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Ascoli Satriano is situated on a rise consisting of three hills overlooking the Carapelle river valley. The numerous archaeological sites of the area have provided plenty of evidence of the different peoples who have lived in this territory: the Daunians, the Samnites, the Greeks and the Romans. In 279 b.C. a battle took place here with the Romans fighting the army of Pyrrhus. After that the place became a Roman colony and then an ally of Hannibal’s army during the Punic Wars. Later on, the Saracens, who had managed to establish an Emirate in Bari, pushed forward and sacked and destroyed Ascoli. Then the town became one of Byzantium’s possessions in Apulia and the arrival of the Normans changed it into a country. All the most ancient history of Ascoli Satriano was revealed by a hill that can be considered an extraordinary outdoor museum. During excavations, archaeologists found a VI century b.C. necropolis with splendid herringbone pavements, and the foundations and walls of a large sanctuary. Recent excavations directed by the University of Foggia in the area called Fragola have brought back to light the remains of a luxurious Roman and late-antique villa with multicoloured marbles and mosaics made with vitreous paste, ivory and wood. A Roman Bridge can still be used to cross the Carapelle river, while two more bridges on the Ofanto and Carapelle rivers are only ruins, the same destiny of the great arch left in the Valle dell’Arco district, which today is only a wall in ruins. An underground Roman aqueduct has been identified in the nearby countryside and another interesting remain is the masonry work made by the Romans to find and collect water from the groundwater table.