Gravina in Puglia
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Gravina in Puglia(Gravina in Apulia) is an Italian municipality in the Southern Italian Province of Bari, site along a river of the same name in the Western Murgia geographical area of Apulia.
It is the seat of the Parco Nazionale dell'Alta Murgia National Park.
The name stem from the motto given to the city by Emperor Frederick II, Grana dat at vina (Latina: "It gives grain and wine").
[edit] History
Gravina was founded by the Greeks during the colonization of Greater Greece, as a polis with the right of a mint of his own. The Romans conquered it after the 3rd Samnite War (305 BC). The Via Appia, which linked Rome to Brindisi, passed through Gravina.
Later it was ruled by Byzantines, Lombards ans North African Muslims.
The city was the site of a Norman countship in the Hauteville Kingdom of Sicily and in the later Kingdom of Naples. A famous count of the former was Gilbert, who was sent by his cousin, the Queen regent Margaret of Navarre to the peninsula to combat the Holy Roman Emperor. In the latter period it was the hereditary fief of John, Duke of Durazzo.
From 1386 to 1816 it was a fief of the Orsini family: the pope Benedict XIII (Pietro Francesco Orsini) was born here in 1649. The feudal oppression led to numerous riots, in particular from 1789 until the unification of Italy.
Gravina was partly destroyed by Allied bombings during World War II.
[edit] Main sights
- The cathedral of Gravina (11th-12th centuries) was built by the Normans in Romanesque style. Destroyed by fires and earthquakes in the mid-15th century, It houses a splendid reliquary an arm of the English St. Thomas à Becket, obtained by Bishop Roberto in 1179.
- The remains of Frederick II's castle, site on a hill nearby the city, orinigary more a base for bird hunting. According to Giorgio Vasari, it was designed in 1231 by one Fuccio from Florence.
- Church of San Francesco (late 15th-early 16th century)
- Church of Sant'Agostino, with a simple white façade
- The Baroque church of Madonna delle Grazie, with an unusual façade sporting a rose window surrounded by a large carved eagle, coat of arms of the Giustiniani.
- San Sebastiano, a noteworthy Renaissance edifice. It has a nave and two aisles separated by pilasters. Notable is also the cloister of the annexed convent, with capitals decorated with animal and vegetable figures.
Image:Pontegravina 2.jpg
Gravina has also some noteworthy churches carved out from the tufa rocks (Chiese rupestri), including the 10th century San Michele delle Grotte. It has also a well preserved Roman bridge.
[edit] Culture
Gravina is famous for one of the oldest fairs in Europe: the Saint George's Fair has been held each April since 1294.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources and external links
Coordinates: 40°49′N 16°25′Eeo:Gravina in Puglia
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