What is Fasano known for?

Messapian and Roman city on the coast inhabited from the fifteenth century BC, eighty hectares of ruins including the Via Traiana and the civil basilica. Drive-through wildlife park founded in 1973 in the Selva, 140 hectares, the second-largest in Europe and the largest of its kind in Italy. Selva di Fasano at 414 meters, the highest point in the Brindisi province, panoramic terrace over the Adriatic and the inland olive plain.

When is the best time to visit Fasano?

May–Sep. May through September is the working season on this stretch of the Adriatic: warm sea, the Bandiera Blu beaches at Savelletri operating, the Selva ten degrees cooler than the coast for an evening break. July and August fill the coast with Italian holidaymakers; Egnazia exposed on the seafront is brutal between noon and three. April and October are quieter alternatives with the sea still mild, the archaeological park at its photographic best, and the olive harvest opening across the surrounding masserie. November through March is cool and damp; many coastal businesses close, but the museum, the Selva and the centro storico run year-round. The Festa di Sant'Oronzo in August is the year's civic peak.

Fasano is a comune in the province of Brindisi, Apulia region of Italy, about 61 kilometers from Bari.

How do I get to Fasano?

From Bari, Fasano is roughly 61 km by road.

Fasano, Brindisi

Known for

EGNAZIA
Messapian and Roman city on the coast inhabited from the fifteenth century BC, eighty hectares of ruins including the Via Traiana and the civil basilica.
ZOOSAFARI
Drive-through wildlife park founded in 1973 in the Selva, 140 hectares, the second-largest in Europe and the largest of its kind in Italy.
BALCONY OF THE ORIENT
Selva di Fasano at 414 meters, the highest point in the Brindisi province, panoramic terrace over the Adriatic and the inland olive plain.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

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Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Giovanni Battista, 24 June

Why come

The main centre sits, a hinge point in a wide municipal territory that runs from the Adriatic shore up to the Itria escarpment, home to thirty-eight thousand residents spread across three distinct landscapes rather than one compact town. The coast holds the abandoned city, inhabited from the fifteenth century BC and left empty by the Middle Ages, its excavated stone now sitting a short distance from the museum built to house what came out of the ground there. Inland and uphill, the wooded escarpment climbs to become the highest ground in the province, the same slopes that carry the wildlife park across its carob and olive scrubland.

Further along the shore, the fishing port turned resort gives the territory its beach frontage. The pattern is coastal city, wooded highland, coastal resort, three pieces of a single municipality that never behaves like a single place. What the town offers is that range within one boundary: Roman ruins at sea level, a panorama at the province's highest point, and a working beachfront, none of them a detour from the others.

What to see

Parco Archeologico di Egnazia
Ruins spread across eighty hectares along the coast, with the Via Traiana running through the site alongside the basilica and a cryptoporticus still traceable underfoot.
Museo Nazionale Archeologico Giuseppe Andreassi
Museum standing next to the archaeological park, holding the objects pulled from the excavations: Messapian inscriptions, Roman finds, and material spanning the long abandonment of the city.
Selva di Fasano
Wooded escarpment reaching between 411 and 414 meters, the ground rising from carob and olive scrub to open views that give the terrace its nickname.
Zoosafari Fasanolandia
The drive-through route crosses 140 hectares of carob and olive scrubland, animals visible at close range along the way rather than behind fencing.
Savelletri
Fishing port turned beach resort on the Adriatic, holding Bandiera Blu, its seafront given over to the municipal beach.

We recommend

Where to eat and stay

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

Due Camini a Borgo EgnaziaRistorante
Due Camini a Borgo Egnazia has two Gambero Rosso forks (87/100) to its name.
Pentole e ProvetteRistorante
Pentole e Provette carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.
RaparossaVegetariano
Raparossa has a Gambero Rosso listing to its name.
Borgo EgnaziaHotel
Two Michelin Keys for Borgo Egnazia, along with a La Liste score of 92.5 and a Leading Hotels of the World listing.
Masseria Torre CoccaroHotel
Masseria Torre Coccaro has one Michelin Key and a La Liste score of 90.
Masseria CalderisiHotel
One Michelin Key, at Masseria Calderisi.
Masseria San DomenicoHotel
A place in the Michelin hotel guide, at Masseria San Domenico.
Masseria Torre Maizza, a Rocco Forte HotelHotel
Masseria Torre Maizza, a Rocco Forte Hotel has one Michelin Key to its name.

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Festa Della Mietitura E Trebbiatura Del Granofood festival
usually held in August. Il Tacco di Bacco - Puglia

Living here

Population 38,745
Off the beaten pathi
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 1 h 4 min drive
Regional capital Bari, 52 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 118 m
Population: 38,745
Surface area: 131.72 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Bari

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

Featured on

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