40°51′15″N 16°16′52″E

Gravina in Puglia

Gravina in Puglia is in Apulia.

Brief geographical overview

Gravina is located in a peculiar territory made out of limestones. The city's subsoil has many underground cavities. Gravina is crossed by the Gravina river on its eastern side. The river has modeled a canyon-like conformation over the years, on which there is a copious amount of rocky churches.

When to go

The climate is typically mediterraneean: winters are relatively mild, with temperatures that usually don't go below 0°C. On the other hand, Summers are hot and dry.

Historical overview

Gravina has a very long history. Its territory proves to be inhabited since the ancient Paleolithic given the presence of the Gravina river, while the most consistent evidence dates back to the Neolithic, since 5950 B.C.

At the time of Alexander I of Epirus, Gravina became a Polìs that had the right to mint coins and after the Third Samnite War (305 B.C.) it became a Roman Municipium, touched by the Appian Way. Gravina endured different invasions and after the little inhabited centers were destroyed, the inhabitants were forced to move to the underlying ravine, where there were already different caves, but more buildings were added.

With the downfall of the Western Roman Empire, Gravina, as the rest of the Italian Peninsula, was ravaged by different populations. After being conquered by Justinian I, the Empire was invaded again by the Longobards until the Normans came. Around the year 1006 Gravina became a county, after that it was elevated to marquisate.

From 1267 to 1380 Gravina became a feud of the House of Anjou. During the thirteenth Century many kight monks came and became lords of Rome's House of Orsini. Francis of the House of Orsini was a Prefect in Rome and elevated the feud of Gravina to a Duchy.

The Orsinis were lords from 1380 to 1816. In this long period of time the city suffered the feudal arrogance, the high clergy and the local oligarchy. The city is well known as Pietro Francesco Orsini was born there in 1649. The situation worsened during the Bourbon period, when oppression and violations of elementary human rights increased, so much so that Gravina counted many revolutionaries and patriots from 1789 until the unification of Italy, with a "sale" of carbonara. Protagonist of the historical events of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it contributed greatly to the unification of Italy with patriots and martyrs of the wars of independence and the first world war. In fact, a war memorial was dedicated to them in the municipal park. The city was partially damaged by bombing by German planes during the Second World War.

By plane

The closest airport is located in Bari.

By car

• To and from Northern Italy by taking the A14 Highway Bologna-Taranto
• To and from Bari and Potenza by taking the SS96 road
• To and from Canosa di Puglia and Foggia by taking the SS97 road
• From Matera by taking rhe SP53 road

By train

• 40.825916.41811 Ferrovie Appulo Lucane (Gravina Train Station), Via Madonna delle Grazie 38, ☏ 080 5725700, relazioniesterne@ferrovieappulolucane.it. Open during train circulation. It is a railway station located on the railway line Bari-Altamura-Avigliano-Potenza of the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane. The second station of the State Railways was closed in 2016, however the suppressed section continues to be served by road connections. (updated Mar 2023)

The streets of the city's historical center are to be explored by foot.

By car

The city has a big area of Traffic-Restricted Zone (ZTL) in its center, more details can be found here. Some streets have blue parking slots, which means they aren't free of charge.

Churches

• 40.817516.41331 Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Piazza Benedetto XIII, ☏ +390803269065. The facade, tripartite by two pilasters, is made up of three portals, of which the central one is larger but unfinished, and a rose window, a remnant of the ancient Romanesque church, in the center of which is a bas-relief of the Assumption. The two side portals are embellished with high reliefs and two small statues depicting Christ; the left portal is dated 1495. The central portal is a recent work: it is made up of 24 panels that tell evangelical episodes. The bell tower was completed in 1698 by Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini with the construction of the "cipollone"(Big Onion) on its top.

Protruding from the left aisle and overhanging the ravine is the so-called big chapel, built in the first half of the 17th century, with two floors. The interior of the church has three naves divided by columns with bare capitals. The ceiling is in carved and gilded wood, in Baroque style: four large canvases were applied to it in the seventeenth century. There are several side chapels, including the one dedicated to the Archangel Michael, patron saint of the city; these chapels are embellished with polychrome marble altars, mostly from the 1700s, and the work of the Neapolitan Francesco Cimafonte. In the presbytery there is an important wooden choir from 1561 and a large organ. 

• 40.817216.413482 Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Domenicane, Piazza Benedetto XIII, 23, ☏ +390803251307. The church has a single nave and preserves the typical 17th century grated women's gallery. After a century there was the need to expand the church by lengthening it on the side of the monastery and rebuilding the two side altars, one dedicated to the Madonna del Rosario and the other to San Domenico di Guzman. In the first years of the 19th century the flooring was redone with majolica tiles and the side altars were covered in marble.

On the high altar there is a painting of the Assumption of Mary by Carlo Rosa and on the entrance door there is a grated choir loft and an organ dating back to the 18th century. The church has a two-story facade marked by pilasters and a crowning with fittings, two large oval oculi and a tribolated window. In the monastery there were a considerable amount of paintings but a conspicuous part passed into state property after the suppression laws. 

• 40.8173716.414883 Chiesa di Santa Maria del Suffragio (Chiesa del Purgatorio), Piazza Domenico Notar, 4, ☏ +390803269065, info@iatgravina.it. The church was built as a funeral chapel for the Orsini family between 1649 and 1654 for the celebration of suffrage masses for the souls in purgatory. The church has a characteristic entrance portal with a tympanum on which there are two skeletons.

• 

  40.8253716.419434 Chiesa Madonna delle Grazie (Chiesa dell'Aquila), Via Madonna delle Grazie, 23, ☏ +390803265860. The most characteristic aspect of this church is the presence of a large eagle in bas-relief on the facade. 
• 40.8122316.418385 Chiesa di San Sebastiano, Via S. Sebastiano, 56. It is a church and also a convent built in 1474. 
• 40.81890316.4164316 Chiesa di Santa Teresa, Vico S. Matteo, 1. 
• 40.8161916.414357 Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, Piazza Pellicciari,15. 
• 40.81953416.4149488 Chiesa di Santa Sofia, Via Donato Cristiani, 43. The tradition speaks of an ancient church, rebuilt in its present form at the end of the 15th century. With a single nave, it retains a gilded wooden ceiling with rosettes, surrounded by a gilded wooden women's gallery. Of extraordinary beauty is the funeral mausoleum which houses the mortal remains of Angela Castriota Scanderberg, descendant of the Albanian hero Giorgio Scandenberg and wife of Duke Ferdinando II Orsini. The monument 6.60 meters high and 3.20 meters wide, carries a double-headed eagle, the coat of arms of Albania, in the middle of each shield. A monastery is annexed to the church of Santa Sofia which housed Poor Clares until the 19th century, when the order was suppressed.

• 40.81950716.4158849 Chiesa di San Francesco D'Assisi, Largo S. Francesco, 6, ☏ +390803269163. The current church dates back to the 1500s, and was built on a pre-existing church from the 1300s. The eighteenth-century bell tower and the cloister stand out. 

• 40.81794316.4166910 Chiesa di San Nicola, Via S. Nicola, 1, ☏ +390803251275. 
• 40.81667316.41978511 Chiesa di San Domenico, Piazza Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 16, ☏ +390803261278. 
• 40.81825316.41364212 Chiesa di Santa Lucia, Calata S. Lucia, 11. 
• 40.8179316.4166413 Chiesa dei Santi Nicola e Cecilia, Via S. Nicola, 1, ☏ +390803251275. 
• 40.81676116.41568614 Chiesa Dell'Annunciazione. 
• 40.81787416.42375615 Chiesa di San Giorgio. 
• 40.81617216.41435616 Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, Piazza Pellicciari, 19, ☏ +390803251146. Church of the fifteenth century, with a rather simple facade. The roof has ribs that partially recall the style of Gothic churches. 
• 40.81878816.41421117 Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, Via San Giovanni Evangelista, 21. 
• 40.81650516.41295418 Chiesa di San Bartolomeo, Calata Grotte S. Michele, 48 (Near the rock church of S. Michele alle Grotte). 
• 40.81875516.41425419 Chiesa Mater Gratiae, Via San Giovanni Evangelista, 19. 
• 40.82335616.42151520 Chiesa di San Felice, Largo Cappuccini, 6, ☏ +390803267692. 
• 40.81746416.41586621 Chiesa del Gesù, Piazza Plebiscito. 
• 40.81463816.41366922 Cripta Tota (Cripta sant’Elia). 
• Cripta di San Marco. 
• Cripta di S. Maria della Neve. 
• 40.81078816.40963623 Cripta di Santo Stefano. 
• 40.8221416.41030924 Chiesa del Padre Eterno (Deesis), Via Madonna della Stella. It is incomplete, as evidence of this, some arches and columns are visible and introduce the main nave, without apse; next to it there are two furrows used for burial. There were frescoes dedicated to St. Nicholas and St. Peter, subsequently taken and restored at the E. P. Santomasi Foundation. 
• 40.8167616.41571725 Chiesa della SS. Annunziata. Today this church is deconsecrated, inside it had an altar and various religious paintings; according to lore, in the 15th century the murder of a heretic bishop took place there. In 1714 Pope Benedict XIII decreed the end of the celebratory functions and their transfer to the Cathedral, due to the dilapidated conditions in which the church was. 

Rock Churches

Among the local products to buy there is Verdeca wine, a sweet wine from Gravina prepared by mixing local vines and Malvasia.

The cola-cola is a bird-shaped whistle, very similar to the Cucù from Matera. Traditionally it was given as a toy for children or given to women as a wedding gift if it was larger in size. In addition to the Casa Museo (see below), several itinerant vendors exhibit them in the streets of the centre.

• 40.81743616.4130291 Casa Museo della "Cola Cola", Piazza Benedetto XIII, 24 (in front of the Cathedral), ☏ +39 3881841197. Mon-Fri 9:00-18:30, Sat 9:00-19:00, Sun 8:30-20:00. A house museum, but also a shop where Cola Cola of all types and sizes are produced and sold. It is run by young people. It will be a fun experience to discover the history and the different sounds this gift-whistle can make. Cola-cola is among the most typical symbols of the city. 

On Sunday evening most of the restaurants are closed, even in the summer period. Therefore, the risk of not being able to easily find a place to eat should be considered.

On summer evenings, the city center is filled with families and young people who stroll and meet in the squares and pubs.

Many vending machines were installed in the city center, they sell all kinds of drinks, but there are also many options nearby because of the elevated number of pubs in the center of Gravina.

Here are some of the most sustainable options if you want to stay in Gravina.

• 40.82013216.4159141 Grantò B&B, Via Pietro Ianora, 47, ☏ +390808753623, info@grantobeb.it. (updated Mar 2023)
• 40.81262616.4177262 STRADONE 132, Via San Sebastiano, 132. (updated Mar 2023)
• 40.81900616.4172633 Ponticelli B&B Boutique, Via Ponticelli, 27, ☏ +393296112483, ponticellihome@gmail.com. (updated Mar 2023)
• 40.81709216.4133024 B&B Sotto l'Arco, Via Civita, 35, ☏ +39360810687. (updated Mar 2023)
• 40.81876916.413665 Il Belvedere, Via Giudice Montea, ☏ +393275777844. (updated Mar 2023)
• 40.82031816.4165576 Al Bastione Relais Suite & Rooms, Via Fontana La Stella, 11, ☏ +390803266992. (updated Mar 2023)

• IAT Gravina (Ufficio informazioni), Piazza Benedetto XIII (Nearby the Civic Museum), ☏ +390803269065, info@iatgravina.it. Mon-Sun 9:00-13:00, 16:00-20:00. Here can be booked guided tours to various sites. 

The size of the city and the characteristics of the people make Gravina a rather peaceful and danger-free city.

• 40.81644516.420991 Ospedale S. Maria del Piede, Via S. Domenico, 32, ☏ +390803108111. Hospital.
• 40.82014916.4693482 Ospedale della Murgia "Fabio Perinei", SS96 to Gravina in Puglia, Km 74,800. Hospital.

• 40.90402816.4224563 Pulicchio di Gravina (About 10Km North of the city, nearby SP238). It is a karst sinkhole, one of the largest karst cavities in Puglia after the Pulo of Altamura. It differs from the latter in the slight steepness of the walls and in the absence of caves. The maximum diameter is equal to 530 meters and a difference in height of 87 meters. The origin of the Pulicchio di Gravina is, in a similar way to the Pulo di Altamura, Gurio Lamanna and other sinkholes in the area, explainable through karst phenomena, i.e. the double action, physical (erosion) and chemical (dissolution), to which the of the Murge have been subjected over the millennia.  

• 40.9088516.4257614 Gurio Lamanna (Gurlamanna). on the border with Altamura in the immediate vicinity of the Pulicchio di Gravina and the Tre Paduli grave. The sinkhole has an external perimeter of over 3 kilometres, an average width of about 900 meters and a maximum difference in height of 38 metres. The walls have a slight slope compared to the nearby Pulicchio di Gravina. The bottom of the sinkhole is flat "like a board"; such a flat expanse is very rare. The origin of the karst basin of Gurio Lamanna can only be of a karst nature. The water coming from the related hydrographic basin slowly eroded the area (according to the usual double mechanical and chemical action of karst phenomena), generating the extended flat area full of fertile soil that can be seen today.  
• 40.75900616.3816095 Campo dei missili (Formerly a NATO military base), Strada Provinciale Fondo Valle Basentello. 

• 40.74103216.426446 Bosco Difesa Grande, info@boscodifesagrande.it. The Difesa Grande forest is a protected natural area in Puglia, located 6 km south of the municipality of Gravina in Puglia, in the Murge area. Ideal place to go hiking. 

• Matera
• Bari
• Altamura