Trullo Rosario - Puglia

MARTINA FRANCA

According to local historians, Martina Franca origins date back to the X cent. when a group of refugees, escaping from Taranto because of the Saracens’invasions, founded a little village on San Martino mountain.

The juridical foundation of the town, instead, dates back to the fourteenth century, when it was enlarged by Filippo d’Angiò ,Prince of Taranto, who granted some exemptions to the inhabitants.
This is why the town is called “Franca” (free). The name “Martina” instead comes from San Martino, the patron saint of French Chivalry.

Filippo I d’Angiò invented the town coat of arms. Around the town they built a wall and some defence towers, of which you can still see: Porta Stracciata (Torn Door); S.Francesco Door; Carmine Door and S.Stefano Arch..

In the XV cent. Martina Franca became an Aragonese feud and then in the XVI cent. it was a dukedom of the Caracciolo family, a noble napolitan family. In the XVII century, Petracone V Caracciolo built the Ducal Palace, on the remains of the ancient Orsini castle. In 1646 the inhabitants of Martina, led by a blacksmith known as “Iron Chief”, rose against the Caracciolo family, but it kept on running their feud until 1827.

In the XVIII cent. the town reached its magnificence; there was an increase in the economy, especially due to agriculture and breeding, and there was an urban settlement, that gave a new and extraordinary aspect to the old town centre. In 1799, during the Republican risings, this town adopted liberal ideas, until 1861 (the unity of Italy).

ANCIENT TRADITIONS CULTURE

Folklore in Martina is varied and rich in suggestive events that remind the past of farmers and their life. Many of these events lost their original meaning, but they still attract the population and expecially tourists.

After Christmas, the first big event is Candlemas fair which lasts all day and it attracts visitors from other towns. Then there is the Carnival period that ends up with a parade on Shrove Tuesday.In opposition to the Carnival there is Lent and people pass from gladness to gravity, from joy to admonishment.

When you walk along the old town centre you can see some puppets called Quarantene (Lent puppets), hanging on a thread, that remind you the Lent period with its admonishments and deprivations.In this same period, there used to be some short funny moments thanks to the old saw in the middle of Lent period. Now this tradition does not exist anymore. Some restaurants though, still keep up the pignata tradition, usually accompanied by pizzica music- pizzica and a glass of wine. Easter week is also very suggestive with the Mysteries procession, established in the XVIII century.

A JOURNEY AMONG ART, CULTURE AND THE TERRITORY

Martina Franca is a smart town settled 431 metres above sea level, lying over one of the last southern hills in the south-east of the Murgia area. It overlooks the charming Valle d’Itria, a beautiful region with trees and white houses called “trulli”.
The main attraction of the town is definitely the old town centre, a typical example of baroque art, with its smart streets, its white lanes, its elegant mansions and its stately and monumental churches.
Besides a fascinating landscape, marked by the ancient “casedde”, the famous “trulli” and the typical local farms called “masserie”, Martina Franca is surrounded by a Karst territory, rich in suggestive caves.

From its strategic position, the Ionic town offers to its visitors a striking view over the towns nearby, over which there are the cities of Brindisi and Bari and their territories and, still over, the Adriatic sea. Martina Franca also offers to its visitors a chance to give a glance towards lovely woods, such as the enchanting “Parco delle Pianelle”, and towards green landscapes in the south. These are mainly wide vines fields, and they represent little oasis of peace and tranquillity for holidaymakers and expecially for those who love farm holidays.

The town, in which nowadays live around 49.000 people, is also a very important site at national level for its clothes industry.

Other important sectors, leading the economy of the town, are agribusiness and breeding, thanks to the presence over the territory of a precious livestock, ackoledged all over Italy and abroad, whose main specimens are the famous donkey of Martina Franca and the Murgese horse.

So Martina Franca is a very popular touristic site, not only for its rich and precious architectural, historical and artistic heritage,but also for its cultural activities that reach their best expression in the famous and awaited “Valle d’Itria Festival”.