to Brindisi. FOGGIA. 11. Route. 1()I
into the sea. Stations Poggio Imperiale, Apricena, San Severo
The latter is a prosperous town with 17,226 inhab. In 1799.
after a gallant resistance, it was taken and almost entirely-
destroyed by the French. The cholera committed fearful ravages
here in 1865. Stat. Motta, then
Foggia (Albergo Corsini, in the Str. S. Antonio; * Villa di
Torino, a restaurant with a few bed-rooms; "Cafe di Europa,
where inquiry as to apartments may be made), the well-built
capital of the province Capitanata, with 32,493 inhab. The spa¬
cious church, originally erected by the Normans, and partialh
destroyed by an earthquake in 1731, was subsequently re-erected
in a more modern style. Here king Manfred was crowned in 1258,
and in 1797 Francis I., then Duke of Calabria, was here united
to his first queen, Maria Clementina of Austria. A gateway still
exists, appertaining to a palace of Frederick II. who was extremely
partial to Foggia. A fountain, the Pozzo dell' Imperatore, derives
its appellation from that emperor. In the stronghold constructed
by Manfred, Charles I. and his son Philip expired. A fair of
considerable importance is held annually at Foggia in May. To
the S. of the town, on the way to the railway, the Giardinc
Pubblico, adorned with a number of busts.
A large portion of the spacious plain around Foggia is em¬
ployed as a sheep-pasture (Tavoliere della Puglia). During the
summer the flocks graze among the mountains, and in October
return to the plain by three great routes (Trattiire delle Pecore).
These great migrations, during which hundreds of flocks may be
encountered in one day, date from the Roman period. Alphonso I.,
who introduced the merino sheep, converted the pastures into a
royal domain in 1445. The number of sheep supported by these
pastures amounted to 4'/2 million at the close of the 16th cent.
At the present day, owing to the advancement of agriculture, the
number has decreased to less than half a million.
About 3 M. distant from Foggia, to the N. , are situated the
scanty remnants of the ancient town of Arpi or Argyripe, founded
according to tradition by Diomedes, subsequently superseded by
Foggia.
A road traversing the fertile plain leads by (21 M.) the ruined monas¬
tery of S. Leonardo, founded by Hermann of Salza in 1223, and the church
of Sipontum to the seaport-town of Manfredonia, erected in 1256 by king
Manfred on the ruins of the ancient Sipontum, which revered Diomedes as
its founder. Tlie site of Sipontum, surrounded by marshes, is now occupied
bv the handsome church of the Madonna di Siponto, once the cathedral of
tlie archbishop whose seat was at Manfredonia. The steamers from Ancona
to Messina touch at Manfredonia. A path, at first traversing orange groves,
ascends rapidlv to (1>:» hr.) the lofty Monte Santangelo 12650 ft.), with pic¬
turesque castle and a sanctuary of S. Micbele to which pilgrims resort on
the 8th of May. This is a grotto reached by 50 steps, where, as the legend
runs St. Michael appeared to St. Laurentius, archbishop of Sipontum, in
491. ' In the 11th cent, the warlike Normans undertook pilgrimages to this
Raf.deker. Italv III. 2d. Edition. 11
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