Motta Montecorvino · Pietramontecorvino · Castelnuovo della Daunia · Casalvecchio di Puglia · Casalnuovo Monterotaro · FG
Five towns in the province of Foggia, between the heights of the Daunia and the Fortore valley. What links them is a story of people in flight. Motta Montecorvino, according to its ministerial record, was born from inhabitants of an ancient Byzantine stronghold, bears the name of Montecorvino, a city founded by the Byzantines and later abandoned, and depended on it as a casale of the barony; an archaeological report of 2019, to be re-checked, has its inhabitants come precisely from Montecorvino; Castelnuovo della Daunia, Casalvecchio di Puglia and Casalnuovo Monterotaro took in Albanian refugees between the 15th and 16th centuries, and in Casalvecchio, the Comune says, the elderly still speak arbëreshë. The theme of paths we had started from holds little: two routes of a 2015 programme touch only Pietramontecorvino and Castelnuovo, and we have found no confirmation that they exist today. It is a journey for those who read towns through their origins more than through their monuments.
At a glance
Duration. 3 days.
The route
Day 1 — Motta Montecorvino and the city that is no more
One arrives at Motta Montecorvino, at about 662 metres, on the left slope of the upper valley of the stream of the same name, at the foot of Monte Sambuco: so says the Ministry of Culture's record, which also mentions the tratturo Lucera-Castel di Sangro that crosses the town and the nearby oak of San Luca. The name refers to a vanished city: Montecorvino, according to a document of the Università di Bari, was founded by the Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the 11th century to strengthen the frontier against the Lombards; a doctoral thesis of the Università di Foggia attributes the initiative to the catepan Basilio Boioannes and finds its first mention in a private deed of December 1044. Conquered by the Normans, it was besieged in 1137 by Roger II, recalls the ministerial record of Pietramontecorvino; in 1433 its episcopal see was annexed to Volturara, and around the 15th century the site was abandoned. The casale of Motta, its record says, was born in the second half of the 14th century from inhabitants of an ancient Byzantine stronghold forced several times to move by sieges; at the beginning of the 15th century it still depended on the barony of Montecorvino, although already autonomous. Then the Carafa from 1478 to 1582, the Montalto, the earthquake of 1627 and the plague of 1657, which killed about three quarters of the population: in 1687 there were 122 inhabitants. The mother church is dedicated to San Giovanni Battista. The Ministry catalogues at Motta Montecorvino a silver staff of San Giovanni Battista from the first half of the 20th century, of Neapolitan workmanship, with the inscription “Ecce Agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi”, held by a Catholic religious body that the record does not specify. An archaeological report of 2019, to be re-checked, adds that in the Second World War the Germans used the bell tower as a fortress.
Of the mother city there remain, according to archaeologists, a tower preserved for about 24 metres, the cathedral and numerous grain silos dug into the ground; the magnetometric surveys published in 2024 have revealed its entire plan, with the blocks perpendicular to the main street. We do not know whether the site can be visited. The next day one goes to Pietra.
Day 2 — Pietramontecorvino and the walk of Sant'Alberto
Pietramontecorvino stands on a rocky spur above the valley of the Triolo, a tributary of the Candelaro, as Wikipedia describes it. The Università di Foggia thesis notes that one of its towers has features similar to that of the mother city; on the period of its foundation the sources do not agree, and here we leave it aside. The fortified nucleus, the Terra Vecchia, holds together the church of Santa Maria Assunta and two towers: the eastern one, according to research by the Università di Foggia reported by the record, is the oldest part. The italia.it portal describes a herringbone layout of narrow alleys and the Palazzo Ducale, dominated by a tower almost forty metres high, with two courtyards and a hanging garden, and points out wrought-iron workshops. Only in 1862, the ministerial record recalls, did the town take its present name.
The link with the vanished city is a walk. According to the study by L. Carnevale on the Christian sanctuaries of Puglia, the ruins of the cathedral of Montecorvino are today the sanctuary of Sant'Alberto, whose relics and wooden statue are kept in Pietramontecorvino; every 16 May the statue is carried in pilgrimage to the ruins, accompanied by the palii, tall trunks decorated with handkerchiefs donated by the women of the town. An events portal links the procession to a devotional account of 1889, when because of a drought Motta and Volturino also joined it: it is a memory of faith, not verified chronicle. From the next day one heads towards the Fortore valley.
Day 3 — Castelnuovo della Daunia, Casalvecchio di Puglia, Casalnuovo Monterotaro
Castelnuovo della Daunia looks over the Fortore from about 543 metres, on the eastern slope of the Daunia mountains. The Ministry of Culture's record preserves its names: Castrum Sclavorum originally, Castellucium de Sclavis in 1280; those who founded it, according to the record, in two waves between the 7th and 10th centuries, were peoples from the Balkans called Schiavoni. At the end of the 12th century the mother church of Santa Maria della Murgia was begun; in the 16th century the de' Sangro had the convent of the Frati Minori built with the church of the Maddalena, which keeps a medieval portal; the present name was decided on 18 April 1863. Italia.it sees there part of the ancient walls and steep alleys. Between 1468 and 1476, writes the Comune of Casalvecchio, Albanian refugees settled here, about 3 km from Casalvecchio, and coexistence with the local community was difficult. Casalvecchio, at almost 500 metres according to the Comune, among cereals, olive trees and vines, is for its Comune a linguistic island: in arbëreshë it is called Kazallveqi, it has left the Byzantine rite but has kept language and traditions, and in July 2023 it celebrated this heritage with the Vëllazëria, the Feast of Brotherhood. On the dates of its refounding the Comune and the ministerial record do not agree, and here we leave them aside. The Comune describes the church of Santi Pietro e Paolo, built in the 16th century and consecrated in 1717 by Cardinal Orsini, with a Madonna del Carmelo in oil by Michelangelo Sammarco; then the Torre dei briganti, near the cemetery, and on the provincial road between Casalnuovo and Torremaggiore the Casone della Sgurgola, a square tower that italia.it describes with a crenellated top.
One closes at Casalnuovo Monterotaro, which according to italia.it stands on the northern border of Puglia, a few kilometres from Molise. The ministerial record links it to the nearby Monte Rotaro, where a castellum is attested at the end of the 10th century; it recalls that in 1534 Greek-Albanian refugees arrived there, with their own quarter north of the medieval settlement. In the woods italia.it points out remains of an abbey and a castle, with a cistern and a square tower, without name or date: here the story stops.
DRAFT of 2026-11-08 · local only · gate run: PASSES WITH CORRECTIONS, 11 defects corrected · not approved