Casalvecchio di Puglia

The first urban agglomeration was founded around the year 1000.

After being razed in 1461 by the Albanian national hero Giorgio Castriota Skandeberg, the country was again founded by a group of Albanian refugees, the Schiavoni, who fled from the homeland after the Turkish invasion. Even today the town is home to one of the small communities of Albanian origin still present in Italy: its inhabitants still speak the arbëreshë.

One of the main urban features of the old town is its checkered shape determined by the nineteenth-century development of the village. In the historic center overlooking a beautiful square the Church of SS. Pietro and Paolo, while at the northern edge of the village stands Santa Maria delle Grazie. Leaving the village to the east, you will come across the remains of a cylindrical tower, traditionally called the Briganti Tower.

Casalvecchio because of its history has traditions, linked to songs, cuisine, folklore very peculiar, and keepers of a felt identity value.