San Severo

The city sits in low-lying country, its center being at about 90 metres (300 ft) above sea level. Geologically, its soil is quaternary (with sand and clay, fossils, and marine in origin). Its territory decreases in elevation from the west 125 metres (410 ft) to the east 26 metres (85 ft), gradually changing from minor ripples in the western hills to a more regular plain in the east at the Candelaro basin.[3]

In addition to the Candelaro river, other waterways include the Triolo and Salsola torrents and Radicosa, Venola, Ferrante, Santa Maria and Potes channels. The scarcity of rain in the summer causes the groundwater to become brackish, especially in the subsoil of the city. The lands surrounding the city are studded with farms, characterized primarily by ordered groves and vineyards, as well as fields of wheat.[3]

The climate is Mediterranean, with relatively cold winters (snow is rare) and very hot summers. High wind gusts are quite common.[4]

• Climate classification: Zone D, GR-G 1494.

According to legend, a city called Castrum Drionis (Casteldrione) was founded by the Greek king Diomedes. San Severo is said to be one of the last towns in Italy to remain pagan, and only in 536 did Saint Laurence of Siponto, bishop of Siponto, convert the town's inhabitants to Christianity. He also required that the village be renamed after governor Severus.

San Severo lies on the Daunia, and various Neolithic settlements have been detected. In the early Middle Ages, the area was not inhabited or defined. Between the Lombards and the Byzantine ages, the Benedictine monastery at Cassino was established, and with it, the cult of the apostle of Saint Severinus of Noricum. San Severo was founded in the 11th century around a small church built by the Benedictine monks from Montecassino. It rapidly developed as a trade town. In 1053, it was the scene of the historical victory of Robert Guiscard over the papal troops under Pope Leo IX (see Battle of Civitate). In the eleventh century, San Severo was the route of the Via Sacra Langobardorum and a primitive church arose dedicated to Saint Severino, from which continued an influx of pilgrims to Monte Sant'Angelo and movement of people and goods. The town was therefore called Castellum Sancti Severini ("Fortified Town of San Severo").[5]

The conurbation developed rapidly due to its favorable position for trade, and soon took on considerable importance; it became the seat of Venetian, Florentine, Saracens and Jewish merchants. Subject to the abbots of the Benedictine monastery of San Pietro di Torremaggiore (in 1116 the abbot gave the famous Adenulfo Libertatis Charta), in 1230, the city rebelled against Frederick II of Hohenstaufen who ceded it to the Knights Templar.[5]

Medieval drawing of San Severo.

After the suppression of the Templars, by 1312, the city was refortified with a wall, and ceded to Robert d'Anjou and his wife Sancha. In 1317, Sancha sold it to Count Peter Pippin, Lord of Vico. The resistance of the citizens denied him the possession of his acquisition, and resistance only stopped when they gained some degree of independence under the royal authority of Naples. San Severo was then declared a royal city in perpetuity.[6]

It became the capital of Giustizierato (province) of Capitanata, whose jurisdiction also included Molise. The city was the seat of provincial officials and the court of the Royal Audience. After Queen Joan I of Naples stayed there, many Neapolitan monarchs followed in her presence, including Alfonso I of Aragon and Ferdinand I of Naples. In the fifteenth century, the city also minted its own coins.[6]

In 1521, Charles V sold the city to the Duke of Termoli, Ferdinand of Capua, but Mayor Tiberio Solis was able to redeem it by paying 42,000 ducats to the Emperor by collecting contributions from private citizens. The king then granted the city of San Severo the perpetual right to self-government. According to tradition, in January 1536, Charles V also ennobled twenty-four local families, establishing the town's oligarchic regime.[6]

San Severo became the most populous city in Capitanata in the 16th century. The rich commerce, cultural vitality and self-government made it one of the major centers of the south, due to the presence of a large Venetian warehouse. Directly connected to the Fortore river was an important link between the Venetians and the Kingdom of Naples. Leandro Alberti (1550) writes of San Severo "this castle is very rich, noble, civilized and filled with people, and is so wealthy that he envied any other in this region."[7] The town also established ecclesiastical organizations, with four wealthy parishes, several hospitals, some religious confraternities and nine religious institutes.

In 1579, at the height of its prestige but suffocated in debt, the city was sold to Duke Gian Francesco di Sangro, who won for his heirs the title of Prince of Sansevero. Consequently, it lost its rank as capital, which passed to Lucera, and the governor of the province and the court was transferred.

Accustomed to self-government, the citizens chafed under the tyranny of their new feudal lords.[8] Many families of the old Sanseveresi aristocracy immediately chose to leave the city and those who remained watched helplessly as the era known as the "Regime of Forty" unfolded.[8]

This was an era of decline for the city, despite the promotion of the city to Episcopal seat in 1580. On July 30, 1627, a catastrophic earthquake almost razed the town to the ground and killed eight hundred inhabitants and an unspecified number of foreigners. Reconstruction was slow, and hindered by the plague epidemic of 1656 and 1657 (during which nearly three thousand people died). In the eighteenth century, the city was rebuilt with a markedly Baroque appearance.[9] On April 16, 1797, Ferdinand IV visited San Severo and there he reviewed the Regina regiment. On April 25, Prince Francis I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Maria Carolina, came there to visit and attended a solemn mass in the cathedral. In February 1799, following a fierce reaction to the proclamation of the Jacobin republic, French troops, commanded by Generals Guillaume Philibert Duhesme and La Foret plundered the city with terrible violence. The victims, between citizens and soldiers, were about four hundred and fifty.[10]

Feudalism was abolished in 1806 and San Severo was the sixth largest city of the kingdom by number of inhabitants. It became the capital of one of the three districts and then sub-prefecture. In 1819, the ancient palace Decurionate inaugurated in the Teatro Real de Bourbon, the first Italian district and one of the first in the south. After the French occupation, the city became a key stronghold of the Carbonari, so that Giuseppe Mazzini long dreamed of making San Severo the starting point of the riots of 1820. In 1826, the monumental cemetery was opened. On May 18, 1847, Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies visited the city. The large public gardens were dedicated in 1854, while in 1858, there was the dedication of the Ferdinandea Civic Library.[11]

In 1860, San Severo contributed many young people to increase the ranks of the anti Bourbon-militias, when Francis II was still on the throne, and was among the first cities to proclaim allegiance to the Kingdom of Italy and to hoist the tricolor Flag of Italy. On October 21 the same year, the Sanseveresi voted unanimously for a united Italy. From 1862 to 1864, during the riots, the city was the seat of the 49th Regiment unit, who distinguished itself in the suppression. After the unit built the railway station in 1863, and created the high school and technical schools in 1864, they also started two major bands, the "White" in 1879 and "Red" in 1883, who obtained several international awards.[11]

On April 29, 1923, the Crown Prince Umberto I of Italy visited the city and inaugurated the school building "Principe di Piemonte". In 1929, the municipal sports field was inaugurated. On October 27, 1931, the Minister of Communications, Costanzo Ciano, dedicated the Ferrovie del Gargano, linking the station of San Severo to a number of places on the Gargano-Peschici line. On December 9, 1937, the curtain of the new Municipal theater was opened for the first time.

The San Severo Airfield in World War II

During the Second World War, on September 9, 1943, a group of Italian soldiers were involved in an episode of resistance, refusing to surrender to the Germans.[11] By September 28, the Germans blew up the telephone exchange, the Casillo mill and several bridges, including that of the railway. During World War II, San Severo was the home of a US Airfield for the Fifteenth Air Force. P-51 fighters of the 31st Fighter Brigade lead armed escorts and support operations from San Severo on April 2, 1944 to March 3, 1945.

On March 23, 1950, San Severo workers rioted against police, raising barricades and storming the armory and the headquarters of the Italian Social Movement. The clashes caused one death and wounded forty civilians and soldiers and army tanks occupied the main streets of the city. In the following days, an armed insurrection was raised against the powers of the state; people were arrested, acquitted, and a year later released after the trial.[11] Pope John Paul II visited the city on May 25, 1987. In 1996, by special decree, the President of the Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, confirmed for San Severo the title of city, historically acquired in 1580, and the establishment of the Sanseveresi diocese. In 1999, at the Italian Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, San Severo was presented two bills (respectively 6472 and 4370) for the establishment of the province of San Severo, comprising 22 municipalities in Tavoliere delle Puglie north of Gargano and Subappennino Dauno. Between October 31 and November 2, 2002, a violent earthquake, known as the Molise earthquake, damaged many buildings in the old village and caused the closure of some of its historic churches.

Procession of the Saints in San Severo

San Severo is famous for its yearly festival held on the third Sunday of May. Called "La Festa del Soccorso" (The Festival of Help/Aid), it is held in honor of the patron saints of San Severo, "La Madonna del Soccorso" (The Madonna of Help/Aid), Saint Severinus Abbot, and Saint Severus Bishop. During this festival, San Severo features nighttime and daytime fireworks in order to celebrate the Madonna; the daytime fireworks are a major attraction. Extremely loud firecracker chains are placed along the city streets. In many cases they extend for kilometers. A common practice is for young males to run along the firecrackers as they explode down the street (an analogue tradition, called "Correfoc", exists in Spain). These people are called "fuejentes" (people who enjoy running through the fireworks). For this reason San Severo is called "the city of fireworks".

Among the many traditions are the rites of the Holy Week. At dawn on Good Friday, a procession starts simultaneously from the three churches. From the Church of the Pieta, the procession carries the eighteenth-century statue of Our Lady of Sorrows (confraternity of prayer and death); from the Trinity Church, the procession carries a wooden effigy of Christ bound to the column (Arch-confraternity of the rosary), and from the Church of St. Augustine a procession of hooded penitents carries the heavy cross of Simon of Cyrene on their shoulders (confraternity of help). The three sacred processions converge in the ancient Piazza del Castello, where the statues proceed towards each other, but the embrace of the Mother and the Son is blocked by the Cross, which arises suddenly between them.

Other festivals with processions include the Lady of Mount Carmel festival (July 16), San Rocco (August 16) and the Madonna del Rosario (the third Sunday in October), as well as the recurrence of Concetta, namely the Immaculate Conception (December 8). There are also the feasts of St. Lucy (December 13) and Saint Anthony Abbot (January 17), the latter with the historic blessing of the animals. The patron saints are, respectively, Severino and Severo, and are celebrated on September 25 and the Saturday before the fourth Sunday in October. Moreover, the solemn ceremony of the vote in San Severino is celebrated annually on January 8 by the Municipal Administration, during which it remembers the apparition of the patron saint.

During the time of the annual carnival, it is customary to prepare awkward puppets that are arranged in comical sitting positions on small chairs by the doors of houses. On Shrove Tuesday, at dusk, the people celebrate the colorful "funeral" of the puppets, which ends with the burning of the puppets, which are sometimes stuffed with firecrackers. The city does not seem to have a real typical mask, however, a more widespread traditional outfit requires that men wear flashy clothes.

In recent years, the old Grape Festival celebrates one of the main products of the Sanseveresi, during the Feast of St. Martin, (or Festival of New Wine) which is held in the historic heart of the city for several days around November 11, with exhibition of local products, wine tasting and local cuisine and various cultural performances (concerts, exhibitions, folklore shows, etc.).

Saint Augustine's Church

The preservation and promotion of artistic heritage, the city's books, and periodicals are the raison d'être of a number of important public and private institutions that promote the cultural development of San Severo and its surroundings.

• The Museum of the Tavoliere (MAT) is set in an eighteenth-century Franciscan monastery, also known as Palazzo San Francesco. It retains a considerable archaeological heritage, with exhibits from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages, and a gallery with works of the modern age.
  • Pinacoteca "Luigi Schingo" is a section of MAT, with headquarters in Palazzo San Francesco; it holds some works of the Sanseveresi artist Louis Schingo.
  • The community library "Alexander Minutia" is now located temporarily in the Palazzo San Francesco. The historic institution, originally called Ferdinandea, boasts a heritage of over ninety thousand volumes of books and a prestigious background of ancient writings, as well as many rare incunabula.
• The Diocesan Museum contains sacred art, housed in the basement of the Palazzo del Seminario, with silver, vestments, and works of different eras. Among the most significant artifacts are a collection of medieval collection plates embossed with copper, and some medieval and Renaissance polychrome wooden statues.
• A permanent display of carriages and finishes of the eighteenth century was built in 2007 on Viale Matteotti. It is part of the cultural initiatives promoted by the banking group BancApulia.
• The "Father Benedetto Nardella" of Friars Minor Capuchin Library, housed in the seventeenth-century convent of Santa Maria of Constantinople, holds twenty thousand volumes on mysticism, spirituality, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, and patriotic history.
• The "Happy Chir" economic-legal Library, made from BancApulia Gramsci, holds over fifty thousand texts and journals used frequently by students and scholars.
• Historical Archives: The Municipal Library, contains a vast collection of documents on civil and administrative life of the city in modern and contemporary art.
• Archival diocesan Trotta is housed in the Palace, near the Cathedral, and boasts a rich documentary of heritage, conservation, and a significant number of parchments and episcopal archives.
• The Music Fund of the Benedictine monastery of San Lorenzo includes autographs of important Italian composers of the eighteenth century.

Exhibitions of various kinds (archeology, painting, photography etc.) are more or less regularly staged at the Museum, the Diocesan Museum and the Gallery of Modern Art in Palazzo San Lorenzo.

The city is home to three public theaters: the Decurionate (1750 ca.), the Real Bourbon (1819), and the Teatro Verdi (designed by Cesare Bazzani in 1937). Throughout each year, alongside a full season of concerts curated by the Friends of Music, performances such as Verdi operas, a series of shows of prose (in collaboration with the consortium Teatro Pubblico Pugliese) and evenings at the ballet are featured. Concerts of sacred music are held regularly in the churches of the historic center. The iconic Cantina D'Araprì features many music performances, including jazz shows.[16]

San Severo's University of Foggia has active courses in nursing, business, viticulture and enology (the science and technology of winemaking). At the former "Pascoli" school building a citadel that will host economics courses is under construction; these courses are currently held temporarily in the Istituto commercial Fraccacreta Angel, while courses on agriculture will be held at the Michele di Sangro Agricultural Institute.

There are five primary schools, four middle schools, and eight high schools (the Gymnasium High School, Liceo Scientifico, Istituto Tecnico Agrario, Commercial Technical Institute, Institute Industrial Technical Professional Institute, Institute for Teaching and Technical Institute for Surveyors).

• Joseph Annese, writer and poet (1932–1979)
• Mario Carli, writer and poet (1888–1935)
• Nino Casiglio, writer (1921–1995)
• Joseph Rispoli Checchia, geologist and paleontologist (1877–1947)
• Augustine Colombrita, zoologist (1500 ca.)
• Michele (Michael) DiCesare, Police Officer (1965–present)
• Gaetano de Lucretiis, scientist (1745–1817)
• Angelo Fraccacreta, economist (1882–1951)
• Matthew Fraccacreta, historian (1772–1857)
• Umberto Fraccacreta, poet (1892–1947)
• Alessandro Minuziano, publisher and printer (1450 ca.-1532)
• Vincenzo Pirro, historical (1938-2009)
• Gualberto Titta, writer and actor (1906–1999)
• Matteo Tondi, mineralogist (1762–1835)
• Michele Zannotti, mathematician

• Matteo Germano, sculptor (1937–2004)
• Andrea Pazienza, cartoonist and painter (1956–1988)
• Salvatore Postiglione, sculptor (1905–1996)
• Luigi Schingo, painter and sculptor (1891–1976)
• Gianluigi Tosto, actor (1964)

• Luigi Allegato, trade unionist, senator and founding father (1896–1958)
• Umberto Delle Fave, deputy and senator, minister, president of RAI (1912–1986)
• Mario Fasino, former president of the Sicilian Region (1920)
• Raffaele Recca, a lawyer and founding father (1900–1954)
• Pasquale Iantoschi, sindaco della Città (1962 al 1967)

• Luigi Capotorti, composer and maestro di cappella, who spent his final years in San Severo and died there in 1842
• Franco Cassano, musician (1922)
• del Re Ferdinand composer and band director (1839–1887)
• Rosanna Fratello, pop singer (1950)
• Dante Morlino, composer (1909-1978)
• Luca Sardella, pop singer and television presenter (1956)
• Matteo Sassano, opera singer (1667–1737)

• Luigi Castiglione, boxer (1967)
• Carmen Fiano, ultramarathoner (1968)
• Walter Magnifico, basketball player (1961)
• Michele Pazienza, soccer player (1982)
• Alessandro Potenza, basketball player (1984)

• Anthony, Bishop of Lucera in the fourteenth century
• Sparano, Bishop of Venafro from 1306 to 1326
• Giacomo Bruno, Bishop of Dragonara in the sixteenth century
• Germanico Malaspina, Nuncio and Bishop of San Severo from 1583 to 1603
• Francesco Antonio Sacchetti, Bishop of San Severo in 1635, and of Troy after 1650
• Francesco Antonio Giannone, Bishop of Boiano from 1685 to 1707
• Carlo de Ambrosio, Bishop of Larino from 1775 to 1785

San Severo is at the forefront in the world for the production and marketing of wine, but also produces large quantities of high quality grain, grapes, and olives. Large agricultural resources have generated a lively system of small and medium-sized industrial products grown and exported to international markets. In 1968 the Sanseveresi wine became the first in Apulia to obtain the Designation of Origin Control. The varieties are white San Severo, San Severo sparkling white, red, and Rosé San Severo.

San Severo is also noted for its production of Peranzana (Dauno) olives, which have received the Protected Designation of Origin designation (PDO). The Vase Sanseveresi is a centuries-old traditional method of pruning olive trees like inverted cones, with the focus on horizontal rather than height-based arrangement.[17][18]