| Volturara Appula | |
| Official Name: | Comune di Volturara Appula |
| Pushpin Map: | Italy Apulia#Italy |
| Coordinates: | 41.5°N 18°W |
| Region: | Apulia |
| Province: | (FG) |
| Mayor: | Vincenzo Zibisco |
| Area Total Km2: | 52 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 380 |
| Population As Of: | 30 June 2022 |
| Population Demonym: | Volturaresi |
| Elevation M: | 489 |
| Saint: | St. Luke |
| Day: | 18 October |
| Postal Code: | 71030 |
| Area Code: | 0881 |
Volturara Appula is a town and comune in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. Once a flourishing city, the comune now has a population of less than 400.[2]
The date of his foundation is not known; the first historical paper citing it, is a document of Pope Giovanni (John) XIII that, in 969 A.D., lists Volturara as a bishopric, depending from Benevento. Vulturaria, as it was previously called, was ruled in various times by its bishops, and by a number of noble families, including a branch of Caracciolos that built the so said 'Dukedom Palace'.[3]
The Apulian Romanesque cathedral was built in the 13th century. It has a massive bell-tower with three bells of bronze with a noteworthy percentage of silver. Another church, the 16th-century Santuario di Maria SS. della Sanità (Shrine of Our Lady of Health) was reputedly built by Marquis Bartolomeo Caracciolo in thanksgiving for recovery from illness.[3]
Its bishopric, the Diocese of Vulturara, was united with that of Diocese of Montecorvino to form the Diocese of Vulturara e Montecorvino in 1433.[4] Giuseppe Cappelletti gives detailed information about most of its bishops.[4] In 1818, upon a reorganization of the dioceses within the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,[5] the diocese ceased to exist as a residential see and its territory became part of the diocese of Lucera.[4] It is now included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.[6]
Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister of Italy in 2018-2021 was born in Volturara, but grew up in San Giovanni Rotondo.