Manfredonia: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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EUR 40 - 100 Posta Del Falco B&B
 Posta Del Falco is 6 km from Manfredonia, between the Gargano Natural Park and the sea. It offers free parking and panoramic rooms.
Set in a former c… MoreEUR 39 - 149 Regiohotel Manfredi
 Located at the entrance to the Gargano Peninsula, the Regiohotel Manfredi offers free Wi-Fi, free parking and large, modern rooms. It features a pool,… MoreEUR 35 - 149 Nicotel Gargano
 Set in Manfredonia in the Apulian province of Foggia, Nicotel Gargano is positioned 5 km from the coast on 3 hectares of rich fertile land in Gargano … MoreEUR 48 - 145 Hotel Gargano
 Offering panoramic views across the Adriatic Sea, Hotel Gargano is in the heart of Manfredonia, 250 metres from Federiciano Castle. Its rooms, all air… MoreEUR 29 - 209 Hotel Gabbiano
 Hotel Gabbiano provides comfortable rooms in the ancient port town of Siponto, just 2km down the coast from Manfredonia and set only 200 metres from a… MoreEUR 42 - 120 Hotel Del Golfo
 Hotel Del Golfo is just outside Manfredonia, in the centre of Sciali Di Lauro. It offers free parking, and the beach on the Adriatc Sea is just 300 me… More | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manfredonia: Guide
Manfredonia is a town and comune of Puglia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and giving its name to the gulf to the east of it.
History
The area of current Manfredonia was settled in ancient times by the Dauni, who travelled here from Illyria. Their colony is probably to be identified with Sipontum, the modern Siponto that, according to a legend, was founded by Diomedes. The flourishing Greek colony, having fallen into the hands of the Samnites, was retaken about 335 B.C. by King Alexander of Epirus, uncle of Alexander the Great.
In 189 B.C. Sipontum was conquered by the Romans and became a colony of citizens. It was a port at the junction of the road which basiscally followed the Adriatic coast (but gving the Garganus mountain's peninsula just north a miss) and a road through Arpi, Luceria, Aecae and Aequum Tuticum connecting at Beneventum to the Via Appia.
In A.D. 663 it was taken and destroyed by the Slavs. In the ninth century, Sipontum was for a time in the power of the Saracens.
ln 1042 the Normans made it the seat of one of their twelve counties, while the Monte Gargano remained Byzantine. The Normans won a decisive victory there over the Byzantine general Argyrus in 1052.
Siponto was an archbishopric in the Norman countship of Apulia.
Having become unhealthy owing to the water stagnation|stagnation of the water in the lagoons after the 1223 earthquake, Siponto was abandoned.
The modern city of Manfredonia was built by Manfred of Sicily|King Manfred between 1256–1263, some kilometers north of the ruins of the ancient Sipontum. The House of Anjou|Angevine, who had defeated Manfred and stripped him of the Kingdom of Sicily, christened it Sypontum Novellum ("New Sypontum"), but that name never imposed.
In 1528 Manfredonia resisted a French attack led by the Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec|Viscount of Lautrec. In 1620 it was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire|Turks, who left only the castle and part of the walls.
Main sights
The medieval Castle, begun by the Hohenstaufen and completed by the Angevins, and parts of the town walls are well preserved. The Castle received a new line of walls in the 15th century
In the church of San Domenico, the chapel of the Maddalena contains old paintings of the 14th century. Three kilometers to the southwest is the cathedral of S. Maria Maggiore di Siponto, built in 1117 in the Romanesque style, with a dome and crypt. S. Leonardo, nearer Foggia, belonging to the Teutonic order, is of the same date.
Manfredonia is also the seat of the archbishopric of Manfredonia-Vieste-S. Giovanni Rotondo.
Sources and references
A. Beltramelli, Il Gargano (Bergamo, 1907)
Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Manfredonia". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.