Sava is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the province of Taranto, Apulia, southeast

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. With its 19000 inhabitants, is one of the biggest town in the province. It is a center of production of olive oil and of the wine

Primitivo Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...

. The nearby ''comuni'' are Maruggio, Torricella, Lizzano, Fragagnano,

San Marzano di San Giuseppe San Marzano di San Giuseppe ( aae, Shën Marcani) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Taranto, in the Italian region of Apulia. Alongside Casalvecchio di Puglia and Chieuti, it is one of the Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arb ...

Francavilla Fontana Francavilla Fontana ( Francavillese: ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Brindisi and region of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is also called the town of the "Imperiali", after the Imperiali, a family of feudal lords who ...

and

Manduria Manduria is a city and '' comune'' of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Taranto. With c. 32,000 inhabitants (2013), it is located east of Taranto. History It was an important stronghold of the Messapii against Taras. Archidamus III, king ...

. The main monuments of the city are the Mother Church, the Palazzo Baronale, the Mater Domini's Church, the Monastery's Church, the San Cosimo's Church and San Luigi's Church.

History

Some of the finds of the district of Agliano, dating from around 300 BC, attest to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

presence in the present territory of Sava. It was probably the last outpost towards the southern

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

, populated by

Messapi The Messapians ( grc, Μεσσάπιοι, Messápioi; la, Messapii) were a Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respective ...

. At the end of the 7th century AD, with the division of the Apulia region between Byzantines and

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

, a wall built in dry limestone of modest size was built here. This ''

limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

'' ran from the Adriatic coast south of Brindisi up to the Ionian coast. Although there are no documents proving the origins of the village of Sava, the majority of local historians agree that its foundation dates from the 15th century. Sava, as the neighboring municipalities, has been characterized for most of the 20th century by emigration to northern Italy and, to a lesser extent, toward northern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. On 19 August 1976 a powerful

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

struck the city of Sava and the surrounding countryside, until exhausting near

; its passage led to intense rainfall and strong winds that caused extensive damage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sava (Ta) Cities and towns in Apulia Localities of Salento