Salapia (also called Salpe and Salpi) is an ancient settlement and bishopric in

Daunia The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectivel ...

, Italy near

Cerignola Cerignola (; nap, label=Bari dialect, Cerignolano, Ceregnòule ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, southeast from the town of Foggia. It has the third-largest land area of any ''comune'' in Italy, at , afte ...

and

Manfredonia Manfredonia is a town and commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the gulf to the east of i ...

. The settlement was probably built for and named after the

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

- the ancient Lake Salpi is now

Saline di Margherita di Savoia Saline di Margherita di Savoia is a salt marsh in the province of Foggia in Apulia. The marsh is on the coast of Italy bordering the Gulf of Manfredonia in the Adriatic Sea. The marsh consists of several canals running longitudinally and transver ...

. Salapia is mentioned by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

and probably the "Elpia" of

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

, but according to Smith (1857) in relation to the later town, and not an earlier original settlement.

Bishop of Salpi

Salapia had a bishop as early as A.D. 314, but the

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

was later removed to

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the fir ...

.Johannes Boersma -Mutatio Valentia: The late Roman baths at Valesio, Salento -2006 Page 43 "Salapia, for instance, had a bishop as early as A.D. 314" The

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

"Bishop of Salpi" remained active till the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...

References

{{reflist Archaeological sites in Apulia