The Lovers' Village

A village with an ancient heart, VICO DEL GARGANO (Fg) stands in a privileged position in the Sun Mountain (ancient name for the Gargano), on a rocky promontory between the sea, with San Menaio and Calenella, and the Umbra Forest.

It is one of the nine Apulian municipalities that bear the mark 'The most beautiful villages in italy'. Its fine hilly air tempers the summer heat and softens the winter cold. It is an ancient town built on prehistoric settlements, in fact it owes its name to the Schiavoni called by Otto I around 900 AD.

Vico del Gargano enchants visitors with its historic centre, built on the three main nuclei of Civita, Terra and Casale. Its past is dense with prehistoric evidence (the necropolises of Monte Tabor and Monte Pucci are of considerable interest).

The Norman-Swabian period marked the development of Vico del Gargano. Evidence of that era is the Castle, probably built by Frederick II of Swabia's men around 1240, and the town walls that also include watchtowers and several small churches. The old town centre consists of narrow streets, old 'a pujedd' houses (terraced houses with an external staircase, with living quarters on the upper floor and a space underneath used as a stable or store), the remains of walls and towers. 

The 'Trappeto Maratea', an old mill for pressing olives that preserves a wooden press dating back to 1317, is worth a special visit. Palazzo Della Bella, a curious early 20th-century building inspired by the 14th-century model of the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio, completes the walk through Vico's historic centre.

Just outside the town is the suggestive Convent of the Capuchins with a centuries-old holm oak (17 metres high by 5 metres in diameter) and, inside, a miraculous Crucifix as well as paintings by Vaccaro and Borghese. The Convent of Santa Maria Pura, also outside the town, is a monumental complex of great value that is believed to rest on much older structures, perhaps the Temple of Chalcis.

During the Easter period, the processional events of Vichese Holy Week are one of the most eagerly awaited moments in Vico del Gargano, where five ancient Confraternities have been guarding a heritage of rites, chants and traditions since time immemorial, which finds its most authentic manifestation in those days.

On 14 February, Lovers' Day, Saint Valentine has been celebrated since 1618, acclaimed Patron Saint of the town and its orange groves (Igp). The Saint's relics are kept in the Collegiate Church of the Assumption and are carried in procession through the streets of the town.

On that day, lovers from the surrounding area taste the juice from the blessed oranges as a propitious love potion and exchange sweet effusions in the Kissing Alley, a narrow street in the old town only 50 centimetres wide.

A few kilometres from Vico del Gargano, one descends to the splendid seascape of San Menaio, a small fishing village, which with its vegetation rich in pine and orange groves and its well-equipped beaches is a destination for summer holidaymakers.

Places to visit: Old Town, Castle, Church Matrice, Church of the Misericordia, Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Church of San Pietro, the Umbrian Forest, San Menaio.

Photos by: Pasquale D'Apolito / Gaetano Armenio / Text by: Francesco Paolo Saggese