Patron saint festival
Feast of Saint Placidus
📅 Every year, on 5 October
On 5 October Poggio Imperiale celebrates its patron Saint Placidus the Martyr; the town also preserves the Sanctuary of San Nazario, near the spring of the same name.
The village was made by a prince: Placido Imperiale, who in 1759 put a farmstead and a few labourers' houses on a hill between Lesina and Apricena and called in families from half the kingdom. In dialect it is still Tarranòve, new land, and the official name puts together the hill and the founder's surname.
In January 1761 the prince signed an agreement with seventeen Albanian families from Shkodër and soon after with twenty more, over one hundred and sixty people in all. They did not stay: there was malaria, the other inhabitants gave them a cold welcome, and the bishop forbade their priest to celebrate in the church. By March almost all had gone, but the street where they lived is still called via Albanesi. The municipality dates from 1816, detached from Lesina.
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Poggio Imperiale 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Poggio Imperiale
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Poggio Imperiale, but an easy day trip away.
Castellana Caves 📍 Castellana Grotte · 1.8 km A 3,348-meter karst cave system mapped in 1938, noted for its 60-meter-deep skylight and dazzling white formations. Santuario di Maria Santissima Regina del Mondo 📍 Monopoli · 6.4 km The sanctuary in the Antonelli district of Monopoli, rebuilt as a vow for the town's safety and consecrated in 1950. Rione Monti 📍 Alberobello · 13 km The 1,030 trulli of Alberobello's larger quarter, laid dry-stone to dodge a tax. Trullo Sovrano 📍 Alberobello · 12 km With walls reaching 2.70 metres in thickness, the Trullo Sovrano is the supreme example of dry-stone architecture. Fondazione Museo Pino Pascali 📍 Polignano a Mare · 13 km Puglia's only permanent contemporary art museum, set in a former slaughterhouse overlooking the sea in Polignano. Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Abate 📍 Fasano · 17 km The Observant friars' church in Fasano, with its dome, onion-spired bell tower and frescoed 1600s cloister.