Locorotondo

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Locorotondo
No coat of arms available.
Locorotondo (Italy)
Locorotondo
Country Italy
region Apulia
Metropolitan city Bari  (BA)
Coordinates 40 ° 45 '  N , 17 ° 20'  E Coordinates: 40 ° 45 '11 "  N , 17 ° 19' 46"  E
height 410  m slm
surface 47 km²
Residents 14,189 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 302 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 70010
prefix 080
ISTAT number 072025
Popular name Locorotondesi
Patron saint San Giorgio
Website Locorotondo
Church of Saint George in Locorotondo
Church of Saint George in Locorotondo

Locorotondo is an Italian commune with 14,189 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the metropolitan city of Bari , Apulia region .

location

Literally translated, Locorotondo means "round place", which applies to the practically circular old town. The city is located on a 410 meter high hill, from which a wide view over the Valle d'Itria is possible. The municipality, which also extends into the plain of the Valle d'Itria, covers an area of ​​48 km². Locorotondo includes the districts of San Marco Trito and Tagora.

The neighboring communities are Alberobello , Cisternino ( BR ), Fasano ( BR ) and Martina Franca ( TA ). The old towns of Cisternino and Martina Franca are also located on hills, which - clearly recognizable from Locorotondo's city park ( Villa Comunale ) - rise above their surroundings.

history

According to local historians, Locorotondo could have been an ancient Greek colony: shipwrecked Lokrians , refugees from the Trojan War, founded a town Locros-Tonos . The place name may also go back to Locruese , a settlement founded by the mythical Periandro Locrese . Grave finds discovered in 1840 (coins, fragments of ceramics and everyday objects) actually testify to a population going back to the 3rd to 7th centuries BC; Excavations from 1989 even suggest even older settlement centers (9th to 7th centuries BC).

Locorotondo and its church of San Giorgio were first mentioned in documents in 1195 at the time of the Hohenstaufens ; the church belonged to the Benedictine monastery of Santo Stefano di Monopoli until 1385 . After various disputes over competence, Locorotondo was a fiefdom of the Orsini in the 14th and 15th centuries and, under the Crown of Aragon, a fiefdom of various Neapolitan noble families, under which the Loffredo gained particular influence. The city fortifications, of which only the Porta Napoli remains , was built in the 16th century.

During this time the population grew considerably and Locorotondo received its own city administration. New church buildings were built (San Rocco, Madonna della Catena), the existing ones (San Giorgio, Madonna della Greca) were rebuilt and expanded. In 1645 the Borrassa had to cede the fiefdom to the Caracciolo of Martina Franca, who held it until the beginning of the 19th century.

In 1799 the first unrest in the spirit of the Risorgimento broke out . Martina Franca has belonged to the national state of Italy since 1861, when the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ended.

Attractions

Alley in the old town and campanile

The old town of Locorotondo is characterized by narrow streets with white limestone gabled houses; their extremely sloping roofs ( cummerse ) with brick chimneys and ash-gray tiles form a special ensemble that attracted the attention of the national tourist organization I borghi più belli d'Italia (The Most Beautiful Places in Italy).

The old town is accessed through Porta Napoli ; Late medieval reliefs with various ornamental decorations and animals are placed above the archway.

Churches

  • The basilica Madonna della Greca on the northern outskirts of the old town, mentioned for the first time in 1520 , whose Romanesque-Gothic forms document a much earlier emergence, contains some considerable Renaissance art treasures, for example a polyptichon Madonna delle Rose with Saints Lucia, Peter, Paul and Donatus, a relief of Saint George with the dragon (dated 1559) and a kneeling statue of unclear identity (crusader, donor or local nobleman).
  • The main church of San Giorgio Martire is a neoclassical building from the 19th century that replaces older predecessors.

Secular buildings

  • The former Palazzo Comunale (today the municipal library) from the 18th century replaces a predecessor that has not survived; the clock tower dates from 1819. Around 1870 the structure was heavily modified.
  • The Palazzo Morelli is the only aristocratic palace in Locorotondo that has retained its Baroque design from the early 18th century unchanged. Stylistically, it is characterized by the elegant design language of the buildings in Martina Franca (portal with family coats of arms and grotesque figures, large rectangular windows with blown gables, small balconies and wrought iron bars), which is explained by the fact that Caracciolo, who lived in Martina Franca, also Locorotondo at this time belonged to fiefdom.

Economy and Transport

Locorotondo wine region

The Locorotondo wine-growing region includes the eponymous municipality of Locorotondo in the metropolitan city of Bari as well as the municipality of Cisternino and parts of the municipality of Fasano , both in the province of Brindisi . The area is located on the Zona dei Trulli . As Trulli round stone houses are called.

railroad

Locorotondo has a train station on the Bari – Martina Franca – Taranto line .

sons and daughters of the town

Web links

Commons : Locorotondo  - 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. ^ I borghi più belli d'Italia. Borghipiubelliditalia.it, accessed September 9, 2017 (Italian).