Gravina in Puglia (; nap, label= Barese, Gravéine ; la, Silvium; grc, Σιλούϊον, Siloúïon) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari,

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The word ''gravina'' comes from the Latin ''grava'' or from the messapic ''graba'', with the meaning of ''rock'', ''shaft'' and ''erosion of bank river''. Other words that share the same root are ''grava'', ''gravaglione'' and ''gravinelle''. Alternatively, when the emperor Frederick II went to Gravina, because of the large extension of the lands and for the presence of wheat, he decided to give to it the motto ''Grana dat et vina.'', that is to say ''It offers wheat and wine.''. Gravina is the home of the Alta Murgia National Park.

History

Thanks to its strategic position, Gravina has a very ancient history. Its territory has been inhabited since the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

, due to the high presence of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

and woods. The largest remains date back to the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

. The oldest settlements have been identified in the districts of Botromagno, S.Paolo, Vagnari, S.Stefano and S.Staso (early Christian). The town has been known with the names Sidis (Σίδις), Sylbion (Σιλβìον), Sidio, Silvium, Petramagna or Botromagno (name of the hill where the ancient inhabited area has developed). An important find of a skeleton belonging to an Asiatic man in the Vagnari necropolis testifies the existence of relations between the town of Gravina and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

already in 200 BCE. The town was then colonized by the Greeks during the colonization of Greater Greece, as a ''polis'' with the right of a mint of his own.

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

notes it as an

n town, which was wrested from the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they f ...

by the Romans during the 3rd Samnite War (305 or 306 BCE). It was a town in the interior of Apulia. It is noticed by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

as the frontier town of the Peucetii, and its name is noticed by Pliny among the municipal towns of Apulia.Plin. iii. 11. s. 16 The

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, ...

, which linked

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

, passed through Gravina. The Itineraries place it from Venusia, on the branch of the Appian Way which led direct to

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

. Later it was ruled by Byzantines,

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

and North African Muslims. The town was the site of a Norman countship in the Hauteville

Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...

and in the later

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

. A famous count of the former was

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

, who was sent by his cousin, the Queen regent Margaret of Navarre to the peninsula to combat the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

. In the latter period it was the hereditary fief of John, Duke of Durazzo. The Normans called the town Garagnone or Garaynone. From 1386 to 1816 it was a fief of the

Orsini family The House of Orsini is an Italian noble family that was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and Renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini family include five popes: Stephen II (752-757), Paul I (757-767), Celestine I ...

: the pope Benedict XIII (Pietro Francesco Orsini-Gravina) was born here in 1649. Feudal oppression led to numerous riots, in particular from 1789 until the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

(1861). Gravina in Puglia was partly destroyed by Allied bombings during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Main sights

* Gravina Cathedral (11th-12th centuries) - built by the Normans in Romanesque style. Destroyed by fires and earthquakes in the mid-15th century, it houses a splendid

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including '' phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it is housed a ''fer ...

of an arm of the English

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and the ...

, obtained by Bishop Roberto in 1179. *The remains of Frederick II's castle, site on a hill nearby the town, originally a base for bird hunting. According to

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

, it was designed in 1231 by one Fuccio from Florence. *''San Francesco'' - late 15th-early 16th-century church *''Sant'Agostino'' - church with a simple white façade *''

Madonna delle Grazie Our Lady of Graces (Italian: ''Madonna delle Grazie'' or ''Nostra Signora delle Grazie'') or Saint Mary of Graces (Italian: ''Santa Maria delle Grazie'') is a devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. Several churches with this ...

''-

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

-style church with an unusual façade sporting a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window' ...

surrounded by a large carved eagle, coat of arms of the Giustiniani. *''San Sebastiano'' -

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

-style church with a nave and two aisles separated by pilasters. The cloister of the annexed convent has with Romanesque capitals decorated with animal and vegetable figures. *''San Michele delle Grotte''- 10th-century church carved out from the

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...

rocks (one of the ''Chiese rupestri'') It has also a well preserved Roman bridge, dating to at least 1686. Following the earthquake of 1722, the bridge was restored and transformed into an aqueduct by the Orsini family of Rome, who then moved to Gravina around the middle of the 18th century.

Culture

Gravina in Puglia is famous for one of the oldest

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

s in Europe: the Saint George's Fair has been held each April since 1294. Gravina's cuisine, one of Apulia's most traditional ones, is based on three typical agricultural products found within the surrounding region of Apulia, namely wheat, olive oil and wine. The local cuisine is also enriched by the wide variety of fruit and vegetables produced locally. The town is also known for a particular cheese, named "Pallone di Gravina".

Gravina DOC

The commune of Gravina in Puglia produces a white '' Denominazione di origine controllata'' (DOC)

Italian wine Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, with an area of under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted fo ...

that can be made in a still or sparkling ''Spumante'' style. While the still Gravina wine is almost always dry, the sparkling Gravina wine can be made in both a dry ''secco'' and slightly sweet ''amabile'' style. All grapes destined for DOC wine production need to be harvested to a yield no greater than 15

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

/ha. The wine is made primarily (40-65%) from Malvasia del Chianti,

Greco di Tufo Greco is an Italian wine grape that may be of Greek origin. The name relates to both white ''(Greco bianco)'' and black ''(Greco nero)'' grape varieties. While there is more land area dedicated to ''Greco nero'', the ''Greco bianco'' is the gr ...

and

Bianco d'Alessano ''Bianco d'Alessano'' is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Apulia region of southern Italy, where it is often blended with Verdeca. In the early 21st century, the grape was planted in the South Australian wine region of River ...

with the last two

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see V ...

collectively permitted to make up between 35-60% of the blend.

Bombino bianco Bombino bianco is a white Italian wine grape variety planted primarily along Italy's Adriatic coast line, most notably in Apulia. The vine is prone to high yields and often produces neutral flavor wines.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine C ...

, Trebbiano Toscano and

Verdeca Verdeca is a white Italian wine grape variety that is primarily grown in Apulia in southern Italy where ampelographers believe that the grape may have originated. In Apulia, it is one of the main grapes in the ''Denominazione di origine control ...

are also permitted up to a maximum of 10%. The finished wine must attain a minimum alcohol level of 11% in order to be labelled with the Gravina DOC designation.P. Saunders ''Wine Label Language'' pg 168 Firefly Books 2004

People

* Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663), Roman Catholic mystic and saint, born in Gravina * Domenico Cennini (1606–1684), Bishop of Gravina in Puglia from 1645 to 1684, died in Gravina *

Francesco Guarino Francesco Guarino or Guarini (1611 – 1651 or 1654) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in the mountainous area east of Naples called Irpinia, and in other areas of the Kingdom of Naples, chiefly Campania, Apulia, and M ...

(1611–1651), painter, died in Gravina *pope Benedict XIII * Domenico Valvassori, Bishop of Gravina in Puglia from 1686 to 1689, died in Gravina * Salvatore Fighera (1771–1837), classical composer, born in Gravina * Giuseppe Tarantino (1857–1950), philosopher and rector at the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

, born in Gravina * Francesco Schittulli (b. 1946), surgeon and politician, born in Gravina

Sources

External links

Gravina in Puglia website

"Etnikàntaro" Gravina in Puglia group of ethnic-popular music

Official site of 712 Saint George's Fair

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravina In Puglia Colonies of Magna Graecia Cities and towns in Apulia