Foggiano and Irpinia. You said everything, you said a lot. Think of the province of Foggia. Very extensive. From the countries immediately after the Bari and the Bat, here already Cerignola, historical and big agricultural reality, the city of the trade unionist Di Vittorio. From here we go inside, going towards Candela and the Subappennino Dauno, 49 villages set in the not very high mountains of this particular southern and Apulian mountain remnant. Even more inland, but further north, the area of ​​the Occhito dam insists on the border with Molise: here are countries like Volturino, Carlantino, Celenza Valfortore, San Marco la Catola (a town linked to the first spiritual experiences of Padre Pio ). But also the Beneventana San Bartolomeo in Galdo is nearby. And so clearly Macchia Valfortore, in the province of Campobasso. The name already says. Let’s talk about the landscape dominated by the river Fortore. Even more on here is the “extreme” Foggia of San Paolo Civitate, Chieuti (with a linguistic minority arbëreshë), Lesina. It is Puglia that can not be further north. And here are the lakes of Lesina and Varano. It is thus already in the Gargano di Ischitella and, going down, Peschici, Rodi, Vieste, Mattinata. Gargano also sacred to San Giovanni Rotondo.
As will be understood, vast and beautiful landscapes. But it is the small Rocchetta Sant’Antonio that attracts our attention. Puglia also from the border, full Subappennino, is a stone’s throw from the Monteverde and Lacedonia. Territory beautiful and sinuously landscaped, was yesterday also administratively Irpinia and today is Puglia. This too tells the singular and frontier history of these small centers. The same happened for countries like Anzano, today “of Puglia” and yesterday Irpinia, while Savignano is today “irpino” and yesterday it was Pugliese, so much so that here we celebrate the Orecchietta festival, even if we were in Bari. And Ariano Irpino? It too once Foggiana. Destiny of steps, in short. Within wonderful landscapes. Sceneries like that of Sant’Agata, refined and pretty Puglia Here we are close to the small Scampitella (Av), once a fraction of Trevico, the highest village in the province of Avellino, where Ettore Scola was born. Not far away is also Gambatesa, Molise (the history of the villages is also the history of strange names, you know). Sant’Agata is the town of bell towers, ancient stones, convents. And then of the beautiful castle, one of the most important watchtower of the Capitanata. Small and charming villages here. One big flaw: the streets. The Dauno Subappennino definitely deserves better arteries. We dare to hope. Take a few kilometers and here is Bisaccia, again the province of Avellino. Here we are at the top and the view says it. Altitude 885 meters above sea level, in winter it is cold, as in many parts at these latitudes. The ducal palace is extremely elegant. It is a Longobard castle then restored by the great Federico II after the earthquake of 1198 and first already a real defensive stronghold with the Byzantines (the strategy united this castle to those of Sant’Agata and Ariano).
In the 16th century it became a noble residence. The structure is enriched by the fifteenth-century loggia with a round-arched architecture and hexagonal columns. A real casket. Between Bisaccia and Andretta stands the Formicoso, today a mountain famous also for its wind turbines and in the Middle Ages dear to Federico himself for the healthy air that dominated you. Bisaccia is also the homeland of Franco Arminio, a southernist poet and “paesologo”, an acute interpreter of the beauties but also of the wounds of these and other villages of the South. Torquato Tasso, a friend of Giovan Battista Manso, lord of Bisaccia, also stayed in these lands. . The view from the castle was much loved by the poet, known hunting enthusiast. In short, what we tell you is a land that inspires, which calls visitors, deeply deserved admirers. A South that seriously begins to believe in its inexhaustible beauty itineraries.
