Visit Gargano, Puglia

Gargano Italy travel guide and attractions

Gargano is a region in south-east Italy, where it forms a promontory into the Adriatic Sea to the north of Puglia.

The centre of the Gargano is an isolated mountainous region, much of which is now designated as the Gargano National Park. The coastal region is a mix of impressive scenery, with cliffs plunging to the shore, interspersed with beaches.

There is little important development within the higher regions of Gargano, but below the mountains and around the coast there are several towns of historical interest and also many popular resorts based around the beaches of the promontory.

The best known of the seaside resorts are those at Mattinata, Peschici and Vieste. Some of the other towns of interest (see details of the individual places for more details) include:

• Cagnano Varano
• Carpino
• Ischitella
• Lesina (to the west)
• Manfredonia
• Monte Sant'Angelo
• Rignano Garganico
• Rodi Garganico
• San Giovanni Rotondo
• San Marco in Lamis
• San Nicandro Garganico

The characteristic mountainous landscapes of Gargano also includes natural small craters known as sinkholes. The largest sinkhole  is called Centopozzi, a name that refers to the numerous wells in the area around Rignano. Centopozzi, thanks to the Gargano National Park, is very popular with tourists and nature lovers.

The wooded area in Gargano National Park occupies some areas of the highest mountains and includes almost all species of the Mediterranean bush, such as oaks, mastic, olive, fern and holly. In the park there are also many varieties of birds such as owls, sparrows, robins, swallows and crows.

Also worth seeing is the dolmen (dolmen is a tomb of the prehistoric Neolithic period, built with a few rough stones planted upright in the ground in support of a large horizontal slab) of Rignano Garganico, discovered in 2001. The monument is situated on the plain of the Virgin of Christ, not far from the “Paglicci” Cave.