Copertino stands in the inland part of the Salento, near the Ionian sea. The first town was founded here in the middle of the 10th century and was called Cittadella, which later became Convertino, Cupertino and finally Copertino. The town was conquered by the Normans then various reigns and feudal lords until the reign of Maria d’Enghien and Raimondello Orsini, when Copertino became part of the Principality of Taranto. The city became a flourishing trading centre in the 1400’s and 1500’s, primarily dedicated to olive oil, obtained from milling the olives in the characteristic underground mills. The reign of the Aragonese and Spaniards increased its fortunes. With the 1799 Neapolitan revolution and the end of feudalism, Copertino started on the path to modernization which slowly freed it from the mechanisms of the local entrenched feudal system.