Discovering Gargano: Mount Saraceno

Monte Saraceno is a magical place, which still excites those who decide to visit the Gargano today.

In these places, as early as the 9th century BC a peaceful population settled, dedicated to agriculture, hunting and fishing, the Dauni. People very different from the Italic peoples of the nearby Apennines also in the way of honoring and burying the dead.

From the top of a spur of rock overlooking the sea, the necropolis of Monte Saraceno is the ideal place for walks in contact with nature and history. About 5 kilometers from the town of Mattinata, a path of Aleppo pines, almond trees and carob trees leads to the top of Mount Saraceno, on the eastern end of the Gargano, where there is a fascinating proto-historic necropolis dating back more than 2500 years ago.

There are more than 500 tombs carved into the rock, in a mysterious stone landscape that mixes itself with wild nature on one of the most beautiful stretches of coast in the region. Surrounded by the ancient city of Matino, the necropolis preserves traces of the Dauni people, a civilization dedicated to agriculture. In the burials numerous objects of the funerary equipment have been found, such as carved heads, stems and shields, now preserved in the city Civic Museum.

A paradise for nature and archeology lovers, the necropolis also has  archeo-trekking paths that culminate in the ancient sacred Via dei Dauni