The Tremiti islands are an archipelago under the jurisdiction of the province of Foggia and they count only a few hundred inhabitants. In the Summer Season, instead, it is crowed by tourists attracted by the undeniable natural beauty of the islands.
Situated at approx. 12 miles from the north promontory of the Gargano area, the islands are reachable by ferry and by hydrofoil not only from the Apulian ports of Rodi, Peschici, Vieste and Manfredonia, but also from the port of Termoli in the Region of Molise.
The archipelago is composed of three islands which are San Domino, San Nicola and Capraia, or Caprara. In addition to these there are the rock of Cretaccio, located in between the first two named and quite near to "la Vecchia", and at approx. 22 km the completely abandoned island of Pianosa. Only the isles of San Domino and San Nicola are inhabited.
The legends narrate that they were born thanks to Diomede, the Acheo hero, that on his return form the war of Troy, threw three large rocks into the sea, rocks transported from the war fields, that remerged under the form of islands. This is why the Tremiti Islands are also called the Islands of Diomede.,
The Tremiti, populated since the antiquity, were for centuries an approaching port to the mainland. Augustus exiled his niece Giulia, the Spanish Borbonic kings of Naples turned it into a prison, even Giolitti exiled 1100 Libyans as they were opposers of the Italian Colonial War.
The history of the archipelago is also beatified by the presence of Benedictine monks on the Island of San Nicola, where they edified the Abbey of Saint Mary at Sea (Abbazia di Santa Maria a Mare9), a very important religious centre with land tenures on the mainland, too...
On the Tremiti people speak a local dialect which is very similar to the one spoken on the Island of Ischia (near Naples), as these islands were populated on demand of the king of Naples by the fisherman and merchant families of this Neapolitan archipelago.