Valenzano (
Barese: ) 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 ...
'' in the
Metropolitan City of Bari
The Metropolitan City of Bari ( it, Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari a ...
, in
Apulia,
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 ...
. It is home to several centers of scientific research, including ''Tecnopolis'', one of the biggest of the
Southern Italy in addition to The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
Bari (IAMB) part of the
International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).
Valenzano is the seat of the "Antonio de Viti de Marco" Technical, Economic and Technological Institute (among which the Environmental
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
specialization, established in the 2014-15 school year, stands out).
Sights include the All Saints' Church, a former 11th century abbey, and the late Renaissance church of St Roch. The baronial castle was reconstructed in 1870.
History
According to medieval historian Bonaventura da Lama, Valenzano was founded by a Greek man, named Valentinian or Valentian, who arrived in Apulia in the 8th-9th century escaping an invasion of
Saracens. Historically, the area was inhabited in prehistoric and early historic times (up to 4th century BC) by the
Peucetii
The Peucetians ( grc, Πευκέτιοι, Peukétioi; la, Peucetii; later also grc, Ποίδικλοι, Poidikloi, links=no; la, Poediculi, links=no) were an Iapygian tribe which inhabited western and central Apulia in classical antiquity. ...
, of
Illyrian origins, as testified by funerary findings.
References
External links
Official website
Cities and towns in Apulia
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