What is Biccari known for?

At 1,151 meters the highest peak in Puglia, on the commune boundary, beech and oak forest above the Tavoliere haze. Square watchtower built around 1024 under Basilio Boioannes, the structure the village grew around and the still-standing core of the centro storico. Active Comuni Virtuosi scheme to bring residents back to the centro storico, including subsidised second homes and shared-services projects.

Biccari is a comune in the province of Foggia, Apulia region of Italy, about 36 kilometers from Foggia.

Apulia · Foggia

Biccari

A Subappennino Dauno borgounder Monte Cornacchia, the highest peak in Puglia, with a Byzantine tower at its core.

36 km / 22 mi

Nearest hub (Foggia)

2,636

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Biccari sitson the eastern slope of the Subappennino Dauno, with Monte Cornacchia rising behind it, the highest point in Puglia. The municipal territory runs from the peak down to the Tavoliere plain, an unusual vertical range for a Puglian commune. The village was founded by Byzantine catepan Basilio Boioannes around 1024, then taken in the 1050s by a Norman called Pagano who fortified the original tower into a small castrum. The Torre Bizantina still stands at the centre of the village, a square stone tower that names everything around it. The town carries four institutional signals at once, including Bandiera Arancione and Comuni Virtuosi, and runs an active second-home repopulation scheme. A Neolithic site at Boschetto, 700 meters up the Organo torrent, is one of the highest of its age in Puglia, evidence of seasonal habitation four thousand years before Christ.

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Gallery

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Known for

Torre Bizantina
Square stone watchtower built by the Byzantine catepan around 1024, the structure the Norman fortifications grew around, still the highest point in the village.
Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Assunta
Mother church in the centro storico, rebuilt over the centuries on Byzantine and Norman foundations, anchoring the upper village.
Lago Pescara
Small upland lake in the Cornacchia foothills, used for fishing and a summer walking circuit, at the edge of the beech and oak woodland.
Monte Cornacchia
At 1,151 meters the highest peak in Puglia, on the boundary of the commune, with trails up from Biccari through beech forest.
Sito Neolitico di Boschetto
Neolithic settlement at 700 meters on the Organo torrent, one of the highest sites of its age in Puglia, evidence of seasonal use 4,000 years BC.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through October are the months the Subappennino Dauno stays workable: cool evenings, dry summer air, the Cornacchia trails open. June through August reach the high twenties at 450 meters while Foggia bakes; the village climate is the main argument for visiting in high summer. October brings the chestnut and porcini season in the woods above the lake. November through March is cold, foggy, often snowy on Cornacchia. Many trattorie close. The Sagra del Fungo Cardoncello in autumn and the patronal feast in August are the two civic peaks of the year.