Manfredonia my town
Wonderful Places to visit in Manfredonia
Manfredonia
On the shores of the Adriatic Sea, in the shelter of the Sun Mountain, the blond, handsome and kindly-looking King Manfredi, son of Federico II, founded Manfredonia. It was not far from Siponto, which had become an immense saltmarsh after the telluric event in 1223. Its founder equipped Manfredonia with modern structures and a mint and in 1263, with the Royal Diploma “Datum Orte”, the city was declared “city of Royal Law”, granting the inhabitants privileges to repopulate it properly. King Manfredi’s premature death prevented him from seeing his city completed.
An Early Christian Church Resurrected in Towering Wire Mesh by Edoardo Tresoldi
With hundreds of yards of wire mesh artist Edoardo Tresoldi has built an interpretation of an early Christian church that once stood in its place at the current Archaeological Park of Siponto, Italy. Built with the assistance of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Archaeology Superintendence of Puglia, the installation connects ancient archaeology with contemporary art. The sculpture stands on the former church’s site with a ghostly presence, looking almost like a hologram illuminated in the park. Despite its sheer appearance the installation contains detailed architetural elements including tiered columns, domes, and statues that stand within the structure.
Santa Maria Maggiore of Siponto
This architectural jewel is composed of two churches – one over the other – that, despite the different rebuilding, have conserved almost intact their Romanic Byzantine origin, in the structure and decorations as well as in the square plan.
The History of the Castle
The Castle built by King Manfredi was a mighty quadrilateral fortification with square towers an courtyard. At the end of fifteenth century, the Aragonese people, build a new curtain wall with four cylindrical casemates towers, lower than those of the inner enclosure and more suitable to the new defense techniques. With the costruction of the large bastion of "Advanced"or the "Annunziata", the Castle was enriched with an element of defense against attacks from the west. In 1620, under fire from Turkish marksmen posted on the tallest buldings in the city, Castle capitulated. Today the Castle is home to the National Archeological Museum and houses a permanent exhibition of the Stele Daune.