What is Fasano known for?

Messapian and Roman city on the coast inhabited from the fifteenth century BC, eighty hectares of ruins including the Via Traiana and the civil basilica. Drive-through wildlife park founded in 1973 in the Selva, 140 hectares, the second-largest in Europe and the largest of its kind in Italy. Selva di Fasano at 414 meters, the highest point in the Brindisi province, panoramic terrace over the Adriatic and the inland olive plain.

Fasano is a comune in the province of Brindisi, Apulia region of Italy, about 61 kilometers from Bari.

Apulia · Brindisi

Fasano

A Brindisi-province town from the Adriatic up to the Itria escarpment, holding the Roman ruins of Egnazia, the Selva, and Europe's second-largest safari park.

61 km / 38 mi

Nearest hub (Bari)

38,745

Population

May–Sep

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Fasano spreads across thirty-eight thousand residents and a wide municipal territory at the northern edge of the Brindisi province, with its main centrebetween the Adriatic and the Itria escarpment. The territory holds three distinct landscapes. On the coast lies Egnazia, the Messapian and Roman city inhabited from the fifteenth century BC, abandoned in the Middle Ages, with eighty hectares of excavations including the Via Traiana, the civil basilica, the cryptoporticus and a national archaeological museum holding the finds. Inland and uphill, the Selva di Fasano is a wooded escarpment at 411 to 414 meters, the highest point in the province of Brindisi, nicknamed the Balcony of the Orient for its panorama over the Adriatic. The Zoosafari Fasanolandia, founded in 1973 in the Selva on more than 140 hectares of carob and centenary olive scrubland, is the second-largest wildlife park in Europe and the largest drive-through zoo in Italy. The coastal frazione of Savelletri holds Bandiera Blu.

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Gallery

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Known for

Parco Archeologico di Egnazia
Eighty-hectare archaeological park of the Messapian-Roman city of Egnatia, inhabited from the fifteenth century BC, with the Via Traiana, basilica and cryptoporticus.
Museo Nazionale Archeologico Giuseppe Andreassi
National museum next to the Egnazia site, holding the artefacts from the excavations, Messapian inscriptions and Roman finds across the long abandonment.
Selva di Fasano
Wooded escarpment at 411-414 meters, the highest point of the province of Brindisi, nicknamed the Balcony of the Orient for its Adriatic panorama.
Zoosafari Fasanolandia
Drive-through wildlife park founded in 1973 in the Selva on 140 hectares of carob and olive scrubland, the second-largest in Europe.
Savelletri
Coastal frazione on the Adriatic, fishing port turned beach resort, holding Bandiera Blu, the municipal seaside front.

When to visit

Best months · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through September is the working season on this stretch of the Adriatic: warm sea, the Bandiera Blu beaches at Savelletri operating, the Selva ten degrees cooler than the coast for an evening break. July and August fill the coast with Italian holidaymakers; Egnazia exposed on the seafront is brutal between noon and three. April and October are quieter alternatives with the sea still mild, the archaeological park at its photographic best, and the olive harvest opening across the surrounding masserie. November through March is cool and damp; many coastal businesses close, but the museum, the Selva and the centro storico run year-round. The Festa di Sant'Oronzo in August is the year's civic peak.