Events in Gravina
The principal events are:
Historical parade / Festa di san Giuseppe / Festa di san Michele / Festival Nundinae / Fiera di san Giorgio / Sagra del Cardoncello / Festa del crocifisso / Trail delle cinque querce…
St George's Fair
“We Charles II of Anjou” grant the requests of the citizens of Gravina, supported by John Montfort or Monfort, their lord, our family member and councillor, and grant the privilege of reinstating the nuns of St George. We want them to last eight days: from five before 23 April, the feast of St George, to two after it. The fair is to be celebrated where alias consueverunt nundine fieri, celebrentur singulis annis…, dummodo fient absque dispendio rei pubbliciice et preiudicio vicinorum”. With this privilege, drawn up and sanctioned by public deed, Charles II, on 11 June 1294, authorised the citizens of Gravina, and, on their behalf, Count Giovanni Monfort, to reinstate the St George’s Fair with all its privileges, advantages and limitations. |
Cathering of Historical Parades
The Gathering of Historical Parades, held annually in September in Gravina in Puglia, commemorates the granting of the fief of Gravina by King Charles II of Anjou to Count Jean de Monfort, a French member of the Dukes of Burgundy. The donation took place on 15 August 1289 during a public and solemn ceremony called the “Constitutio de Feudis” (an act issued by Conrad II the Salian on 28 May 1037), which established the subservience of the Gravina county to the Angevin dynasty. |
St Michael
Gravina’s patronal festival, dedicated to St Michael Archangel, is an event that takes place in the last days of September and is a moment of great religious and civil importance. |
St Michael of the Caves
Located in the ancient Fondovito district, the church of St Michael overlooks the Gravina and is a splendid testimony to the cult of St Michael in Apulia. In fact, on 8 May each year it is the site of the celebrations and the Festival of St Michael of the Caves in memory of the legendary apparition of St Michael in a cave in Monte Sant’Angelo. On this occasion, the inhabitants of the quarter decorate the streets with the so-called “balloni”.
