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Conversano
Conversano ( Barese: ) is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic coast, at above sea level. The counts of Conversano owned a stud that they used to breed black Neapolitan stallions with Barb and Andalusian genetic backgrounds: these horses had strong ram-like heads, short backs, and broad hocks. One horse born in 1767, Conversano, became one of the principal stallions for establishing the Lipizzan horses (''Lipizzaner''). History The town of Conversano was settled as early as the Iron Age, when the Iapygians or the Peucetians founded Norba. Later, as evidenced by the 6th-century BC necropolis, it became a flourishing trade town that was influenced by the nearby Greek colonies. Norba was conquered by the Romans in 268 BC and seems to have been abandoned around the time of the Visigothic invasion of Italy in 410–411. The toponym, ''Casale Cupersanem'', is known from the 5th ...
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Giulio Antonio Acquaviva
Giulio Antonio Acquaviva (c. 1425 – February 7, 1481) was an Italian nobleman and condottiere. He was 7th House of Acquaviva, Duke of Atri and 1st of Teramo, Count of Conversano and San Flaviano and Lord of Padula and Roseto. Life Giulio Antonio Acquaviva was born at Atri, Italy, Atri, the son of Giosia Acquaviva, 6th Duke of Atri and Count of San Flaviano, and his wife Antonella Migliorati. He was a member of a patrician family of the Kingdom of Naples with large estates in Abruzzo, and held the titles of Duke of Atri, Count of San Flaviano and Giulianova, Lord of Forcella, Roseto, Padula, and was the first Duke of Teramo. By his marriage with Caterina del Balzo Orsini, his family obtained the title of counts of Conversano, which they retained until the early nineteenth century. After the battle of San Flaviano (or Battle of Tordino) between Francesco Sforza and Niccolò Piccinino on 25 July 1460, San Flaviano was sacked by Matteo di Capua's soldiers the following year and r ...
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Alexander, Count Of Conversano
Alexander (died after 1142) was the second count of Conversano (1085–1132), the son and successor of Geoffrey the Elder. Alexander, with his brother Tancred, was a constant thorn in the side of Roger II of Sicily. He took part in a civil war that broke out in Bari. Risone, the archbishop of the city, was murdered (1117) and the princess of Taranto, Constance of France, was imprisoned at Giovinazzo (1119) by Grimoald Alferanites, the prince of Bari, and Alexander. After Roger was defeated at the Battle of Nocera in 1132, Tancred returned to the Mezzogiorno and entered into open rebellion again, taking the cities of Montepeloso and Acerenza, with the support of their populations. He raised a force with his brother Tancred, Count Godfrey of Andria, Count Ranulf of Alife, and Prince Robert II of Capua. Roger crossed the Straits of Messina with a large force and Alexander was so afraid that he abandoned his city of Matera to his son, Geoffrey the Younger, and fled to the court ...
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Geoffrey, Count Of Conversano
Geoffrey the Elder (died September 1100) was an Italo-Norman nobleman. A nephew of Robert Guiscard through one of his sisters, he was the count of Conversano from 1072 and the lord of Brindisi and Nardò from 1070, until his death. According to Goffredo Malaterra, Geoffrey conquered most of his lands with his own energy (''sua strenuitate'') and without the help of the Guiscard. Thus, when, in 1067, the Guiscard demanded homage for the castle of Montepeloso, Geoffrey refused. Robert brought him to heel in the subsequent war and Geoffrey did homage. Among the other lands Geoffrey had conquered from the Byzantines were Polignano and Monopoli. Geoffrey joined his cousins Abelard and Herman, his brother Robert, and Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo in the rebellion of 1079–1082, while the Guiscard was away fighting the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans. His brother died in July 1080 and Abelard a year later. While he was besieging Oria, a city on the Via Appia between Brindisi and Tar ...
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Robert III Of Loritello
Robert of Bassunvilla (also Basunvilla and Bassonville) (''c.'' 1125 – died 15 September 1182) was the count of Conversano (from 1138) and Loritello (from 1154, as Robert III). His family had a long history in Vassonville, near Dieppe. Robert (II) was the son of Robert I of Bassunvilla, who had been granted Conversano by Roger II. Robert inherited this possession on his father's death. Roger II had cause later to confiscate the county of Loritello from William, his own relative. On his deathbed, he asked his son William I to appoint Robert count of Loritello, a quasi-autonomous post. Soon however, he was implicated (truly or falsely) in rebellion and fled first to the Holy Roman imperial court of Frederick Barbarossa and then the Byzantine imperial court of Manuel I Comnenus. He may have laid claim to the throne, on the basis of a forged will. He had the assistance of John Ducas when he returned to lead the revolt of 1155–1156, but the Byzantine general Michael Palaeologu ...
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Robert I Of Basseville
Robert I of Bassunvilla (also ''Basunvilla'' and ''Bassonville'') (died 1138 or 1140) was a Norman baron from Molise. His family originated in Vassonville, near Dieppe. In 1110, Robert married Judith, the youngest daughter of Roger I of Sicily and his second wife Eremburga of Mortain. In 1132, Alexander, Count of Conversano, fled to Dalmatia and was dispossessed of his territories by King Roger II. In 1135, Roger gave the principality of Capua to his son Alfonso and the county of Conversano to his brother-in-law Robert, "a man in the flower of his youth, both affable and most active in knightly deeds", according to Alexander of Telese. Robert died not long after and was succeeded by his son, Robert II of Bassunvilla Robert of Bassunvilla (also Basunvilla and Bassonville) (''c.'' 1125 – died 15 September 1182) was the count of Conversano (from 1138) and Loritello (from 1154, as Robert III). His family had a long history in Vassonville, near Dieppe, Seine-Mari .... Italo-N ...
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Neapolitan Horse
The Neapolitan Horse, it, (Cavallo) Napoletano, ''Neapolitano'' or ''Napolitano'', is a horse breed that originated in the plains between Naples and Caserta, in the Campania region of Italy, but which may have been bred throughout the Kingdom of Naples. The Neapolitan horse was frequently mentioned in literature from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and is noted for its quality. Corte wrote in 1562: "in Italy the horses of the Kingdom of Naples are greatly esteemed; heremany fine coursers are born ... suitable for use in war and in the ''manège'' and for every service that the rider may require". The decline of the breed was noted in the early 20th century by Mascheroni (1903) and Fogliata (1908). Some sources state that by 1950, the original Neapolitan horse was deemed extinct, but its lines were incorporated into other breeds, most notably the Lipizzaner. An attempt to recreate this breed resulted in the modern breed called Napolitano. Description A description of the Neapo ...
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Lipizzan
The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner ( hr, Lipicanac, cz, Lipicán, hu, Lipicai, it, Lipizzano, sr, Lipicaner, sl, Lipicanec), is a European breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coat is usually gray. The name of the breed derives from that of the village of Lipica ( it, Lipizza), now in Slovenia, one of the earliest stud farms established, then part of Austria-Hungary; the stud farm there is still active. The breed has been endangered numerous times by warfare sweeping Europe, including during the War of the First Coalition, World War I, and World War II. The rescue of the Lipizzans during World War II by American troops was made famous by the Disney movie ''Miracle of the White Stallions''. The Lipizzaner is closely associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, where the horses demonstrate the '' haute école'' or "high school" movements of classic ...
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Nardò
Nardò ( la, Neritum or ; cms, Nareton) is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the Province of Lecce. Lies on a lowland area placed at south-west of its Province, its border includes part of the Ionian coast of Salento. For centuries, it had been one of the central cities of the Byzantine Empire, until 1497, when the ducal House of Acquaviva acquired it under their domain. During those years it became the main cultural hotspot of Salento, seat of many Universities, Academies, literary and philosophical studies: it was given the name of ''Nuoua Atene litterarum''. With almost 32.000 inhabitants and 190 squared kilometres of land, it is the second largest and most populated city among those in the Province, right after Lecce, and also one of the most culturally active towns of Salento. The Old Town is particularly rich with palaces, churches, chapels and other architectural details shaped accordingly to the principles of Lecce's Baroque style. ...
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Metropolitan City Of Bari
The Metropolitan City of Bari ( it, Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari and some forty other municipalities (''comuni''). It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established by the Law 56/2014. It has been operative since January 1, 2015. The Metropolitan City of Bari is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor (''Sindaco metropolitano'') and by the Metropolitan Council (''Consiglio metropolitano''). Since 1 January 2015 Antonio Decaro, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the Metropolitan City. It has an area of , and a total population of 1,261,152 (2014). Geography Overlooking the Adriatic Sea in south-eastern Italy, the Province of Bari is located in the central part of Apulia and is bordered on the west by the provinces of Matera and Potenza, to the north by the province of Barle ...
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Orsini Family
The House of Orsini is an Italian noble family that was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and Renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini family include five popes: Stephen II (752-757), Paul I (757-767), Celestine III (1191–1198), Nicholas III (1277–1280), and Benedict XIII (1724–1730). In addition, the family included 34 cardinals, numerous ''condottieri'', and other significant political and religious figures. Origins According to their own family legend, the Orsini are descended from the Julio-Claudian dynasty of ancient Rome. The Orsini carried on a political feud with the Colonna family for centuries in Rome, until it was stopped by Papal Bull in 1511. In 1571, the heads of both families married nieces of Pope Sixtus V as an act of reconciliation. Ironically the Colonna family also claims descent from the Julio-Claudian dynasty of ancient Rome. The Orsini descend from Cajo Orso Orsini who lived c. 600 CE. Five popes are descended f ...
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Flavian Of Ricina
Saint Flavian of Ricina ( it, San Flaviano di Ricina) is venerated as a martyr and bishop by the Catholic Church. Tradition holds that he was a bishop of Helvia Ricina (Macerata), during the 3rd century, martyred on November 24. His cult is ancient and widespread in the Marche and Umbria, with many churches and abbeys dedicated to him, but historical information on his life is limited to a few details and traditions. He is sometimes identified with Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople. Veneration One of Flavian's successors in the see of Ricina, Saint Claudius (4th century), fixed the date of Flavian's feast day and also built and dedicated a church to him. Ricina was destroyed by the Goths during the 5th and 6th centuries, and its inhabitants emigrated to Recanati, thus spreading Flavian's cult. Other groups of refugees carried the relics of the saint in the direction of Tolentino, erecting an oratory in honor of Flavian, on a site that may have been associated w ...
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Italo-Normans
The Italo-Normans ( it, Italo-Normanni), or Siculo-Normans (''Siculo-Normanni'') when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to southern Italy in the first half of the eleventh century. While maintaining much of their distinctly Norman piety and customs of war, they were shaped by the diversity of southern Italy, by the cultures and customs of the Greeks, Lombards, and Arabs in Sicily. History Normans first arrived in Italy as pilgrims, probably on their way to or returning from either Rome or Jerusalem, or from visiting the shrine at Monte Gargano, during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. In 1017, the Lombard lords in Apulia recruited their assistance against the dwindling power of the Byzantine Catapanate of Italy. They soon established vassal states of their own and began to expand their conquests until they were encroaching on the Lombard principalities of Benevento and Capua, Saracen- ...
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