Ascoli Satriano

Ascoli Satriano (Italian: [ˈaskoli satriˈaːno]; Foggiano: Àsculë) is a town and comune in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It is located on the edge of a large plain in Northern Apulia known as the Tavoliere delle Puglie.[3]

Ascoli Satriano

Àsculë  (Neapolitan)
Comune
Comune di Ascoli Satriano
Coat of arms
Location of Ascoli Satriano
Ascoli Satriano
Location of Ascoli Satriano in Italy
Ascoli Satriano
Ascoli Satriano (Apulia)
Coordinates: 41°12′56″N 15°33′28″E
CountryItaly
RegionApulia
ProvinceFoggia (FG)
FrazioniSan Carlo
Government
 • MayorVincenzo Sarcone
Area
 • Total333.68 km2 (128.83 sq mi)
Elevation
376 m (1,234 ft)
Population
 (30 April 2017)[2]
 • Total6,188
 • Density19/km2 (48/sq mi)
Demonym(s)Ascolani
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
71022
Dialing code0885
Patron saintSan Potito
Saint dayJanuary 14
WebsiteOfficial website
Polychrome marble carving (4th century BC) of two griffins devouring a deer. Formerly at the Getty Museum, now at The Museum Center of Ascoli Satriano.
Church of San Rocco.

History

The earliest human presence in the area of Ascoli Satriano dates from around the 9th century BC, according to archaeological evidence, and similar dated earthworks are common in the area.[3]

Ascoli Satriano (known as Asculum) was a city of the Dauni.[4] It was then a small cluster of habitations in a wider network of scattered villas. The economy was operated by slave labour and focused on grain cultivation.[3] Ascoli Satriano was the site of two early Roman battles (see Battle of Asculum).[5] Later Sulla established a military colony there.

As the Western Roman Empire began to collapse in the fourth and fifth centuries, many of the surrounding farms were abandoned with a retraction of cultivation and a re-growth of woodlands.[3] In the mid-9th century the Saracens razed the city. In 1040 it rebelled against the Byzantines and, the following year, a decisive battle was fought nearby which granted the Normans control over southern Italy. An earthquake in 1456 totally destroyed Ascoli Satriano, and forced relocation of the surviving inhabitants to the site of the current town. Re-growth of the town however was interrupted by periodic outbreaks of plague and typhus into the early 19th Century.[3]

From the end of the nineteenth century the Ascoli Satriano was affected by increasing emigration to the Americas, reaching a peak between 1903 and 1914, stopping during the periods of the First World War and Italian fascism. After the bombing of Foggia in 1943, Ascoli Satriano was freed by British and American forces.

Ascoli Satriano was mentioned by the Irish writer James Joyce in his novel Ulysses.

After the Second World War, Ascoli Satriano, close to Cerignola, was the center of significant labor struggles against landlordism, sharecropping and low wages, and strikes, demonstrations and land occupations became frequent. Trade unionists and politicians made passionate speeches to organize to support the demands of the working classes in Piazza Cecco d'Ascoli (today Piazza Giovanni Paolo II).

Main sights
  • The Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral (12th century)
  • Church of St. John the Baptist (12th century)
  • Church of the Incoronata (15th century)
  • The Museum Center of Ascoli Satriano houses the Marbles of Ascoli Satriano, a set of marble artifacts from the 4th century BCE believed to been taken from a tomb of an elite prince of the region.

People
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References
  1. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Istat. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. All demographics and other statistics from the Italian statistical institute (Istat)
  3. Curtis, Daniel. Is there an ‘agro-town’ model for Southern Italy? Exploring the diverse roots and development of the agro-town structure through a comparative case study in Apulia. Continuity and Change Vol. 28 (03) December 2013, pp 377 - 419 DOI: 10.1017/S0268416013000362, Published online: 27 November 2013.
  4. Edlund Berry, I.; A. Small; DARMC; R. Talbert; S. Gillies; T. Elliott; J. Becker. "Places: 442487 (Ausculum)". Pleiades. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  5. Information about this war can be found in Plutarch's Lives (Pyrrus 2 1), Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (XX 1—3), and Livy.


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