Manfredonia

This article describes the Italian municipality of Manfredonia. For the person of the family name see Manfredonia (disambiguation) .

Manfredonia
Country	Italy
region	Apulia
province	Foggia  (FG)
Coordinates	41 ° 38 ′  N , 15 ° 55 ′  E Coordinates: 41 ° 38 ′ 0 ″  N , 15 ° 55 ′ 0 ″  E
height	5  m slm
surface	351 km²
Residents	55,917 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density	159 inhabitants / km²
Post Code	71043
prefix	0884
ISTAT number	071029
Popular name	Manfredoniani or Sipontini
Patron saint	San Lorenzo Maiorano
Website	Manfredonia
Manfredonia, the cathedral

Manfredonia is a town and municipality ( Italian comune ) with 55,917 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the Italian Apulia , province of Foggia . It is located on the coast at a height of four meters on the southern edge of the Gargano mountain range , which is part of the Parco Nazionale del Gargano . Manfredonia is also the name of the gulf east of the town.

The neighboring municipalities are Carapelle , Cerignola , Foggia , Monte Sant'Angelo , San Giovanni Rotondo , San Marco in Lamis and Zapponeta .

history

The founding of the ancient forerunner Siponto is attributed to Diomedes , the hero in the Trojan War . In reality, the foundation by the Daunians , immigrants from Illyria , is obvious. This is documented by 2000 steles from the 7th / 6th centuries. BC century with scenic representations and inscriptions. In the Second Punic War Siponto was conquered by the Romans.

An earthquake in 1223 turned the landscape into a swamp that was unsuitable for the health of the population; Malaria occurred. That is why Manfred , son of the Staufer Emperor Friedrich II , laid the foundation stone for a new town a few kilometers north in 1256, which he gave his name. The ruins of the neighboring ancient Siponto were included in the new system. Manfred still commissioned the construction of the fortress, but did not live to see its completion as he fell in the battle of Benevento against Charles of Anjou . The Anjou who completed the fortress renamed the city Sypontum Novellum (Nuova Siponto) in order to erase the memory of the unloved Ghibelline Manfred, but this name could not prevail in the end.

In 1528 Manfredonia was able to withstand an attack by Franz I's troops under Marshal Lautrec.

During the conquest and sacking by the Ottoman Turks in 1620, Manfredonia was set on fire and razed to the ground, so that only the fortress and the city walls remained. The slow reconstruction did not take place until the beginning of the 19th century; the improvement of the communication channels, the construction of the port and the resulting trade across the Adriatic Sea ensured a revitalization of the city, which is now also developed for tourism.

Manfredonia is also the seat of the Archbishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-S. Giovanni Rotondo .

After Italy entered the war in June 1940, the fascist regime set up an internment camp ( campo di concentramento ) in Manfredonia . It was located in a large, vacant, walled slaughterhouse on the outskirts, not far from the train station. From 1940 to 1943 the camp housed a total of 519 internees, an average of 170 inmates per day. Most of them were so-called "dangerous Italians"; H. political opponents who had already served several years in prison, members of the Slavic minorities in the Italian border provinces and Yugoslavs from the areas occupied and annexed by Italy; also suspected espionage and stateless Jews .

The police control measures were implemented particularly strictly in Manfredonia. There were three roll calls a day, and doors and windows were locked from the outside at night.

Because of their militancy and many years of experience in the anti-fascist resistance, the political opponents, all before the Communists , were well organized and prepared for internment. In the summer of 1940 they refused the “Roman salute” ( Saluto romano ) and were finally able to prevail despite their imprisonment. The last internees left the camp in September 1943.

Attractions

Castello Manfredonia

The medieval castle of the House of Anjou-Plantagenet and parts of the city wall are well preserved.

In the church of S. Domenico there is the chapel of the Magdalena, which contains old drawings from the 14th century.

A collection of Daunian steles can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Manfredonia.

Santa Maria di Siponto

→ Main article : Santa Maria di Siponto

Three kilometers to the southwest is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore di Siponto , which was built in 1117 in Romanesque style. It marks the place where Siponto used to be, the port of Arpi , which was built in 194 BC. Became a Roman province. This church was built on ancient and early Christian predecessor buildings from 1025 in several construction sequences, was badly damaged twice by earthquakes in the 11th century and was replaced by a new building consecrated in 1117, which repeats the dimensions and arrangement of the previous building.

San Leonardo di Siponto

→ Main article : San Leonardo di Siponto

San Leonardo is a small, former abbey church in Puglia . The stone carvings preserved on the outside, especially in the north portal, belong, according to art-historical opinion, to the "most beautiful" things that the Apulian Romanesque has produced. Another special feature is the inclusion of an opening in the vault, which at the time of the summer solstice on June 21st each year allows a ray of light to fall exactly between two pillars .

Surroundings

About ten kilometers southwest of the city center is the archaeological site of Coppa Nevigata . Excavations at the beginning of the 20th century, in the 1950s to 1970s and those currently ongoing since the 1990s brought to light, among other things, the remains of a fortified settlement from the Bronze Age , which lasted from around 1800 to the early 1st millennium BC. Existed. Many thousands of shells of purple snails indicate purple production from the 15th century BC at the latest. BC, but probably as early as the 18th century BC. Chr. The earliest known Italian olive oil for the 18th century BC was also found here. Proven. Significantly older traces of settlement from the Neolithic Age were also discovered in Coppa Nevigata .

Traditions

In line with alleged Illyrian traditions (made accessible by scenic representations on the steles), Carnevale Dauno is celebrated with masked parades in February / March.

Sons and daughters

• Paolo Borgia (* 1966), Roman Catholic archbishop and diplomat
• Wolfgang Lettl (1919–2008), German surrealist painter, had his second residence in Manfredonia

Web links

Commons : Manfredonia  - 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. ↑ Carlo Spartaco Capogreco, I Campi del duce. L'internamento civile nell'Italia fascista (1940-1943) , Torino 2004 (Einaudi), pp. 238-239; Klaus Voigt, Refuge on Revocation. Exile in Italy 1933-1945 (Volume 2), Stuttgart 1993 (Klett-Cotta), p. 60.
3. ↑ Rotter: Apulia , p. 115
4. ^ Claudia Minniti: Shells at the Bronze Age settlement of Coppa Nevigata (Apulia, Italy). In: Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer (Ed.): Archaeomalacology Molluscs in former environments of human behavior. Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the International Council of Archeozoology, Durham, August 2002. Oxford 2005, pp. 71-81.
5. ↑ Alberto Cazzella, Giulia Recchia: The 'Mycenaean' in the central Mediterranaean. A comparison between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seaways. Pasiphae 3, 2009, p. 27 f.