The Swabian-Angevin fortress and the Roman amphitheatre
On a hill overlooking the plain of the Tavoliere, the great plain of northern Apulia, Lucera has an unusual history. In 1224 the emperor Frederick II deported here about 20,000 Muslims from Sicily, who had rebelled against him, and settled them in the town, which became for almost a century the "Lucera Saracenorum", a Muslim city in the heart of Christian Europe, with mosques, where the emperor recruited his most loyal soldiers and his personal guard. In 1300 Charles II of Anjou destroyed the Muslim colony, selling the inhabitants as slaves.
On the hill above the town stands the Fortezza Svevo-Angioina, one of the largest castles in southern Italy: an enormous pentagonal enclosure of walls about 900 metres long, with 24 towers, built by Charles of Anjou around the palace of Frederick II, of which only the foundations remain. From the walls the view sweeps over the Tavoliere to the Gargano and the Daunian Mountains. In the town, the Gothic cathedral, built by the Angevins on the site of the main mosque, has a severe façade, and the Roman amphitheatre, from the time of Augustus, with a capacity of about 18,000 spectators, is one of the largest in southern Italy. The civic museum displays a Roman Venus and mosaics.
Tip: visit the fortress in the late afternoon, when the light warms the stone; Lucera is a short drive from Foggia and Troia.
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