Tavoliere delle Puglie

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The Tavoliere seen from the Gargano promontory.

The Tavoliere delle Puglie (Italian: "Apulian Table") is a plain in northern Apulia, southern Italy, occupying nearly a half of the Capitanata traditional region. It covers a surface of c. 3,000 km², once constituting a sea bottom: it is bounded by the Daunian Pre-Apennines on the West, the Gargano Promontory and the Adriatic Sea on the East, and by the Fortore and Ofanto rivers on the south. It is the Italian largest plain after the Pianura Padana.

The name Tavoliere derives from the Latin term Tabulae censuariae, tables on which the Romans classified the areas devoted to sheep farming or agriculture.

In winter the plain is sometimes subject to floods by the Ofanto and the Fortore, while in summer drought is frequent.

The main centres, from north to south, are San Severo, Lucera, Foggia and Cerignola.

[edit] History

During the Middle Ages the old practice of agriculture and the fluvial regulamentation went lost, the plain being mostly devoted to sheep farming which, using apposite cattle-tracks, reached the Apennines' pasture lands through the Tavoliere. The lands was most marshy and unhealthy.

After extensive works of drainage, the plain is now highly cultivated. Crops include wheat, beet, tomato, especially in the area of Foggia, while also spread are cultivations of olives and grapes, which produce quality oils and wines.