Gravina in Puglia

Gravina was populated already in Stone Age times, it was colonized by the Greeks during the colonization of Greater Greece. The Romans took over around 300 BC and the Via Appia, which linked Rome to Brindisi, passed through Gravina. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire it was ruled by Goths, Byzantines, Lombards and Saracens. The Normans arrived around 1000. The town was the site of a Norman countship in the Hauteville Kingdom of Sicily and in 1091 the construction of the Norman cathedral started.

Emperor Frederick II had a castle built nearby, that is meanwhile in ruins. From 1386 to 1816 (!) it was a fief of the Orsini family.Feudal oppression led to numerous riots, in particular from 1789 until the unification of Italy in 1861.

Autumn is for sure a very low season for a merry-go-round.