Foggia

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Foggia
coat of arms
Foggia (Italy)
Foggia
Country Italy
region Apulia
province Foggia  (FG)
Coordinates 41 ° 28 '  N , 15 ° 33'  E Coordinates: 41 ° 27 '51 "  N , 15 ° 32' 46"  E
height 76  m slm
surface 507 km²
Residents 149,904 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 296 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 71121/71122
prefix 0881
ISTAT number 071024
Popular name Foggiani
Patron saint Madonna dei sette veli
Website Foggia

Foggia is the capital of the Italian province of Foggia , in the Apulia region . The city with 149,904 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) is the center of the agricultural plain of Foggia.

history

Cathedral of Santa Maria Icona Vetere

In the Second Punic War Foggia (then Herdonia ) was fought over by the Roman and Carthaginian sides in the first and second battles of Herdonia . It later became part of the Roman Empire.

In 1222, Emperor Friedrich II moved his residence from Palermo to Foggia. His imperial residential palace is no longer preserved, only an inscription, a portal arch and the vessel of a fountain are still there.

On March 20, 1731, the old town was largely destroyed by an earthquake , leaving around 2000 dead. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Icona Vetere was partly rebuilt in the Baroque style.

During the Second World War , 75 percent of the residential buildings were destroyed or badly damaged in Allied air raids . Around Foggia there was a large airfield complex , originally owned by the Italian Air Force ; it was used by the German Air Force and fell into the hands of the Allies in autumn 1943. Subsequently, the base was primarily used by the US Fifteenth Air Force for attacks in southern Europe and the combined bomber offensive against Nazi Germany.

On June 2, 1944 Foggia served as the base for the first attack of Operation Frantic : 130 four-engine bombers and 70 USAAF fighters took off from Foggia to attack fuel plants in Hungary and Romania. They then landed in Poltava (Ukraine) and flew back the next day, bombing airfields in Romania along the way. Such attacks were not possible from England because of the limited range.

Foggia is twin town of Göppingen ; because in the Middle Ages this was the favorite residence of Emperor Friedrich II. , who stayed there frequently. Foggia's second twin town is the small town of Pescasseroli in the Italian region of Abruzzo .

mafia

The Societa foggiana belongs to the Apulian Mafia organization Sacra Corona Unita . According to mafia expert Roberto Saviano , it has long been ignored by the media and has been able to spread since the 1980s. It is estimated that around 80% of business people in Foggia pay protection money to the mafia.

A trial against 29 alleged members of Societa foggiana is about attempts by the Mafia to blackmail Sanita Piu, who runs a retirement home, both in the direction of protection payments and the hiring of people close to the Mafia as employees.

On January 3, 2020, a bomb destroyed the car of Christian Vigilante, one of the operators of the retirement home, who is said to testify as a key witness against the mafia. Afterwards, 20,000 people took to the streets in Foggia in protest. On January 16, a bomb exploded outside the retirement home without injuring anyone.

economy

The city is a trading center and seat of the paper, chemical, food and diesel engine industries. Foggia has a commercial airport .

Personalities born in Foggia

Web links

Commons : Foggia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Saverio Russo (ed.): Storia di Foggia in età moderna . Edipuglia, Bari 1992, ISBN 88-7228-098-2 , pp. 112 (Italian, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 14, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Claudia Baldoli, Andrew Knapp: Forgotten flash: France and Italy Under Allied Air Attack, 1940-1945. Bloomsbury, 2012, p. 7
  4. ↑ Explosion in the mafia-plagued city of Foggia orf.at, January 16, 2020, accessed January 16, 2020