What to see in Peschici sul Gargano, itinerary including the main places of interest in the village, including the Castle, Watchtowers, Trabucchi and the Sanctuary of Madonna di Loreto.
Tourist information
Peschici is a town and renowned tourist resort in the province of Foggia, part of the Gargano National Park, located on top of a cliff overlooking the sea, in a dominant position on an enchanting bay lapped by a sea that has repeatedly received the recognition of Blue Flag for water quality.
The coast of Peschici, characterized by jagged coast, has inlets, sandy beaches and quiet coves, with the beautiful Mediterranean scrub behind and, in some cases, right on the beach.
The village of Peschici, with the typical white houses overlooking narrow alleys crossed by arches, stairways and squares, climbs from the port to the Castle, a fortress built between the tenth and eleventh centuries as a defense against pirate raids.
The castle was renovated in the sixteenth century, at the time of Spanish rule, with the construction of a fence, called a baronial fence, to protect the previous structure, as a defense system against the Turks.
In the eighteenth century, new changes were made, which concerned the representative rooms and the upper floors.
The history of Peschici has always been linked to the sea, from which raids and pirate attacks came many times.
Since Roman times, various watchtowers were built on the coast, but it was above all from the mid-sixteenth century that an effective defensive system was designed, which involved the construction of several towers at strategic points on the coast.
The distance of the towers varied according to the morphology of the coast, as each of them had to be clearly visible from the previous and the following, so as to form a cord without interruptions.
Suspicious ships were sighted during the day by means of smoke signals, while torches were lit or bells rang at night.
In the last century these towers were used to spot smugglers, then they fell into disrepair.
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What see
Among the surviving towers it is worth mentioning the Montepucci Tower, which is located in a very suggestive position.
In addition to the watchtowers, the trabucchi are part of the wonderful Gargano landscape, typical structures built for fishing, formed by a platform stretched towards the sea, made with wooden poles driven into the rock, ropes and pulleys that support a large network called " trick ".
The trabucchi, positioned where the sea has a depth of at least 6 meters, were built close to rocky peaks, generally oriented towards south east or north west, so as to be able to take advantage of sea currents.
It is a fishing system that allows you to fish without going into the sea.
Today these structures, once a source of sustenance for whole families, have lost their original function, becoming a popular tourist attraction.
Near Peschici stands the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Loreto, built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whose building resembles a large boat in shape and size.
Tradition has it that some fishermen had gone out to sea as usual, when a bad storm surprised them and their boat was dragged by the current.
Invoking and praying to the Madonna, a glow illuminated the mountain and the coast, showing them the way to salvation.
In that place, as a token of thanks, the fishermen built a chapel having the same dimensions as their boat, in honor of the Madonna of Loreto.
