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The history of this city is lost in obscurity, located 18 km from Foggia and a short distance from the Subappenines and Gargano , situated on three hills which dominate the view over the plains of the Tavoliere. The archaeological artefacts date back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and to Greek, Dauna, Sannite and Roman epochs. The latter was a golden age for the city, it became a colony under Roman law with wide-reaching independence and privileges. Seat of the “catapano” (captaincy) under the Normans, its maximum period of splendour arrived with Frederick II, who transferred 60,000 Saracens here who had been deported from Sicily between 1222 and 1223. They created a Muslim centre with mosques and harems, later destroyed by the Angevins in 1266. Under the new domination the city became the capital of Capitanata and Contado del Molise and remained as such until the beginning of the 19th century. Traces of this long history remain in the monuments and traditions of Lucera, such as the Historical parade held in August.