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Home , Apricena, Apse, Ascoli Satriano, Canosa di Puglia, Carapelle, Foggia

Giuliano Volpe by andHistoryinNorthernApulia Rediscovering theHeel tury BC is exemplified by the houses and burials of Arpi (near tury BC is exemplifiedby the houses and burials of Arpi(near the Tavoliere,whileDaunian cultureofthe11thto4thcen- orGrottaPagliccias wellastheNeolithicvillagesof history. For the prehistoric period, one may visit the caves at archaeological treasures,whichspaneveryperiodofhuman Less wellknown,butnowbecomingevermorevisible,are its or thepolychromemarblesrecentlyfoundinAscoliSatriano. D

(Ascoli SatrianoFg). the RomanVillaofFaragola Archaeologists excavate giuliano great Norman at and , great NormancathedralsatBarlettaandTrani, tage. Artisticmasterpiecesabound,suchasthe Puglia, isextraordinarilyrichinculturalheri- pied themodernprovinceofFoggiainnorthen aunia, theancientterritorythatoccu-

volpe simply bypassingthroughits countryside.Theselandscapes, its past every day, and the visitor can easily capture these traces human history.Themodern inhabitantsofDaunialivewith its realidentity,liesintheintegration ofnaturallandscapeand alike describearichandcosmopolitanMiddleAges. , Byzantinechurches,cathedrals,andNormancastles tion totheregion.ThepilgrimagesanctuaryofSt. at and transhumance document the spread of Roman occupa- villas likeFaragola,andthegreatroadsusedforcommerce (modern ), and Canusium (modern ), ). ThegreatcitiesofHerdonia(nearOrdona),Luceria The real uniqueness of theDaunia’sheritage,andindeed www.penn.museum/expedition 21 shows themajorrivervalleysandancientRomancitiesinregion. Ancient DauniaislocatedneartheheelofItaly.Below,thismap 22 their diverselocallandscapes. FromRomancitiestomedi- resources, butalsotounderstand howtheyfunctionedwithin ties, our objectives were to not only map these archaeological regional governmentandwiththreeotherApulianuniversi - understand thestoryofDaunia’spast.Incollaborationwith cious culturalassets. and modernidentity,constituteoneoftheregion’smostpre - rich notonlyinaestheticvaluebutalsoasasourceofancient

In 2000,theUniversitàdiFoggiabeganaprogramtobetter volume 53,number2 expedition Bradford. Inmorerecentyears, wehavecompiledanarchive World WarIIbyBritish archaeologist and RAF officer John Aerial photographyhasalong traditioninPuglia,begun of wheatvividlycapturestheoutlinesburiedstructures. May andJuneafterthewinterrains,whenfirstgrowth optimal moments.In Daunia, thesemomentsoccurduring photography, particularlythattakenatlowaltitudesduring rather referstoatotalityofapproach. word doesnotpresumetoproduce“totalknowledge,” but tionship withtheirhumanusers.“Total”inoursenseof the “eco-facts,” or natural objects used by humans, and their rela- of researchthusbecomesnotsimplyartifactsbutextendsto by technology,andevenreligiousconventions.Theobject the ages—bysettlementpatterns,byworkingofland, formations impressed upon it by man and nature throughout research. In itareconserved traces of the pastand the trans- of resultantdatatoassembleatotalhistoryeachlocale. survey; andexcavation.Wethenusethemanydifferentkinds documentary sources;aerialphotography;lasermapping;field of tools:textualdatasuchasepigraphy,wellliteraryand hills—as unitsofstudy.Wethenbringtobearawholerange topographies—such asrivervalleysorthesub-Apennine Our pointofdepartureisthelanditself,selectingspecific unexpected newresults. Daunian landscapesforwhichthisapproachhasyielded ology,” and,inwhatfollows,wedescribefour an approachistermed“totallandscapearchae- eval periods,usingeverytoolavailable.Such through theendofmedi- term, fromtheRoman history overthelong set outtorecord eval farms,we One landscapetoolusedtogreateffectinDauniaisaerial For us,themodernlandscapeisitselfalsoanobjectof A TotalLandscapeArchaeology now documentedinApulia. this mapshowsculturalheritagesites ancient sites:eachofthereddotson Puglia projecthascataloguedmany The fourApulianuniversities/Regione

Penn Museum (left), Giuliano Volpe (top center, top right and middle), L. Tadeschi and F. Taccogna (bottom right) Giuliano Volpe (top and middle), L. Tadeschi and F. Taccogna (bottom) shows theinteriorofearlyChristianbasilicaatSanGiusto. with adoublebasilicaandbaptistery.Bottom,thiscomputerreconstruction photography. Middle,SanGiusto(Lucera)isanearlyChristiancomplex Medieval Village,isoneexampleofanarchaeologicalsitefoundbyaerial Top, MottadellaRegina,aNeolithicvillageandsuperimposed (near Foggia).Montedoromay betheroadsidestationcalled were locatedthecitiesofAecae (modernTroia)andArpi withtheportofSiponto, andalongwhoselength set alongthenorth-southroadthatjoinedRomancity of nificant wasthediscoveryofavicus,orvillage,atMontedoro, numerous villas,villages,andsmallfarms.Particularlysig - we discoveredanunexpectedlypopulouslandscape,with areas ofItalyexperiencedasteadydeclineinruralsettlements, the lateantiqueperiod(4thto6thcentury),atimewhenother ried outintensivefieldsurveyintheCeloneRivervalley.For property managerforApuliaandCalabria.” tells us was administered by a particular official, the “imperial official administrativedocumentdrawnupinthe5thcentury, the ric or diocese grew up withinalargeimperial estate called convened byPopeSymmacusinAD501–502.Thebishop- of the Carmeia estate, present at the synod of one ofthebishopswasProbus,episcopusCarmeianensisor sources, weidentifiedthesiteasseatofaruraldiocese; small bath house. On the basis of historical and epigraphic planned, monumentalbaptistery;residentialspaces;anda and theotherdesignedforpurelyfuneraryuses;acentrally composed oftwoconnectedchurches,onewithfinemosaics centuries AD,agreatchurchcomplexwasbuiltatthissite, tion, andotheragro-industrialfacilities.Inthe5th6th the washingandworkingofwool,akilnforceramicproduc- wine productionfacilities,warehousesforgrain,structures a dam. Here we revealed a large Roman villa provided with site ofSanGiusto,carriedoutindifficultconditionsinside BC. Theprojectbeganwithanemergencyexcavationatthe Luceria, thefirstLatincolonyinApulia,founded315–314 Celone Rivervalley.Theliesintheterritoryofancient We firstbeganthisapproachtolandscapein1998the archaeological landscapes. farm constructionintheregionthathasthreatenedmany rescue tools,particularlyinthefaceoflarge-scalewind- scapes. Thesemodesofresearchhavealsobeenimportantas geophysical survey:geophysicscarriedoutoverwholeland- period. Manyofthesesiteswerealsosubjectedtoextensive of variouskinds,datingfromtheprehistorictomedieval of some50,000photosandlocatedoverathousandnewsites In addition to the excavations at San Giusto, we also car- saltus Carminianensis,whichtheNotitiaDignitatuman Celone RiverValley San Giustoandthe www.penn.museum/expedition 23 Above, at the Villa of Faragola (), cut marble, or opus sectile, panels covered parts of the floor and the sides of the couch in the dining room. Left top and middle, the summer dining room of the Villa of Faragola (Ascoli Satriano) was used in a recent restaging of 4th century author Macrobius’ Saturnalia, a philosophical dialogue that takes place during a dinner party. Left bottom, the Roman baths at Herdonia ( Fg.) are visible along traces of the Via Traiana.

24 volume 53, number 2 expedition De arte venandi cum avibus, facsimile of Ms. Pal. Lat. 1071 (top), Giuliano Volpe (bottom), page 24: LAD, Univ. Foggia (top left), Giuliano Volpe (remainder of images) recently excavatedbyourteam. The King’svacationhomeandzoowerelocatedatPantano about huntingandwroteabookentitledOntheArtofHuntingwithBirds. Frederick IIofHohenstaufen,theSwabiankingSicily,waspassionate dining roompavedwithahighly unusualfloorcomposedof in lateantiquitywith -paved baths andagreatsummer nized asaseriesofroomsaround aperistyle,andwasenlarged later reoccupiedbyagreatRoman villa.Thevillawasorga- mosaic. Abandonedinthe3rd or2ndcenturyBC,thesitewas domestic structureandincludedaroompavedwithpebble Daunian period(6th–2ndcenturyBC),theearliestsitewas a in Dauniawithanunusuallylonghistory.Firstoccupied the out initssurroundingterritory.Faragolawasoneofmanysites Roman villawasexcavatedatFaragola,andasurveycarried In another valley, that of the , a large, luxurious of ornithologyandfalconry,OntheArtHuntingwithBirds. king’s passionforhunting,asdescribedinhisfamousbook with exoticanimalsandgardens—alltoaccommodatethe Emperor. The sitewasoutfittedwithapark—akind of zoo King ofSicily,whowouldgoontobecomeHolyRoman tion homeforKingFrederickIIofHohenstaufen,theSwabian of Pantano, which in the early13th century served as a vaca- diffusion ofChristianitytoruralareas. were foundearlyChristianchurches,pointingtoaprofound called thePeutingerTable.Inothervillagesinthisterritory the Recently, wehavealsobegunexcavationatthenearbysite Praetorium Lauerianum,knownfromthe4thcenturymap City ofHerdonia,andthe The VillaofFaragola,the CarapelleRiverValley it has not yet been developed into an archaeological park. it hasnotyetbeendevelopedintoanarchaeologicalpark. the landisprivatelyheld,andalthoughitopentopublic, most importanturbansitesinsouthernItaly.Unfortunately, Belgian-Italian teamdirectedbymyself,Herdoniaisoneofthe since 1962byBelgianarchaeologistJosephMertensand,later,a ers atthissignificantsite.Thankstosystematicexcavationsrun prehistoric throughthelatermedievalperiods is found in lay- only intheearlymodernperiod.ThehistoryofDauniafrom Herdonia with an importantmedievaloccupation,abandoned The mostnotablesettlement,however,istheRomancityof ments anddottedwithothervillas,villages,smallfarms. rounding Carapelle Rivervalleytoberich in Romansettle- cal museumofAscoliSatriano. Archaeological Park of Daunian Culture and the archaeologi- be visitedaspartofanetworksuchparks,includingthe currently beingconservedasanarchaeologicalparkandcan contrast totheluxurioushousethatprecededit.Faragolais industrial installationsforceramics,glass,andmetalinsharp village grewupoveritsremains,smallhuts,graves,and After thevillawasabandonedinlate6thcenturyAD,a whose moniesderivedfromfarmingthesurroundinglands. these luxuriessuggestthewealthofRomanaristocracy designed tocoolresidentsandguestsinthesummerheat.All which wasafountainofwater,cascadingtoshallowpool— Roman diningcouch,encrustedwithmarble,inthecenterof prising find:averyrareexampleofbuiltstibadium,orcurved cut marbleandglass.Insidethediningroomemergedasur- shops (tabernae),temples,senatehouse curia), andotherstructures. A planoftheRomanforumatHerdonia showsthemarket(macellum), As intheCeloneValley,ourfieldsurveysfoundsur- www.penn.museum/expedition 25 The early Christian complex at San Leucio is shown in this aerial view at Canosa di Puglia.

The excavated area represents a portion of a Roman city scape of Canusium, modern Canosa di Puglia, another city that witnessed particular expansion between the 1st and 3rd with a particularly long life. Canosa was very much a prod- centuries AD. It was during this period that a great highway, uct of its landscape, and was advantageously set along the the Via Traiana—built by the emperor —ran through course of the River, which in antiquity was navigable the site, connecting Benevento with . The city also for much of its length. Canosa was adjacent to a great fertile boasted a Roman amphitheater, built over an earlier Daunian plain and was set at the junction of a series of major roads. As defensive ditch; Roman houses and industrial buildings; and a result, the city was consistently wealthy, evident from its rich a plaza seemingly used for gymnastic shows. The city’s forum Daunian to its impressive Roman remains. Our work preserves the remains of a civic , senate house (curia), has focused on the later Roman period, when Canosa become the remains of two temples, and a covered market or macel- the most important city of the province of et Calabria, lum, specializing in the sale of meat and fish. Our own recent which extended over most of Italy’s boot. It thus became the excavations revealed a large bath complex of imperial and late of the provincial governor and seat of the province’s antique date, with hot and cold rooms all richly decorated. highest-ranking bishop. At the extreme north of the city are the remains of a medi- Our work in Canosa has focused on two major early eval church; the church was later transformed into a forti- Christian complexes: the church of , and the city’s fied nucleus, surrounded by a ditch, within which was built a , dedicated to the Virgin. The city played a key role hunting lodge for Frederick II. in the Christian politics of its day, thanks to a consistently energetic community led by a series of powerful who Canusium and the Valley of Ofanto attended all the most important church councils of their day. These bishops also played significant diplomatic roles, particu- Urban archaeology is also part of the study of landscapes, and larly in relationships with the East. By the 4th century, Canosa we have focused much of our recent efforts on the urban land- had a bishop named Stercorius, who took part in the Council A. V. Romano

26 volume 53, number 2 expedition Above, this brick includes the monogram of Bishop Sabinus of Canusium. Right, at Canosa di Puglia, an aerial view shows the early Christian complex of Saint Peter.

of Sardica (modern Sophia, Bulgaria). It was in the 6th century, Ages, and the movement of his , and constitutes the rich- however, that the church of Canosa really came into its own est, if not always most reliable, source of information on his under its most famous bishop, Sabinus, who led the diocese for buildings. This source also credits him with the construction of over half a century (514–566). Friend of Saint Benedict, confi- a church of Saint Peter, in which Sabinus himself was buried. dant of various popes, emissary to the East, and leader during The was then lost and only rediscovered in the 7th cen- the tumultuous years when war decimated the southern prov- tury when it became an object of holy pilgrimage. Later, during inces, Sabinus was also an active builder. In Canosa, the textual the 9th century, Sabinus’ relics were transferred to the city’s evidence claims he built a church of Cosmas and Damian, later new cathedral and then again to . dedicated to San Leucio, a baptistery dedicated to , and the church of the Savior near the cathedral. Bricks bearing his monogram have been found in numerous churches in Canosa, as well as in Canne and Barletta, showing the reach of his ambitious building projects. A 9th century account of to visit his life, the Life and Translation of Saint Sabinus, Bishop, shows Most of the sites and museums that by this time, Sabinus was regarded as a saint, called the res- mentioned here are easily visited, such taurator ecclesiarum—restorer of the churches. This biography as Ascoli Satriano, Canosa, Herdonia, describes the miraculous events of his life, the Foggia, Luceria, Montecorvino, San discovery of his tomb in the Middle Severo, -, and Monte Sant’Angelo, while San Giusto is unfortunately covered by the waters of the nearby dam. The University of Foggia has also begun an archaeological guide service (www.archeologicasrl.com, info@ archeologicasrl.com), in collaboration with a local tour operator (GTours, www. gtours.it), which allows you to visit these

This reconstruction depicts and other sites in the company of an the early Christian complex of archaeologist. Saint Peter at Canosa di Puglia during the 6th century. Giuliano Volpe (top left), A. V. Romano and G. De Felice right), Sibilano (right)

www.penn.museum/expedition 27 The excavations carried out between 2001 and 2006 in be identified with an elegant, apsed , paved with Saint Peter’s have revealed a huge complex composed of a , which formed part of the first phase of the complex large church with three , preceded by an ample atrium and later came to hold other privileged burials. We suspect and surrounded by residential and funerary structures. The that the of this mausoleum originally contained the sar- discovery of many bricks bearing his monogram shows that cophagus of the bishop, later removed during the many relo- the complex was, in fact, built by Sabinus himself. If we believe cations of his remains. the Life, Sabinus was buried in this church, and his tomb may The excavations at Saint Peter’s may have also revealed a rarity in early Christian archaeology: the residence of the bishop. The various structures discovered around the church comprise a central courtyard surrounded by finely decorated the hungry rooms, complete with underfloor heating, and paved with archaeologist both mosaics and with those same monogrammed tiles bear- ing the insignia of Sabinus. To the south of the church another elite two-story house was also found, one room of which con- Daunia’s cuisine is like its archaeology, close to tained a type of , perhaps for the bishop. the land, and many dishes are based on peasant Another of Sabinus’ projects was the baptistery of Saint food that varies enormously with the seasons. John, a large 12-sided building. An outer gallery connected Among the most notable dishes are pancotto, four rooms in a cruciform arrangement, while the center of made from wild seasonal vegetables, bread, and the building held a great octagonal baptismal font. This fine potatoes; homemade like cicatelli served example of late antique was preceded by a nar- with arugula or troccoli with cuttlefish; lamb with thex, or vestibule, and an ample atrium surrounded by porti- thistles and eggs; baked torcinelli with potatoes; coed walkways. The Life of Sabinus claims that the bishop built and various cheeses, particularly caciocavallo this baptistery “next to the church of the most holy and ever podolico (made from local, free-range cows’ virgin mother of God, Maria,” that is, alongside a pre-existing milk). For desserts, try the calzungidde or grano church which should be the first cathedral of Canosa. To test dei morti (literally, wheat for the dead), available this hypothesis, in 2006 we began excavations to the south of only in the first days of November; wafers filled the baptistery and revealed a three-aisled church which dated with from the Gargano; and mostaccioli, to the 4th or 5th century AD, preceding the time of Sabinus. or fig cookies. It is also amazing to see (and Sabinus nonetheless left his mark here, restoring and embel- taste) the huge wheels of bread from Monte lishing the church and connecting it to his new baptistery via Sant’Angelo and Orsara. Finally, while little a corridor. known in America, Apulian wines are excellent, particularly the reds: , Nero di Troia, A Journey through History and naturally, Daunia are some of the notable , while San Severo has also begun to This article highlights the work carried out by the Università produce a fine spumante. di Foggia, but Daunia has many other treasures to offer. Those In all the cities of Daunia one can find good, who have a passion for culture will find the region’s cities and modestly priced restaurants and trattorias. countryside rich with other monuments, from cathedrals to Many can be found in the town of Orsara di caves. Italo Calvino, one of Italy’s most beloved authors, said Puglia, winner of the Italian slow-food prize and that “for the traveler, the past changes according to the trip they make.” A trip through Daunia offers any number of pasts, complete with a beautiful historic center. Here, some of which we have helped uncover and others of which try the ‘Pane e Salute,’ a small trattoria, where still wait, unexplored, in the region’s haunting landscapes. they still use a 16th century straw-burning oven and seasonal products at their absolute freshest. by giuliano volpe is President (Rettore) of the Università degli Studi di Foggia, where he is also Professor of Early Christian and Medieval Archaeology.

28 volume 53, number 2 expedition