Opuscolocomenius2012 14

MANFREDONIA 5th­ 9th November 2013

“Walking” through Daunia The Daunian civilization developed between the X and the IV century B.C. This population inhabited Gargano. They used to worship natural elements such as Sun and Water. They were known as a peaceful people and mostly involved in agricultural and crafting activities and were also great artists. Their culture was native. They produced clay pottery. At first they let dry pottery under the sun, afterwards they started to bake it into kilns. They used to bury deads with their personal belongings. Decorated pottery was used for grave goods Simple pottery was usually used in everyday life

MANFREDONIA Manfredonia was founded by the Swabian King Manfredi, son of Federico II, in 1256.

Unfortunately the grand plan for the city was not completed because King Manfredi died during the battle of Benevento in 1266.He was succeded by Charles of Anjou who visited the city several times. He reorganized the construction of the Castle, completed the city walls and started Port Tower.The port became more and more important thanks to the intensifying traffic with other ports on the Adriatic Sea. Nowadays Manfredonia is known as “the gateway to the Gargano” because it seems to welcome those who come to this area.

It numbers a population of 57,385 inhabitants. Its climate is temperate.Manfredonia offers to the visitors different historical and cultural attractions: the Cathedral, the church of Saint Domenico, the Chapel of the Magdalen and the Castle to mention the most important.(The charming Boccolicchio quarter in Via Maddalena, the oldest road of the town, hosts bars, restaurants and pizzerias. In the evening people promenade up and down Corso Manfredi so to continue the old tradition known as “struscio”).

THE CASTLE AND THE NATIONAL pentagonal. It was subjected to numerous further ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM works of construction between the XIII and the XVI century. In 1968 the National Archeological The Swabian King Manfredi began the Museum was put in the Castle.Now many construction of the Castle before he died, but it important artefacts are exhibited, but the most was carried out

by Angevines and important are the “Daunia Stones”, calcareous Aragoneses.The Castle shows a unique structure: sepulchral stones, discovered in the area of high walls are surrounded by external lower Siponto dating from the VII-VI century B.C. walls and both have three circular towers at the They were discovered by professor Silvio Ferri corner plus one quadrangular and one

in 1960 and they are made of local limestone.

They were probably set into the ground because their lower parts are undecorated. We suppose that they were funeral stones intended to sign the tombs of socially emerging groups (warriors, hunters, priestesses, etc.) with decorations and drawings depicting daily life.

walnut wood. It is the representation of the Virgin Mary with her head turned towards the Child, who is blessing with his right hand. It is said that the holy icon was brought to Siponto by a merchant ship coming from Constantinople to save her from the havoc of the iconoclasts.

3) The statue of San Lorenzo Maiorano , Patron THE CATHEDRAL Saint of the town, is made by lime wood. On the base of the statue there is the name of the The Angevin Cathedral, located on the site of the sculptor and the date when it was craved, 1763. present-day church, started to be built on 7 th February 1270 (the day dedicated to San Lorenzo 4) The statue of a Christ tied to the column, Maiorano, the Patron Saint of the town) was finely carved in wood, belongs to the XVI finished in 1274. Having been destroyed by the century.

Turks in 1620, it rose again from the ruins of the ancient temple in 1680 thanks to the archbishop (The church of San Leonardo houses a large Orsini, the future Pope Benedict XIII. The stucco wooden crucifix discovered by chance in the decorations that adorn the cupola intrados and sacristy under a pile of rubble, Christ has opened the vault of the nave were completed between eyes and detached feet. ) 1840 and 1850 according to the will of the S. DOMENICO - MADDALENA CHAPEL Archbishop Vitangelo Salvemini. Monsignor CITY HALL Andrea Cesarano, Bishop of Manfredonia from 1931 on, appointed the painter Natale Penati The Church of San Domenico was ordered in from Milan to paint the cycle of apparitions of 1294. After the devastation of the Turks in 1620, St. Michael Archangel to the Bishop Lorenzo it was re-erected on the old construction. The Maiorano and the great picture titled “San new project reduced the Church to a single nave.

The chapel, originally part of the old city walls, Lorenzo’s entrance into Siponto”. was discovered only in 1895. Inside the chapel 1) The Holy Table of Madonna of Siponto, a four precious 14th century frescos can be seen on tempera painting on wood, dates back to the 12 th the walls: a partial model of the church of S. century. It was damaged in a fire and brought to Domenico, the genealogical tree of the family of Rome for restoration and blessed in the Vatican David and the Deposition of Christ. The

by Pope Pius XI. Then it was solemnly crowned monastery today is home to the Town Hall. The

by Cardinal Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII. facade presents an open gallery with crossed 2) The so called “Madonna Sipontina” is a vaults. A portico, interspaced by a series of painted sculpture carved from a single piece of columns that support round arches, surrounds the internal square with a central well.

SIPONTO In the X century B. C. the ancient population of Daunia settled down in the area of Siponto. It became a Roman colony and an important port town in the II century B.C..

Siponto met its moment of greatest splendour between the IV an and V century A.D. when the first Paleo-Christian Basilica was built. The town was abandoned after earthquakes in the 13th century. The Basilica is part of the archeological park of Siponto, that included hypogea of Neolitic times and the foundations of the old city walls. The Basilica is composed of two churches, the upper and the lower, that have conserved their Romanic- Byzantine origin. The lower Church was built in 991. The upper one, built in 1117, showed influence of Apulian art whit a singular squared base.

It was partially destroyed in 1223 by an earthquake. Restoration work at the end of the XX century have brought it to its original splendour.

The sepulchral hypogea, dating back to the 5st and 6th centuries AD, are carved into the tufaceous rocks. The monumental complex, consisting of nine hypogeal, includes galleries and funeral chambers. Over the centuries these hypogeal have been used in numerous ways. First as pagan sepulchers, then as Christian ones. In the past one of the sepulchral areas, being private property, was used by shepherds as shelter for animals.

MONTE SANT’ANGELO Monte Sant’Angelo overlooks the Gulf of Manfredonia. The beginning of the history of the town is the apparition of the Archangel Michael to the Archbishop St Lorenzo Maiorano in 490 A.D. In consequence of this apparition the suggestive sanctuary was built. Since the V century a medieval pilgrimage way linked Mont Saint Michel in France to the Sanctuary of the Archangel Michael.

The sanctuary complex is composed of an octagonal bell tower built on an octagonal plant contiguous to the latest monumental entrance and admission to the Angevin staircase. This staircase leads – through the ‘’porta del Toro’’ – downstairs to the basilica. In the lapidary museum it is possible to see the striking crypts placed and the pattering level along with statues, fonts, columns and other finds coming from the sanctuary, from Pulsano and Santa Maria Maggiore.

The castle was built by the Normans (the tower of Giants was built by Robert the Guiscard), changed by the Swabian Federick II in the XII century and by Ferdinand from Aragona in the XV century. It reached notoriety for giving shelter to Bianca Lancia, bride “in articulo mortis” of Federico II and the place where his three children Costanza, Violante and Manfredi were born. The Angevins make of this castle a state prison.

San Giovanni Rotondo Originally a medieval farmhouse, San Giovanni Rotondo has become today a global center of ecumenical pilgrimage. Since a Capuchin friar, Padre Pio from Pietrelcina, arrived there, a great number of pilgrims began to visit the Convent of the Capuchins. An hospital “House of relief from suffering” was carried out thanks to Padre Pio. He was proclaimed Saint in 2002, many years after his death. The believers visit his tomb and the cell where he lived and died.

At present they are received in a new church which is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture designed by Renzo Piano; it can hold 7,000 faithfuls and it is shaped like a shall with vaults and stone arches, stained glass windows, an altar and a cross by Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Renzo Piano is one of the most important modern architect. His last project is The Shard, the tallest European skyscraper in the center of London.

PULSANO The Abbazia of Santa Maria di Pulsano, is a Catholic sanctuary on Gargano. It’s part of the municipality of Monte Sant'Angelo. It was built in 591 on the ruins of an ancient temple. It was populated by a community of monks.

The abbey is surrounded by various hermitages carved into the rock. Often the monks used to access the hermitages with ropes or ladders. In the monks’ diet, the bread was essential; it was usually baked on the spot, and in this case in the Hermitage Mill, once a week, for all the monks who lived in the different Hermitages; thus we understand that the “Mill” and the “Church” where the first two essential elements of the monastery.The bread was baked in little round shapes. The diet to these hermit monks - very poor and austere - included also oil and – during solemn

feasts- wine. The monks had another drink, a hot drink, spiced with pepper, faucel and seads of fennel. It’s very important in the diet, above all during winter to fight the harsh weather. They ate wild herbs, carpers, and –to complete the nourishmenteatable rots and bitter bulbs, dug up by little hoes. The personal belongings of a monk who lived in the Hermitage included a few tools, necessary for the daily life: a mat or a straw mattress to sleep, a bowl, a hatchet and a hoe necessary for the work in the fields, an oil lamp, to read the sacred books during the night. The monks meditated

in caves near the monasteries. The hermitage of St. John of Matera has an arched entrance. Here we can see the fresco of Madonna and Child between an angelic figure and a religious knelt with rosary in his hand.

BARLETTA Barletta developed long before the Roman era, the derivation of its name 'Baal-El’ is from Phoenician. Phoenicians first established a trading post and staging post. Its economy is based on the manufacture of concrete and cement. It is famous for the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue, representing a Roman Emperor (perhaps Theodosius II). This statue, called by the inhabitants of Barletta "Eraclio", about 4 meters tall, is the biggest statue from the late Roman Empire (i.e. the Roman Empire after Costantine). According to a local folk story, Eraclio saved the city from a Saracen attack. Seen the Sarcen's ships approaching the Barletta's coast, Eraclio walked and waited for them on the sea shore. Here Eraclio acted as if he was crying so the Saracens asked him why he was sad and Eraclio answered that he was sad because he was the smallest among the Barletta's inhabitants so everybody took joke of him. The Saracens thought that Barletta's inhabitants were all giants so left the coast, fearing to face them.

In 1503 Barletta was the location of the disfida di Barletta ("Joust of Barletta"), a battle during which 13 Italian knights commanded by Ettore Fieramosca challenged and defeated an equal number of French knights who were at the time prisoners of war. This episode as one of the earliest manifestation of Italian national proudness.

The Castle is a structure initially erected in the 10th century by the Normans. During the Crusade period, it was a used as a hostel for soldiers leaving for the Holy Land. It was upgraded and enlarged substantially under the reign of Frederick II between 1225 and 1228.. The castle was later expanded under the House of Anjou; then when Barletta became an important centre of AragoneseSpanish control, the building was expanded again and the four massive bastions were added to create the present fortress form.

Palace of the Marra, an example of Baroque architecture outside Salento and near the home of the municipal art gallery.

Giuseppe De Nittis was an Italian painter whose work merges the styles of Salon art and Impressionism. He was born in Barletta in 1846. He came into contact with some of the artists know as the Macchiaioli. In 1867 he moved to Paris and entered into a contract with the art dealer Adolphe Goupil. Then he returned to Italy where he produced several views of Vesuvius. In 1872 he returned to Paris and achieved a success at the Salon of refused with

his painting “Che Freddo!”. In that same year he was invited to exhibit at the first Impressionist exhibition, held at Nadar's. The invitation came from Edgar Degas. A trip to London resulted in a number of Impressionistic paintings. On a trip to Italy De Nittis took up pastels, which were to be an important medium for him in his remaining years. In 1884, at age of 38, De Nittis died suddenly of a stroke at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. De Nittis works are in many public collections, including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

TRANI The city of Turenum appears for the first time in the Tabula Peutingeriana, a 13th-century copy of an ancient Roman itinerary. The name, also spelled Tirenum, was that of the Greek hero Diomedes.

The city was later occupied by the Lombards and the Byzantines. First certain news of an urban settlement in Trani, however, trace back only to the 9th century. There was some economic progress during the nineteenth century. At this time it is an important trading point for wines, fruits and grain.

By the 12th century, Trani already housed one of the largest Jewish communities of Southern Italy.The Scolanova Synagogue survives and, after many centuries as a church, has been rededicated as a synagogue. The church of Sant'Anna is another medieval former synagogue. Trani has lost its old city walls and bastions, but the 13th-century fort has been extensively restored as a museum and it is open to the public. Some of the streets in and around the Ghetto area remain much as they were in the medieval period, and many of the houses display more or less of Norman decoration.

The main monument of Trani is the Cathedral, dedicated to St. Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek who died in Trani in 1094 while on his way on pilgrimage to Rome, and some years later canonized by Urban II. It lies on a raised open site near the sea, and was consecrated, before its completion, in 1143. It is a basilica with three apses, built in the characteristic white local limestone. It has also a large crypt and a lofty tower, the latter erected in 1230-1239 by the architect whose name appears on the ambo in the cathedral of Bitonto, Nicolaus Sacerdos. It has an arch under it, being supported partly on the side wall of the church, and partly on a massive pillar. The arches of the Romanesque portal are beautifully ornamented, in a manner suggestive of Arab influence; the bronze doors, executed by Barisanus of Trani in 1175, rank among the best of their period in Southern Italy. The capitals of the pillars in the crypt are fine examples of the Romanesque. The interior of the cathedral

has been widely modernized, but the crypt remains similar to the origins and was renowned repository of relics.

dello scrittore cileno modernista Jan Emar.

Astor Piazzolla, nel 1987, progetta di mettere in musica un suo componimento poetico dal titolo “Tango in cinque figure”.

Nell’ambito delle varie edizioni del “Progetto lettura” tenutosi a Trani tra gli anni ottanta e novanta presenta i testi di autori quali: D. Delgiudice e S. Natoli.

Mario Cassanelli nasce nel 1961 a Trani, città nella quale vive ed Dal duemila ha inizio di suo percorso artistico e pittorico in opera da sempre. particolare.

Dopo studi filosofici ed una la propria attenzione laurea in filosofia sulla Volge scrittura di Jorge Luis Borges, all’uso di materiali naturali legni, rocce) ed inizia a fine anni ottanta (cortecce, (vetri, plastiche, l’attività di insegnante nei artificiali carte, metalli) di scarto, di licei. recupero e sostanzialmente I suoi interessi si volgono, logorati dal tempo, dall’uso, parallelamente al lavoro di dagli agenti atmosferici. docente, alla pratica della Tali materiali vengono assemblati scrittura poetica. e fissati, sorta di “retablo” Partecipa a diversi concorsi onirico-simbolici, su tele dai nazionali ed internazionali di forti cromatismi acrilici. poesia: il “Nosside “ ed. 1988 giungendo secondo; vince il primo Il risultato è una decisa e a premio nel 1999 nei due concorsi volte perturbante eco metaforica ed allusiva che le opere sono in “Nebrodi” e “Vento a Tindari”. grado di produrre.

La passione e frequentazione suoi interventi esplorano delle culture e letterature I quattro “aree”: ispano-americane lo hanno portato essenzialmente a frequentare negli anni, autori, temi e momenti dell’infanzia, quali Astor Piazzolla, Fernando figure della memoria mitologica, Savater, Miguel Benasayag, Hector luoghi della geografia ispanica, volti ed opere della letteratura Bianciotti. particolarmente amati.

Nel 1986 traduce per le edizioni “Le parole gelate” un racconto Mario Cassanelli

was born in Trani in 1961, town where he lives and works. After a degree in Philosophy he starts his teaching activity in high school. At the same time he publishes his first poetic writings.

He takes part in several national and international competitions. His passion for foreign cultures and in particular for the HispanoAmerican literatures have put him in contact with well known authors as Astor Piazzolla, Fernando Savater, Miguel Benasayag, Hector Bianciotti. In 1986 he translates a novel by the

Chilean Emar.

modernist

writer

Jan

Since 2000 he give free play to his artistic pictorial passion.

In his works he uses natural substances and objects, (barks, woods, rocks) and artificial ones (glasses, plastics, papers, metals) all worn out by the time and use.

His works explore four fundamental themes: moments of childhood, figures of mythological remembrances, places of Hispano geography, countenances and works of literature.