Towers on the promontory, monks offshore

Peschici · Vico del Gargano · Ischitella · Rodi Garganico · Isole Tremiti · FG

This journey runs along the north coast of the Gargano, within the National Park, and ends in the open sea, at the Isole Tremiti. The five municipalities are all in the province of Foggia. The thread that binds them lies in the Ministry of Culture sheets: in 1177 Peschici, Rodi, Vico and Ischitella were all part of the Honor of Monte Sant'Angelo. Vico and Ischitella suffered the earthquake of 1646, and in Peschici, Vico and Ischitella the mother churches were consecrated or restored around 1675. Offshore, the monks of Santa Maria di Tremiti owned the castle of Peschici. It is an itinerary for those who willingly read walls, gates and water landscapes. It must be said honestly that Rodi Garganico is poorly documented, that no municipal website could be reached and that the order of the stops is our own proposal.

The route

Day 1 — Peschici

The day begins on the tip of the cliff, where the italia.it portal places the castle. Peschici was born to defend itself: the Ministry of Culture sheet attributes its foundation, in 970, to Sueripolo, “commander of the Schiavoni”, against the Saracens, and the Park recalls that it was Otto I who called in the Slavs. The castle, whose dating varies from one source to another, belonged to the monks of Santa Maria di Tremiti; in the Spanish period it acquired the baronial enclosure and the 16th-century Torre del Ponte, which are what remains, and in 1735 a prince of Ischitella of the Pinto family carried out work on it. Today, according to italia.it, it is open and hosts exhibitions. The same ministerial sheet explains the shape of the town: until the mid-20th century the settlement coincided with the walled centre, after the 17th century a new quarter arose at the crossing of via Madonna di Loreto and Corso Umberto, and after the war the expansion was “disorderly and irregular”. The Chiesa Madre of Sant'Elia was consecrated in 1675 by Cardinal Orsini, and holds, according to italia.it, a polychrome wooden statue of the Madonna di Calena, which came from the abbey of the same name. The walls of the abbey stand behind the small harbour, in the plain of Calena (private property, access not verified): italia.it describes it as a stop for medieval pilgrims heading to Monte Sant'Angelo, while the ministerial sheet records it as private property with its roof in “very poor” condition. About two kilometres away, according to the Park, is the sanctuary of the Madonna di Loreto, built by fishermen who survived a storm and as large “as a boat”, with ex-votos in the shape of boats, oars and sailing ships. From the sea, tomorrow we climb a hill.

Day 2 — Vico del Gargano

Vico stands on a hill that dominates the north coast, and the Park counts around it about eighty springs that irrigate the citrus groves. According to the Ministry of Culture sheet, the first mention is a notarial deed of April 1113 that names the “catellum Vici”; there were three circuits of walls, of which the second and the third remain. The earthquake of 1646 caused serious damage, and the town was then rebuilt and enlarged. The Chiesa Madre was restored in 1675, San Nicola consecrated in 1676, the monastery of San Pietro rebuilt in 1792. The sheet also points out an underground olive mill. The Park describes a medieval “chessboard” layout, with the Vicolo del Bacio, and on the access avenue the Capuchin convent with an oak that it calls a thousand years old; a study by the University of Chieti-Pescara adds the 16th-century convent of the Santissimo Crocifisso, with restorations “not always well considered”. The detail to remember is in February: on the 14th, writes the Park, the statue of the patron San Valentino goes out in procession adorned with orange blossoms and oranges. The FAI catalogues two necropolises together: at Monte Tabor shaft tombs from the 6th-5th century BC, whose objects are in the Museo Civico Archeologico; at Monte Pucci, at the foot of a 16th-century tower, about twenty-seven early Christian hypogea with over eight hundred burials. The next day we head towards the lagoon of Varano.

Day 3 — Ischitella and Rodi Garganico

Ischitella looks over the lagoon from about 314 metres. The Park explains why it is shaped this way: the medieval nucleus, the “Terra Vecchia”, has a horseshoe shape to defend itself from the Saracens and encloses the Chiesa Madre; the rione Ponte is from the second half of the 18th century, and in 1845 the Porta di Levante was demolished precisely to join the old quarter to the new one, while the Portella and the Porta Grande remain standing. The ministerial sheet sets the first sources at a papal bull of 1058, the lordship of the Pinto from 1647, the Chiesa Madre of Santa Maria Maggiore rebuilt after 1646 and consecrated in 1675, the Palazzo Baronale in 1714. The municipal coat of arms, according to the statute, depicts an ischio tree. On the hill above the lagoon, according to the Chieti-Pescara study, the abbey of San Pietro in Cuppis went through the earthquakes of 1627, 1646 and 1731 and was abandoned at the end of the 1920s: today it is a roofless church, with an iconostasis of three arches. The lagoon of Varano, writes the Park, is closed off by a tombolo called “Isola”, about eleven kilometres long; the mouth of Capojale was dug between 1917 and 1920 for military purposes, freshwater springs called “Pozzacchi” surface on the bottom, and the first mussel farm dates back to 1925.

Rodi Garganico gets few lines, because the sources give few. It stands on a promontory between two beaches; according to the Ministry of Culture it was already fortified in the 11th century, and after a Venetian sack in the 13th century it acquired walls and towers. Of the Chiesa Madre of San Nicola there remains the Romanesque bell tower, which also served as a watchtower; San Pietro preserves a Romanesque portal. Outside the walls, the sanctuary of the Madonna della Libera holds a wooden icon that italia.it says is of Byzantine workmanship, venerated by fishermen. From Rodi, as from Peschici, the Park's map traces the route to the islands.

Day 4 — Isole Tremiti

In our proposal, we begin from San Nicola, 42 hectares that rise to 75 metres and bear, writes the Park, the fortress-abbey of Santa Maria a Mare. The sea brought attacks: in 1334, according to the FAI, a sack by corsairs from Dalmatia; in August 1567, according to the Park, the Ottoman galleys took shelter in the Cala dei Turchi, on Capraia, during an attack. The Cistercians entered it in 1237; in 1783, according to the FAI, the abbey was suppressed and became a penal colony. The Soprintendenza announced in 2025 restoration and seismic risk reduction works, with a start planned for November of that year: the state of the works should be checked before leaving. San Domino, 208 hectares, has Aleppo pines and holm oaks, the Colle dell'Eremita at 116 metres and the Cala delle Arene, the only beach of any size; an undated notice from the Park lists a perimeter trail (status to be verified). Between the two islands, the Cretaccio was a natural bridge and today is being worn away by erosion. Further away, Pianosa has been a strict reserve since 1989, with a ban on landing and navigation within 500 metres. The marine area, established in 1989 and managed by the Park since 1991, hosts a colony of Scopoli's shearwater. The journey, in our proposal, closes here, near the monks who once owned the castle of Peschici.

DRAFT of 2026-11-08 · local only · gate run: PASSES WITH CORRECTIONS, 9 defects corrected · not approved