It was founded in 1256 by King Manfred, the son of Frederick II, to give a new harbour to the people of ancient Siponto: the Swabian-Angevin castle on the sea and the city's very name keep his signature. At Siponto, the Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore stands beside the famous installation by Edoardo Tresoldi: the early Christian church remade in transparent wire mesh, which you see and walk through at the same time.
The comune is enormous: the twenty-seventh in Italy by area and the sixth in Apulia, entirely inside the Gargano National Park. Manfredonia is its southern gate and the capital of the gulf, and it is an archiepiscopal see whose archdiocese also takes in Vieste and San Giovanni Rotondo. From here you climb to Monte Sant'Angelo, a UNESCO site with the cave of Saint Michael, or you sail for the Tremiti islands. The Siponto carnival is among the liveliest in Apulia.
Castello Svevo Angioino · Cattedrale Siponto · Chiesa San Domenico and 2 more
Burrata di Andria
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Next up: Saint Lawrence Maiorano, the patron to whom Saint Michael the Archangel appeared, Sunday 7 February
Nearest airport: Bari Palese, 89 km away
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📅 Every year, on 7 February; Our Lady of Siponto is celebrated on 30 and 31 August
Manfredonia celebrates Saint Lawrence Maiorano on 7 February; bishop of Siponto in the 6th century, it was to him, according to tradition, that the Archangel Michael appeared, asking him to turn the cave on Mount Gargano into a heavenly sanctuary.
Castello Svevo Angioino Cattedrale Siponto Chiesa San Domenico Fontana Piscitelli Coppa Nevigata
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