Martina Franca
Encyclopedia
Martina Franca is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Taranto
Province of Taranto
The Province of Taranto is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Taranto.It has an area of 2,437 km², and a total population of 580,588...

, Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...

 (Puglia), Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto.
Since 1975, the town has hosted the annual summer opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 festival, the Festival della Valle d'Itria
Festival della Valle d'Itria
The Festival della Valle d’Itria is a summer opera festival held in the south eastern Italian town of Martina Franca in the Apulia region. The Festival was founded in 1975 and performances are given in July and August each summer on a specially constructed stage in the outdoor courtyard of the...

.

The town has a particularly beautiful "old city" surrounded by stone walls with prominent Baroque gates leading to piazzas and narrow, winding streets.
Piazza di Roma is the largest open space in the old city, with a greenspace in the center of a largely triangular grass pattern, facing the 17th century Palazzo Ducale.

At the 2001 census
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica is the Italian national statistical institute.-History:Istat was created in 1926 to collect and organize essential data about the nation. Administering the census is one of its activities...

the comune had a population of 48,756 inhabitants and a land area of 295.49 km² (114.1 sq mi). It is one of the larger comune in the geographical area, ranking 39th out of 8,101.

External links

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