ahotelinitaly.com blog

Foggia, the main town of the Tavoliere plain in Puglia, is like all the towns of this area, extraordinarily old (the ‘new town’ of the Tavoliere and Gargano Peninsula, Manfredonia, is a mere 600 years old!). Yet although it dates back to Neolithic times, with the Greek colony of Argos Hippium later on, there is very little of age in Foggia. There are reasons for this. History first though. Roberg Guiscard drained the mosquito ridden marshes in the 11th century, and the newly fertile land became famed for wheat production (it’s the main source of wheat for pasta in Italy to this day). William II of Sicily built a cathedral here in the 12th century, and Frederick II built a palace in 1223.

Then things started to go wrong for Foggia. Alfonso V of Aragon taxed the local farmers to destitution in the mid-1400s, single handedly managing to wreck the local economy and seeing the carefully maintained and drained patchwork of fields (a triumph of Roman agricultural engineering) fall back into marshland. In 1456, 1534, 1627 and 1731, the city was beset by major earthquakes, and so things dwindled until the arrival of the railway in the 19th century. Agriculture picked up, but Foggia was razed again by Allied bombing in World War II (the city has subsequently received the Gold Medal for Civil and Military valour for its role in World War II.

There are historic sights if you look hard enough. We have the Duomo or Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea, the Palazzo Dogana (customs house), the Chiesa (Church) delle Croci, the Three Arches, the Arco (Arch) di Federico II, and the archaeological dig at Passo di Corvo. See too the Museo di Storia Naturale.

Foggia hotels - hotels in the Province of Foggia, Italy.

Local tourist board site.