| Vieste
Vieste juts out into the Adriatic on two promontories, the easternmost point of the Gargano peninsula. Fifty years ago there wasn't even a proper road here, but today Vieste, with its excellent beaches, is the holiday capital of Gargano (and Puglia), and the streets and sands are packed in August. Despite this it has managed to survive as a lively and inviting town, with an interesting historic core and active nightlife that warrant a stop of a day or two – certainly if you're planning to take the ferry from here to the Trémiti Islands.
The old town sits on the easternmost of the two promontories, at the tip of which stands the Chiesa di San Francesco, once a thriving monastery, and a trabucco – a cantilevered arrangement of beams, winches and ropes still used by fishermen to catch mullet. Made of wood, these structures are a feature peculiar to the rocky Gargano coast, probably Phoenician in origin, and the principle at least is straightforward. As mullet swim head to tail, a live mullet is attached to a line and used to entice others to swim over a net suspended below, which is then hoisted up to the platform.
From the church, climb up Via Mafrolla, walking into the old town to Piazza Seggio. Straight ahead, Via Duomo is site of the so-called Chianca Amara, the "bitter stone", where as many as 5000 local people were beheaded when the Turks sacked the town in 1554. Further down, beyond the stone, the Cattedrale, eleventh century in origin but tampered with in the eighteenth century, is a cool retreat from the fierce glare of the sun in the whitewashed streets; and beyond here the Castello is another of Frederick II's installations – owned by the military now and not open to the public, but giving good views over the beaches and town.
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