Description of the attraction
Gargano National Park is a specially protected natural area in the province of Foggia in the Italian region of Apulia. It is located on the peninsula of the same name ("the spur of the Italian boot") and includes, in addition to Monte Gargano, the territory of the Tremiti Islands, lying to the north of the peninsula, and the huge Forest Umbra forest, which has been under state protection since 1977.
The name of the Tremiti Islands comes from their seismic nature - earthquakes have happened on their territory more than once, which in Italian are called "terremoti". During the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, the islands were used as a place of exile and burial of political prisoners. True, Mussolini was not original in this matter - two thousand years before him, Emperor Octavian Augustus exiled his granddaughter Julia the Younger to Tremiti, who died here 20 years later.
In general, the first inhabitants of the Tremiti Islands appeared in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. In the Middle Ages, the archipelago was ruled by the Abbey of Santa Maria a Mare, founded in the 9th century on the island of San Nicola and plundered by the Saracens later. And in 1783, King Ferdinand IV of Naples founded a penal colony here. In 1911, about 1,300 Libyans were held in this colony, who resisted the Italian occupation of their country. Most of them died of typhus. And Mussolini sent here not only his political opponents, but also hundreds of homosexuals.
Today, the Tremiti Islands are known as a popular tourist destination due to the crystal clear waters surrounding them. The most developed in terms of tourist infrastructure is the island of San Domino. It also houses the only sandy beach in the entire archipelago. The island of San Nicola is the most populated: there is a monastery in which a monk named Nicola is buried. Legend has it that every time someone tried to transport the remains of a monk from the island, a terrible storm would break out. The islands of Capraia, Cretaccio and Pianosa are uninhabited. The latter rises from the water only 15 meters, and sometimes, during storms, it completely plunges into the sea.
Another attraction of the Gargano National Park is Monte Gargano, famous for its shrine to the Archangel Michael. According to legend, it was here that the archangel appeared to people three times. And today crowds of believers besiege the medieval temple.
