Lucera

Puglia is a land of scents and flavours, of colours, of undertones and little contrasts, of traditional materials and traditions, of events, art and culture, of details that by and large reach a magical balance which seems to be still in time.

Lucera is the land of possibilities, an escaping mirage at hand, depth of history. A trip which follows the profile of “the hill of Italy”, the steps of the Roman Amphitheatre of Lucera, among medieval castles and cathedrals. And then district’s markets, artisans’ workshops, the festivals illuminations and processions and a warm welcome.

Situated at the confluence of the valleys of Molise and country in the Tavogliere delle Puglie, Lucera was the chief city of Capitanata and Contado of Molise until 1806.

Its ancient history winds along all its streets and thanks to its monuments belonging to various historical ages Lucera can have handle to “City of art”: the Roman Amphitheatre, the Swabian-Angevin Castle, the Basilica Cathedral of S. Mary Lady of the Assumption since 1300, the S. Francesco Church (today Sanctuary of San Fancesco Antonio Fasani) contemporary of the Cathedral, the baroque Church of Carmine and two Museums, the Museum of Urban Archeology and the Diocesan Museum.

With its 338,64 km², Lucera is the 30th Italian city for territorial extent and the 7^th of Puglia.

The countryside, rich of manor farm, is predominantly characterized by vineyards, olive groves, wide cornfields and vegetable fields (especially tomatos in hot seasons), and rare fruit gardens.

The area of the city reaches out for Ha. 33,871 and borders on the city of S. Severo and Torremaggiore on the north side, Castelnuovo della Daunia on the north-west side, Pietra Montecorvino and Motta Montecorvino on the west side, Volturino and Alberona on the south-west side, Biccari and Troia on the south side, Foggia on the south-east side.

The climate

The climate of Lucera is essentially Mediterranean with long hot summers, characterized by strong day temperature ranges, and mild winters. Anyway, since it is very close to the Monti Dauni, the temperature may decrease even down 0 °C.

Winds are quite frequent, and even if sometimes they are quite strong they are on average mild.

The annual average temperature is around 15 °C and precipitations record a mean value of 497 mm/year. Snowy precipitations are rare, but they may happen.