Mottola (Taranto) "il balcone della Puglia"

Perched on a hill at 387 m. s.l.m. from where it dominates the underlying amphitheater Murgia to the plain and the Gulf of Taranto, Mottola is the center of ancient origins: the discovery, in 1899, of archaeological finds from the Iron Age, confirm how the town was one of the first settlements arose in the region.
Over the centuries was Lombard, Byzantine, Norman, Swabian, Angevin and Aragonese. Destroyed in 1102 at the hands of the chancellor tarantino Muarcaldo, under Norman rule became a bishopric from 1023 until 1818. Passed in 1653 under the dependence of Francesco Caracciolo II, VII Duke of Martina, Mottola has a significant demographic and economic development under the wise fiscal policy of the Duke.

The town has a circular shape and streets arranged in tiers all around the hill towards the center of the country where stands, at the highest point, the city palace. In the historic center, known for centuries as the Schiavonia, you can visit the Mother Church built in 1200 and expanded in the early 1500s, and its fourteenth century bell tower considered a national monument.

Extraordinary is the scenario of Gravina Petruscio, a deep ravine in which there is a small rocky village nestled in a thick forest of pines. Abandoned shortly after the year one thousand, the village consisted of all environments typical of an urban medieval addition to homes, were present production complexes, places of worship, common areas, warehouses, cemeteries.

Mottola has very strong economy through agriculture and animal husbandry that provide markets with excellent products: wine, olive oil, almonds, beans, meat, milk and cheese.
The kitchen Mottolese is a triumph of Mediterranean flavors: it goes from orecchiette and fricidd sauce or with turnips, the cavatelli with chickpeas or beans, from ghjumeriddi, the brainless grilled by purcidduzzi (dumplings sweet dough covered with cooked wine), to scartagghiett (scallops fried pastry with honey).

For informations: info@pugliaetmores.it