Lucera and around: sights and distances from Villa Lucia

Lucera has more than two thousand years of history, and its centre is a 10-minute drive from the villa.

For each place we give the driving time from the villa, not counting traffic.

The history of Lucera, from the Romans to the 18th century

314 BC Lucera becomes a Latin colony of Rome.
Augustan age the amphitheatre is built, a gift from Marcus Vecilius Campus.
AD 663 Emperor Constans II destroys the city.
1223-1233 Frederick II brings many Saracens from Sicily to Lucera and has a palace built.
1268 the Angevins arrive and enclose the palace within a fortress.
1300 the Saracen colony ends and the “Civitas Sanctae Mariae” is born.
1681-1742 St Francis Anthony Fasani, the “Padre Maestro”, lives here; he was canonised in 1986.

Frederick II's palace, enclosed by 900 metres of walls with 22 towers.

from the Augustan age, for 16,000–18,000 spectators; excavations began in 1932.

the only surviving gates of the walls demolished in 1855.

a park of almost 4 hectares, with views across the Tavoliere as far as the Gargano.

commissioned by Charles II of Anjou after 1300; the high altar is Frederick II's table.

from the early 14th century, it holds the body of St Francis Anthony Fasani.

built with stones from the Saracen warehouses, Baroque since the 18th century.

from 1407, now a library with about 20,000 antique volumes.

Giuseppe Fiorelli Civic Museum 5 km, 7 minutes founded in 1905 and named after the archaeologist of Pompeii.
Diocesan Museum 4.9 km, 7 minutes in the Bishop's Palace, it houses the cloak of St Francis Anthony Fasani.
Garibaldi Civic Theatre 4.4 km, 6 minutes dating from 1838, it's the “miniature twin” of Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli.
Tourist Information Centre 5.1 km, 7 minutes itineraries, events and free guided tours by appointment.

Troia 23 minutes the Romanesque cathedral begun in 1119, with its eleven-spoke rose window.
Castel Fiorentino, Torremaggiore 25 minutes where Frederick II died in 1250.
Pietramontecorvino 25 minutes and Alberona 29 minutes two of the “Most Beautiful Villages in Italy”.
Bovino 52 minutes about 800 stone doorways and the cathedral, with its façade from 1231.
Ascoli Satriano 53 minutes the Griffins, painted marbles from a 4th-century BC tomb.
Siponto 55 minutes the medieval basilica and the wire-mesh one created by Edoardo Tresoldi.
San Giovanni Rotondo 64 minutes the places linked to Padre Pio and Renzo Piano's church.
Monte Sant'Angelo 75 minutes the Sanctuary of San Michele, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011.

Biccari 28 minutes Lake Pescara and Monte Cornacchia, the highest peak in Puglia (1,152 metres).
Lesina Lagoon 49 minutes about 5,500 hectares of water, separated from the sea by a strip of sand.
Manfredonia 59 minutes the waters of its gulf, at the foot of the Gargano.

Villa Lucia is in the countryside of Lucera: it sleeps 6 and has a garden and a pool.