Peschici is an Italian town of 4,383 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in Puglia. It is part of the Gargano National Park and the Mountain Community of Gargano.
Popular seaside resort, for the quality of its bathing waters has been repeatedly awarded the Blue Flag by the Foundation for Environmental Education.
Peschici is located on the north coast of Gargano, in the middle of a stretch of coast, partly sandy and partly rocky, between the Bay of Calenella (Vico del Gargano) to the west, and the Bay of Manaccore (Vieste) to the East About nautical 30 miles (47 kilometers) across the Adriatic to the north west separates it from the archipelago of the Tremiti Islands. [3]
The coastline is characterized by numerous bays and coves with beaches whose grain size is extremely fine, sometimes mixed with gravel. Despite the rock formations and lush vegetation surrounding them, are all more or less easily accessible.
The climate is already tempered by latitude and longitude, is influenced by the sea that mitigates the rigors of winter and the summer heat. The average annual temperature is 16 ° C. The coldest month is January (average of 8 ° C) and the warmest are July and August (27 °).
From the point of view of the common law falls within the range Climatic D as the degree day in the city are 1427 then the maximum limit allowed for switching the heaters is 15 hours per day from November 15 to April 15. Climate classification: Zone D, DD 1427. [5]
Origins The earliest records date back to 970 AD, when the Schiavoni, after removal of the Saracens finally on the order of Otto I, Pesclizio founded on the ruins of a house destroyed by the Saracens. [6]
The first document about the Slavic presence of the existence of the town of Fish is a chartula offertionis of 1023, which, in addition to the donation of the Abbey Calena the Abbey of Santa Maria a Mare (Tremiti Islands) Archbishop Leo of Siponto . In this document there are references not only on our town, but also on the presence of the Slavic community in the area and the excellent relations that this community was able to have with the local population and its social system. Another document that confirms the presence of the Slavs in Peschici is a donation in 1053, written by Slavs defined as dwelling in the castle Pesclizio [6].
In 1154, during the Norman rule Peschici appears to be dependent on the county of Hvar. There are many documents that confirm this including a deed of Count Geoffrey de Ollia Hvar and calendar of Queen Joanna (daughter of Henry II of England, the future wife of William II) [6].
The name itself (PESCHICI) is probably of Slavic origin, in fact the Slavic root "PES" (or "CFSP") refers to the sand, the place names Slavic and Russian pjčskusa peski indicate sandy soil [6].
In 1177 it was under the fiefdom of Monte Sant'Angelo, donated by William II the Good and his wife Joan of England. Under the rule of the Swabians, Peschici passed dramatic moments in the struggle between empire and papacy. A chronicler of the time tells us that in September 1239, 25 Venetian galleys sent by Pope Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick II against him, "come and prostrate themselves Bestice (Peschici) and Beasts (Vieste)." Frederick II, however, will rebuild the fortifications of the two centers. Under the Angevin dynasty, Peschici is among the few countries loyal to King Charles, at the time of the coming of Conradin (1267). In 1274 he took part with Bari, Monopoli, Trani, Puglia Vieste and Ortona in the fleet at the siege of Omis, city of the Dalmatian coast. In 1401 the estate passed to King Ladislas of Durazzo. From the fifteenth century unification of Italy
During the Aragonese, the Gargano supported (1458) the barons against the new King Alfonso, who in 1462 occupied the Gargano entrusting it to Giorgio Castriota Skanderbeg, allied with the Spanish sovereign. Against the backdrop of this scenario is always present Venice, the seaside town that controls all traffic to the East and the Adriatic coast: between 1469 and 1586 Peschici appears in 23 papers and pilot books, most of them written by geographers of the Serenissima. In addition, other documents that amounted to Peschici build ships of Dubrovnik between 1550 and 1570, "Ser Antonio de Stephano Ragusio et de Ser Marco de Johanne make building a ship in the company of the scope of carrageenan 250. Enterprises debia future construction Peschize on earth. The dispesa will be 500 ducats "[7]" In Peschize de Gargano building a ship pro parte de Johannis de Ragusio Christmas, Barolo commorantis. " The calefatore is Marinus de Ragusio. [8] After the Franco-Spanish war for the possession of the kingdom of Naples, but especially after the latest raids of the Turks, of which we have evidence in a manuscript by Timothy Mainardi (Reasons of the Monastery of St. Mary Tremiti, 1592), it is recalled in the 1554 massacre of Vieste, in which there were thousands of victims, and in 1567 the siege of Tremiti, it was decided to build ten towers along the coasts of the captains.
Five years later, the number of towers rises to 21 and among them there are the Monte Pucci, one called the Cliffs at San Menaio and that Calalunga, which was later demolished in 1570. The first description we have of Fish in the Sarnelli 1676 "Land Baron. It is situated in a prominent place, and enjoying the view of the sea. " Writes up area which is contained within the walls of the fence: outside the churches of Our Lady of Loreto and Santa Maria di Sfilzi, convents Calena, St. Francis and St. Nicholas. Drought or one of the applicants plagues of locusts (1663) made many victims to decimate the population significantly.
In 700 a plaque on the fence Baronial, in the historical center, the membership of Fish attests to the Prince of Ischitella Emmanuel Pinto. During the insurrection antiborbonca around the Gargano constitute sales, associations Carbonari, and in 1848 the Peschici antiborbonico-liberal and active politician, poet and writer Joseph Libetta (known as the commander of the first steamship who dared to cross the Mediterranean The Ferdinand I, which sailed from Naples September 27, 1818) enters the Parliament created by the Constitution of Savoy. At the plebiscite of 1860 nearly 40% of peschiciani voted in favor of the Bourbons. From the unification of Italy to the present day
In 1865, the isolation of the Gargano promontory is broken due to the construction of the road circum Gargano, the current SS 89. During the Fascist period, in 1931 the railroad arrived in 1939 with the completion of the Gargano and the Apulian Aqueduct. Despite the battles of the regime for the increase in population and grain production, Peschici to the census of 1936 increased by a third, but is also increasing emigration. Not better the situation after the war, in fact, with the increasing population is not growing employment and standard of living, but only the number of emigrants. Only with the advent of tourism around 1960 there will be improvements that will bring much fruit still visible today.
