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The Tremiti archipelago, comprising three islands, an islet and reefs, is around 12 nautical miles from the Southern coast of Gargano archipelago. The Tremiti that are part of the Gargano National Park are a protected marine area of national importance. The island of San Nicola is the cultural and historical centre of the three islands and bears the traces of a history often confused with legend.
According to the myth, the island was inhabited by Diomedes when he returned from the battle of Troy, but historical documents specify that it was instead inhabited in the Roman ages and was chosen as the location for a large, possibly Imperial villa the ruins of which can still be seen. The hill on the island is dominated by the fortification of Santa Maria Monastery, controlled over the ages by various monastic orders (Benedictines, Cistercians, Regular Lateran Canons) until its decline in the 18th century. In 1780, Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, the King of Naples, decreed that the island of San Nicola be made a penal colony and many “convicts” were exiled or deported there between the early 19th and early 20th century.