Highlights:

Discover the ancient Roman town by visiting the Augustan amphitheater

Follow the ancient walls of the Swabian-Angevin fortress and visit the Queen’s Tower

Explore the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, supposedly built on the Saracen mosque

Tour details:

The tour of Lucera with a licensed guide, starts from the Roman amphitheater dating back to the Augustan age and among the oldest and largest in southern Italy with a capacity between 16,000 and 18,000 spectators. It was built in honor of Augustus and the colony of Lucera, as attested by the inscription placed on the architraves of the entrance portals.

The access was made up of two portals framed by columns of the Ionic order, placed on the major axis towards the city and in the direction of Foggia. The arena is bordered by a water collection channel and a podium in which four accesses to the arena are opened. Below the arena there is a long open service gallery for three pits. Near the amphitheater was the athletes’ gym, some public buildings and an infirmary.

After the visit of the amphitheater the tour continues on the other side of the town, the Swabian-Angevin fortress, one of the symbols of Lucera. Built on the Albano hill in the 13th century, it was an important Muslim settlement (after having been inhabited since the 3rd millennium AD) that came to house up to 60,000 Muslims arrived from Sicily and always loyal to the Swabian family.

Here we will visit the remains of the important Federician Palatium (to review the 3D construction we recommend visiting the page dedicated to Jesi), the huge wall along 900 and 13 meters high and the Tower of the Lioness or Queen 25 meters high to log into.

The tour continues in the historic center with a visit to the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, built by Charles II of the Angevin family in 1302, it is thought about the remains of the Saracen mosque. Important Gothic building with two particularly important elements: the side altar dedicated to the patron saint Santa Maria depicted in a wooden statue of 1300 and the altar of the presbytery, formed by a slab of stone supported by 6 octagonal columns, found on the remains of Castel Fiorentino , where it served as a canteen to Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor, and brought to Lucera in the fifteenth century