Guide to the Gargano Promontory, Puglia, Italy
Reach the end of the Tavoliere, the huge, wheat-bearing plain in which spans northern Puglia, and you come to the Gargano Promontory. This peninsula rises from the plain, pushing into the waters of the Adriatic Sea, and has a splendidly diverse geography and flora. In the north (towns and villages include Rodi Garganico, Cagnano Varano and Peschici) there are lagoons (the Lago di Varano and Lago di Lesina) and beaches. The eastern coast is rocky and rugged: towns here include Vieste, Testa di Gargagno, Pugnochiuso, Mattinatella and Mattinata, with the main south-eastern town being Manfredonia.
Inland, meanwhile, we have the Foresta Umbria, a verdant heartland of beech and oak, reminiscent of southern Germany rather than southern Italy. Inland towns include Monte Sant’Angelo, San Giovanni Rotondo, San Marco in Lami and San Severo at the beginning of the peninsula. It’s a beautiful part of the world, not least because it was largely cut off for centuries, apart from pilgrims making their way to the shrine at Monte Sant’Angelo. The national park status the peninsula won in 1991 has prevented its being spoiled by its increased popularity as a tourist destination. Great beaches then, but not too much development.
Ensure you visit Monte Sant’Angelo - at 800 metres above sea level it’s a spectacular (and very chilly spot). San Giovanni Rotondo is nowadays a massive site of Catholic pilgrimage, second only to Lourdes, being the burial place of local priest Padre Pio, he of the stigmata and numerous other miracles before his death in 1968 (he was canonised in 2002). San Marco in Lamis has the huge 16th century Convento di San Matteo. Each Good Friday the ‘fracchie’ celebration sees huge bundles of burning wood hauled through the town. This originally pagan ceremony has been reinvented as the lighting of the route for the Madonna as she searches for Jesus.
Vieste has a fine old town, with the former monastery of San Francesco, the Castello and the Cattedrale. Completely cut off a half century ago, the town, thanks to its marvellous beaches, is now a popular tourist spot. Good nightlife and a starting point for the Tremiti islands. Move round the coast to Peschici: with its rather Arab feel, narrow mazey streets and dome-roofed houses it dates from the 10th century when it was built as a defence against Saracen invasions. There are great beaches, and the coastline has caves and defensive medieval towers. See the grotto at San Nicola and the Torre dei Monte Pucci.
Head along the coast to Rodi Garganico and some superb white sand beaches. This old Greek town has a hydrofoil service to the Tremiti islands. The road and railway out of town run alongside the lagoon of Lago di Varano (into which disappeared the Athenian town of Uria in the 4th century BC) and then the Lago di Lesina. This latter lagoon is separated from the sea by a 27km run of sand dunes. Beautifully unspoilt, this area is a marvellous habitat for wildfowl.
Inland we have the Foresta Umbra or ‘forest of shadows’, running across the huge Gargano massif. Superb forests of beech and oak, 70 species of orchid, and wildlife including deer and wild boar … and all now protected as national park, thankfully.
Our range of hotels in Puglia
The National Park site for the Gargano Promontory
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