History

In addition to the linguistic data (see etymology below), we also have some important historical elements relating to Peschici confirming even further the relationship between the Slavs and Peschici; in fact, go back to the tenth century the slave colonies of Peschici and “Vico del Gargano”, erected by some  Slavs soldiers sent for Emperor Otto I of Saxony to defend the Gargano  from the Saracens incursions.

Despite the medieval origin, Peschici and its surroundings are of great archaeological interest; in fact, the  “Museum of the Flintstone” in Peschici contains various  stone artefacts extracted from the  “Sberna” Valley , a location south of the town. In the Gargano promontory are concentrated the most ancient stone complex attributable to an archaic phase of the Lower Palaeolithic. The artefacts  found in  the “Umbra Forest” (near Peschici) are documented in the local “Museum of the Umbra Forest”, dating back  more  than 32,000 years BC.

The city's origins  in any case  date back to the Medieval  Ages  (915), when the Roman Emperor Otto I, after having released the headland by the Saracens,  built the two colonies of Peschici and Vico. In the second half of the thousand  the Saracens  were finally expelled from the Gargano by the Normans, that at the highest point of  Peschici built a castle. Frederick II of Swabia later reinforced it with the walls and a tower, called the Bridge or "Rocca Imperiale"  that was a Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese and finally Spanish stronghold. Formerly the country, entirely circumscribed by walls, was equipped with three entrances , the gate of the Bridge, Gate of the Castle and  Low Gate.

Then the town followed the fortunes of the Kingdom of Naples until the Unification of Italy (1861). Currently it is a rich and important tourist centre.

Etymology

The geographical position of Peschici, and especially the high cliff overlooking the sea, have suggested an etymology connected with the nature  of the place where the city was born. Indeed, D. Altamura wrote: "[...] Quod utrum Piscibus and an e Persicis Malis, an potius nomen praecisa nomen 'Peschici' duxerit incertum est [...]" or "[ There is a small country, which is among the rocks and cliffs,  sunny],  the  name  of which we do not know  if it comes from "fish" or  "peaches" or, as is more likely, from the  'overfull rock’ "(See D. Altamura, “Scripta Latina”, Edipuglia , 2004, p. 122).

According to some recent  and accredited studies, it is possible, however, a Slavic origin of the name. According to some  studies  by the Institute of Linguistics, Bucharest, J. Jernej supported the hypothesis that "[...] some names on the Adriatic coast can have a Slavic origin (...)  Lesina, from the Slavic ‘lesbno’ (" wood") and Peschici, from the name of the country ‘Peschitz’, in Bohemia, having as basis the Serbo Croatian ‘Pijesak’, ‘ sand’. According to J. Jernej,  Peschici language itself seemed to confirm the hazardous hypothesis [...] "(See " Studies in Linguistics”, "Linguistics Institute of Bucharest”, 1958, Vol. 3: 410). The thing is possible, because the J. Jernej’s studies were confirmed by other investigations, which re-affirm that Peschici can actually have a relationship with Bohemia, and “[...] the Serbo Croatian   'Pijesak' ('sand'), as other slang terms in the same area could be Slavic origin, as 'ciurcia', 'child', reminiscent of the Serbo Croatian 'Curica' [...]” (See" The Western and Southern Slavs  in early Middle Ages ", “ Centre for Italian Studies about the early Middle Ages " 1983: 948). Peschici that means "sand" is also in agreement with the great linguist G. Rohlfs (See "Linguistica", 2003:  192 and notes 17 and 18).

Also we mention the fact that Peschici is famous for having the finest sand in all the Italian coasts, for which it is almost certain that the name "Peschici" recalls this particular aspect of the place, or the "sand".