highest part of the plateau, the north-west is home to the Alta Murgia National Park covers an area of 67,739 hectares, is located in Gravina in Puglia, and extends in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani and Province of Bari
The surface area coincides with part of the largest special protection area established to protect the steppes Graminaceee, which houses one of the most important of the lesser kestrel populations. The rest of the fauna includes foxes, porcupines, wolves and wild boar.
The park also has wooded areas such as forest Mercadante, in the territory of Cassano delle Murge, Rogadeo the woods, in the territory of Bitonto, the Bosco Quarto, located on the borders of the territories of Altamura, and Lump Appula Toritto and the Wood "Great Defense" 6 km from the town of Gravina in Puglia.
During the spring becomes the protagonist in the pastures the presence of daffodils, while in summer spreads the myrtle and sage [36]. Significant also the ravine of Gravina in Puglia, characterized by deep erosion incisions more than 100 feet dug into the limestone by rainwater.
[Edit] Caves CastellanaIl complex of underground caverns of karst in Castellana Grotte, Bari in the south, is of great importance caving and tourism. From the Grave, a huge hole 60 meters deep, caves can be reached in succession along a horizontal path of about 3 km.
Of particular interest are the white cave and the cave of Milan's cathedral, named for the particular shape of the stalagmites, which are reminiscent of the pinnacles.
[Edit] Places of archaeological interest [edit] Excavations messapici between the provinces of Brindisi and the prehistoric Leccetro are worthy of note are the mirrors (ancient megalithic monuments created through the use of large blocks of dry stones), dolmens (megalithic tombs prehistoric single room), menhirs (upright megaliths usually monolithic stone age).
The Dolmen Placa Melendugno
The ruins of Egnatia. In the background the Acropolis
The Roman Amphitheatre of Lucera in its extension
Hypogea Lagrasta in Canosa di Puglia
Remains of the CanneDegna noting the area of the necropolis at messapica Manduria preserving graves of various periods, a moat, a double ring of walls and the remains of some ancient city streets. Another archaeological site is to messapica Roca Vecchia, where she was brought to light an ancient fortified village built on an earlier prehistoric site. In the surrounding area were also found messapica and inscriptions in Latin, as well as prehistoric [37].
We should also mention the two eco-museums Puglia: the archaeological area of Horsham and the Castle of Alceste in the territory of San Vito dei Normans. The first was found messapico a settlement of the Archaic period. In San Vito dei Normanni excavation has identified traces of a village hut in the second half of the eighth century BC and oval-shaped dwellings, and, superimposed on these, construction of the sixth century BC reflecting the surge of new construction techniques and a new way of viewing the living space.
[Edit] EgnaziaEgnazia, including Fasano and Monopoli, is one of the most interesting archaeological sites of Puglia. The ancient city, whose ruins are visible today, was founded in the middle Bronze Age through the threshold that separated the messapica Messapia by Peucezia; in the fourth century BC was the seat of important manufactures of pottery.
Its importance grew over the centuries for its enviable geographical position: thanks to the port and then the Via Traiana, it was in fact active center for trade and commerce between the Italian peninsula and the East.
Mentioned by Pliny, Strabo, and later by Horace, entered the orbit of Rome after 267, first as a civitas federate and then as municipium. Although it became an episcopal see, it declined in the late-imperial and was abandoned during the Middle Ages.
[Edit] LuceraA Lucera, Monte Albano, in the Swabian-Angevin Fortress, have been found traces of several Neolithic villages of the third millennium BC and the remains of a civilization of the Bronze Age and Iron Age. On the same fortitude, there are also sites of Norman, Swabian (Palatium Federico II) and Angevin (Palace of Charles II of Anjou, a Franciscan church and all the walls).
At "Carmine Vecchio" were also found in ancient burial cave dating from the fifth and fourth centuries BC while the excavations at San Giusto has unearthed an ancient basilica and a mosaic. There are several Roman ruins in the city center and spa on the temples. Most important, however, is made up of the majestic Amphitheatre Augustus, he done between 27 BC and 14 AD, and that only in 1932, excavations brought to light. In areas adjacent to the amphitheater were only the fitness of athletes, some public buildings and even an infirmary.
Age angioiona still retains much of the Assumption Cathedral, the Shrine of St. Francis Anthony Fasani and other churches of the old town are also the two large arches at the entrance to historic downtown Troy and Porta Porta Foggia, rebuilt in the latter 'nineteenth century.
[Edit] PugliaLa city of Canosa Canosa is one of the most significant city in long continuity of life, and its archaeological sites, often overlapping, are evidence of this. Daun-Hellenistic age are testimony to the countless underground.
Temples, baths, mausoleums, but the bridge Ofanto Trajan and the arch are the remains of the process of Romanization of the territory took place in the third century BC and the second century A. D. The cemetery and the Basilica of St. Sophia, the remains of St. Peter's Basilica, the Baptistery of San Giovanni and the Basilica of San Leucio (superimposed on the Italic Temple dedicated to Minerva), witness the period of the third century AD the tenth century A. D.
Of the Norman-Swabian are well preserve the Cathedral of San Sabino and the Mausoleum of Bohemond of Hauteville, and remain the ruins of the castle built on the hill that once housed the acropolis dauna.
[Edit] CanneNel territory Barletta is the site of Canne, ie the place where took place the famous Battle of Cannae (2 August 216 BC), in which the Romans suffered a heavy defeat by the Carthaginian Hannibal. The ruins of the citadel remained isolated and uninhabited so that in 1303 its territory was annexed to the will of Charles II of Anjou, to that of the largest Barletta.
The archaeological site is characterized by the dual presence Antiquarium and Archaeological Park and the ruins of the medieval city was destroyed for good in 1083. On the outskirts of town were found the remains of an Apulian village, including a menhir, and those of a necropolis.
Between 2002 and 2005 were conducted archaeological investigations in the San Mercury Spa complex, which revealed a tank with its water system [38].
[Edit] World Heritage Sites by UNESCO [edit] The Trulli of Alberobello,
Trulli, AlberobelloI conical trulli are ancient buildings in stone "dry" of prehistoric origin, present throughout the Itria Valley, but in spite of the development areas of the trulli are found archaeological remains of prehistoric times, or foundations of huts Bronze Age stone, there are no particularly ancient trulli: this is justified by the fact that rather than to repair the same in case of failure, is preferred for economic reasons demolished and rebuilt, reusing the material.
The trullo was a typical peasant, where Butted, the one who cultivated the land of the owner, could have a bed to sleep and keep the tools of the field. Children would sleep in alcoves carved out niches as directly into the wall and divided from the main through curtains. Some wooden beams, still visible today in the trulli, had no structural function but rather serve to hang the food and supplies, keeping them off the ground (often the floor, in clay, was shared by people and pets).
It is believed that once the Trulli were used to evade payment of taxes on homes. There are various theories about it. One of them states that the Trulli were used to communicate through smoke signals the arrival of any control, in that case were literally roofless, waiting to be rebuilt once the danger passed. One popular rumor has it that as we approach the coming of the owner who applied for payment of duty for residence in the soil, cozzari enough to pull off a single stone to bring down the whole building, making it all appear as a simple pile of stones.
[Edit] Castel del Monte
The imposing Castel del Monte, AndriaLa birth in the territory of Castel del Monte Andria, ranks officially January 29, 1240, when Frederick II of Swabia order to be prepared and all necessary materials for the construction of a castle near the church Sancta Maria de Monte (now missing). This date, however, is not accepted by all scholars, according to some, in fact, the construction of the castle on that date had already reached the roof. Unclear is also the attribution to a specific architecture: the work to bring back some of Riccardo da Lentini but many argue that to design the building was the same Frederick II. Apparently it was built on the ruins of an earlier fortress first and then Norman Lombard. Probably the death of Frederick II (which took place in 1250) the building was not finished yet. The building is octagonal (16.30 m per side out) and every corner is grafted an octagonal tower in turn (side 3.10 m), while the octagon corresponds to the internal courtyard has sides of 8, 65 m each. The diameter of the entire castle is 56 m and diameter of each tower is 7.80 m. The towers are 24 m high is slightly taller than the entire structure. The interior space is divided into two floors, raised above the square in front of 3 and 9.5 meters respectively. This division is taken outside by a string course cornice. Each floor consists of eight trapezoidal rooms, divided by joining the edges and corners of the octagon internal and external, where you set the corresponding towers.
[Edit] Places of artistic [edit] The cave churches
The Temple of Seppannibale seen from the outside - FasanoNumerose are the caves painted with religious motives in the Middle Ages [39], ancient places of worship derived natural caverns in the Basilian monks from the East, whose walls and ceilings are covered with paintings in the Byzantine style. Remarkable is the example of the crypt of Santa Cristina in Carpignano Salentino dated 959 and painted by Theophylact. Extensive notes are those of (a hamlet of Poggiardo), the cave of San Biagio in San Vito dei Norman, one of the Crucifix near Casarano and the crypt of the Annunciation in the territory of Lizzano. In the western part of the Province of Taranto is a significant concentration of churches, primarily in the areas of Massafra, Mottola, and Ginosa Palagianello. On the border between the Province of Bari and Brindisi Province, there are many traces of rock, especially in the countryside of Fasano, where the people who migrated from the coast to the hinterland, to feel safer, they stopped where nature has created the "lame", that is etched into the holes in the ground limestone. Here they dug the real villages, in soft tufa stone dwellings, animal shelters, places dedicated to agricultural activities, mills and crypts decorated with Byzantine frescoes. In the same area is the unique Temple of Seppannibale, a small medieval building the subject of studies, research and excavations by the University of Bari
Basilica of San Nicola, Bari
The Cathedral of Bitonto.
Transept and apse of the cathedral of Trani. [Edit] Romanesque Main article: Apulian Romanesque.
The geographical position of Puglia, natural land boarding pilgrims to the Holy Land before 1090 and even the Crusaders, led the reception of a wide variety of cultural influences that are particularly evident in architecture, sculpture and mosaic. The Romanesque, which reached its peak between the eleventh and the first half of the thirteenth century [40], was the most immediate prior art that was developed at the court of Frederick II in the thirteenth century and which, through the movement of artists like Nicola Pisano de Apulia, led to artistic renewal and hence engaged in Tuscany in Italy. In religious architecture, the churches took up characters Lombardy Puglia, Pisa, Burgundians and Oriental reworked according to a peculiar pattern.
One of the most representative buildings are the Basilica of San Nicola in Bari, which began in 1087 and finished towards the end of the twelfth century. Externally it shows a solid appearance, with a facade decorated with blind arches and highlights a little porch pronounced offset Lombard-Emilian. On either side, the facade is flanked by two unfinished towers that allude to examples of Alpine Norman ancestry. The plant has three aisles, and side walls provided with additional time to strengthen the structure, the nave, originally covered by trusses, are the galleries of the aisles. These end at the main altar, where the space widens to form a transect that protrudes from the rectangular building. Similar styles identify the many other Romanesque churches in Puglia.
The Cathedral of Bito, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and San Valentino, built between 1087 and 1095 and consecrated in 1114, is considered the most complete expression of the Romanesque [41] presents the tripartite facade with pilasters and features a rose sixteen arms, unique to the presence of sovrarco surmounted by a sphinx, and a central portal in Arabic style with richly carved scenes from the New Testament, the importance of valuable pulpit, of excellent workmanship, and the griffin mosaic, perfectly preserved and located in the early Christian church beneath the present building. The interior, with a Latin cross plan is divided into three naves, each ending in a semicircular apse. Like many churches in Puglia, the cathedral of Bitonto was covered with stucco in the eighteenth century and Baroque, but was restored to its original appearance during restoration of the nineteenth century.
The cathedral of Trani, unique for its location on the sea, presents a harmonious facade flanked the high bell tower, 59 m, resting on a pointed arch. Begun in 1099, in addition to the canopy on the main facade, it presents an even richer on the south, while the eastern part of the building has one of the major elements of originality: the transept with three apses high and mighty view. Particularly valuable to the contemporary bronze portal of 1175 Barisano from Trani, now visible in the upper church divided into three naves separated by twin columns which support the galleries. The building is composed of three superimposed churches: the underground of San Leucio of the early Christian era, the church of Santa Maria la Scala and the upper church dedicated to the patron saint San Nicola Pellegrino.
The Cathedral of Troy, which ended in 1125, shows strong influences from Pisa in the lower register, while the sculptural decoration reminiscent of the most diverse matrices, including Islamic art and Armenian.
The Romanesque not omitted the decorations: the sculptural prominent examples are the episcopal throne, the pulpit and tabernacles. Often the floor of the Romanesque cathedral was a mosaic of examples come to us, that of the Cathedral of Otranto was built between 1163 and 1165: extended all along the nave, the chancel, apse and the transept, there depicts the entire medieval imagination, with the tree of life, a bestiary, the allegories of the months, Old Testament scenes and heroes of pagan culture and chivalry.
[Edit] Gothic Angevin
Facade of the Basilica of the Assumption Cathedral, the Romanesque monuments stand LuceraAccanto also important Gothic emergencies, first of all the great Angevin cathedral of Lucera. Built by Charles II of Naples between 1302 and 1317 on the ruins of the demolished mosque Saracen, the cathedral was once dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta. The façade is asymmetrical with a square bell tower to the top of which a lantern is octagonal (XVI century). Above the main door is the place rosette. The cathedral's interior has three naves divided by pillars, with a transept and three apses of the Gothic style, one for each aisle. Outstanding are the baptistery, a ciborium of the fifteenth century, the pulpit, the altar dedicated to the fourteenth-century wooden statue of St. Mary the Patroness of Lucera. Finally, the central altar is made of a slab of stone found on the remains of Castel Fiorentino, which served as a canteen to Frederick II, and brought to Lucera in the fifteenth century by Blessed John Vici by Stroncone.
Also in Lucera, we find the sanctuary of San Francesco Antonio Fasani, coeval with the cathedral and Angevin ever erected by Charles II of Anjou in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and devotion of his son Louis of Anjou, a Franciscan. The facade is aa hut, with a magnificent rose window in the center. The interior has a single wide nave and its bright polygonal apse preserves the primitive frescoes in the church. Under the high altar, a bronze urn, are preserved the mortal remains of St. Francis Anthony Fasani, the first saint of the captains, known as the Father Master.
Other examples of Gothic architecture in Puglia are the Basilica of San Francesco della Scarpa Bitonto, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Barletta and the Basilica of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Galatina.
A detail of the facade of the Basilica of Santa Croce, Lecce
The church of the former Convent of the Augustinians, Melpignano [edit] Lecce Baroque Main article: Baroque Lecce.
The Baroque Lecce is a unique variation of the Baroque, founded in the late sixteenth century in the climate of the Counter lasts until the first half of the eighteenth century, in one with the Rococo. This artistic movement spread throughout the province Salento favored not only by the historical context, including the quality of the local stone used, the local stone, a soft limestone, compact and warm golden tones suitable for working with the chisel.
The Baroque of Salento is recognizable by its brightly decorated buildings that characterize the coatings. At first, this style only interested in the sacred buildings and noblemen, but later the Baroque exuberance, floral motifs, shapes, animals, mythological friezes and coats also triumphed in the architecture private.
Among the architects of the baroque Lecce remember Zimbalo Joseph (1617-1710) and Giuseppe Cino (1644-1722).
The baroque architecture is a thriving and Lecce in all municipalities in the province and particularly in Greece and in the larger towns of Salento Salento such as Gallipoli, Jerseys, Nardo, Galatina, Galashiels and Lequile.
Lecce, so rich in Baroque monuments, preserves notable works, including the Basilica of Santa Croce, attached to the monumental complex of Celestine, the Piazza del Duomo, considered the most beautiful in Italy and about 40 churches.
In Salento, also stands the baroque Martina Franca, who bends over a rock hard and white that usually forms in Lecce more sober.
The facade of the church of San Lorenzo, San Severo [edit] The late Baroque of Lecce Baroque CapitanataEstremamente different from and more linked to the culture of the eighteenth century, as to result in the rococo, the captains of late Baroque architecture, while showing primary forms (such as fast grotesque and popular of all the crosses in Foggia), is strongly affected by the influences Neapolitan (copy the opulent interior of the church of San Severo Pietà).
The most significant area is the baroque city of San Severo, Naples, where the language (expressed, among other things, important machinery altar in polychrome marble) merges with the Lombard (imported by the architect intelvese Ambrosio Piazza), creating results in a fluffy, festive decorations and light lines, especially evident in the prestigious factory Benedictine Abbey of San Lorenzo, which preserves, in addition, the last marble works of Giuseppe Sanmartino. Other examples of late baroque of captains are:
Cathedral of Foggia
Church of the Cross in Foggia
Bishop's Palace Lucera
Church of Mercy at San Severo
Benedictine Church of San Lorenzo in San Severo
St. Nicholas Church in San Severo
Celestine Palazzo San Severo
[Edit] The Church of San Pio
Basilica di San Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo San Giovanni RotondoA is the second church in Italy in size [citation needed], after Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican: it is the church of Padre Pio, the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins of the province of Foggia has commissioned the Italian architect Renzo Piano [42] to contain the thousands of pilgrims who arrive every year to honor the memory of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina [43] and with the offers have funded the work [44 ]. The church, inaugurated in 2004, is adjacent to the existing monastery where the holy monk lived and where are the remains; Archimedean spiral has a plan, whose centerpiece is the altar at the center of the classroom liturgy. In addition to its relationship with the large square that can be used if necessary for the celebrations, the work is particularly innovative use of stone Apricena with structural functions.
View of the old town of Ostuni. [Edit] OstuniLa peculiarities of the old town of Ostuni is the lime plastering to the roofs of the houses. The use, attested since the Middle Ages, is derived not only by the easy availability of lime as a raw material, the need to ensure the streets and confined spaces of medieval greater brightness, given by both direct and reflected light. Also, given the not infrequent outbreaks of plague that affected the area until the seventeenth century, it was assumed that the lime was an effective remedy to the spread of disease.
