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00 Fasano
Stemma di Fasano

Apulia · Brindisi

Fasano

A Brindisi-province town running from the Adriatic up to the Itria escarpment, holding a Roman coastal city, a wooded highpoint, and Europe's second-largest safari park.

Best time
May–Sep
By car
52 min from Bari
By train
Station in the comune
Population
38,745

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

  • J13°
  • F14°
  • M15°
  • A18°
  • M24°
  • J29°
  • J32°
  • A32°
  • S28°
  • O23°
  • N18°
  • D14°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 14°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

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.

The Sunday letter

Fasano is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Fasano comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Fasano in our articles

How to get there

From Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 1 hour by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 4 hours away.

By car from the centre of Bari 52 minutes, Lecce 1h 10m or Salerno 4 hours.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Bari?

Coming by train into Bari Centrale? Fasano is about 54 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Bari / Brindisi airport.

Fasano, photo 1
Fasano, photo 2

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.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Fasano fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

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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.

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.

Living here

  • Population 38,745
  • Remotei
  • 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

Common questions

What is Fasano known for?
Fasano is a Brindisi-province town running from the Adriatic up to the Itria escarpment, holding a Roman coastal city, a wooded highpoint, and Europe's second-largest safari park.
Where is Fasano?
Fasano is a comune in the province of Brindisi, in Apulia, at 118 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Fasano?
Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 1 hour by car.
Can you get to Fasano without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Bari to Fasano?
About 52 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Fasano?
Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Fasano?
Yes. Festa Della Mietitura E Trebbiatura Del Grano. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Fasano?
Ugento, Vasto and Termoli.
How many people live in Fasano?
38,745 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

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

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

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