Vico del Gargano
Called the "Village of Love", it is part of the Gargano National Park and the Mountain Community of Gargano.
It is located 5 miles from the Adriatic coast of Southern Italy and about 1,500 feet up the hillside.
Today, it has a population of 7,700 citizens. It's Patron Saint is Saint Valentine, celebrated on February 14.
To see a map showing the location of Vico del Gargano, click here.
The village is noted for its small and narrow alleyways winding their way between the cobbled streets.
There is some evidence of an Iron Age (1100-700 BC) settlement where Slavic invaders from across the Adriatic came initially as marauders and conquerors. They built a large necropolis on a hill called Tabor. A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek word nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead".
The Slavs mingled with the small native population and constructed a single fortified center that was called "Vico". The first official document which attests to the presence of a "Castrum Vici" on the Gargano dates back to 1113, when the Normans conquered the Gargano and constructed a castle-fortress.
Gargano (Italian pronunciation: [ɡar'ɡaːno]) is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea, the "spur" on the Italian "boot". It is part of the Gargano National Park, founded in 1991. The Gargano peninsula is partly covered by the remains of an ancient forest, Foresta Umbra, the only remaining part in Italy of the ancient oak and beech forest that once covered much of Central Europe.
The Nineteenth century saw the birth and the flourish of the cultivation and marketing of citrus fruit. During the Unification of Italy (1848-1871), many bands of partisans who were faithful to the Bourbon King, Ferdinand II, fought to restore the ancient throne. The Foresta Umbra was used as their base of attack on the Gargano.
