The Gargano’s chief port takes its name from the Swabian king Manfred Hohenstaufen who established its chessboard layout in 1256. The Swabian-Angevin fortress matches that of Lucera in decrepit grandeur. It contains the National Archaeological Museum, mostly geology and archaeology. Santa Maria di Siponto, a strange pale-stone Romanesque church of many arches and a fortified appearance, is on the way to Siponto lido, 2 km south of town. Mattinata, 16 km north, has the Gargano’s longest beach, a sight to behold as you wind towards it down the zigzags of the coast road. In Zagare Bay, on the edge of that strand, are some of the promontory’s most contorted caverns and islets.