1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Manfredonia

by Thomas Ashby

MANFREDONIA, a town and archiepiscopal see (with Viesti) of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is 221/2 m. N.E. by rail, situated on the coast, facing E., 13 ft. above sea-level, to the south of Monte Gargano, and giving its name to the gulf to the east of it. Pop. (1901), 11,549. It was founded by Manfred in 1263, and destroyed by the Turks in 1620; but the medieval castle of the Angevins and parts of the town walls are well preserved. In the church of S. Domenico, the chapel of the Maddalena contains old paintings of the 14th century. Two miles to the south-west is the fine cathedral of S. Maria Maggiore di Siponto, built in 1117 in the Romanesque style, with a dome and crypt. S. Leonardo, nearer Foggia, belonging to the Teutonic order, is of the same date. This marks the site of the ancient Sipontum, the harbour of Arpi, which became a Roman colony in 194 B.C., and was not deserted in favour of Manfredonia until the 13th century, having become unhealthy owing to the stagnation of the water in the lagoons.

See A. Beltramelli, Il Gargano (Bergamo, 1907).  (T. As.)