SECTION 3: Canosa – Ofanto’s mouth

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  • 24 km
  • + 31 m | - 88 m
  • medium

To the mouth of the Ofanto

The last section of the cycle route leads from the Roman bridge of Canosa to the mouth of the river through the Lower Ofanto Valley spotting a gently undulating landscape adorned with luxuriant olive groves and vineyards known above all for the production of Nero di Troia. This is the most characteristic wine of Daunia and Imperial Puglia: according to the legend, the Greek warrior Diomedes planted this grape for the first time on the banks of the river.

The panoramic road of the Salinelle runs all along the lower valley, which has an asymmetrical profile: a gentler and sloping side on the left, where the rural town of San Ferdinando di Puglia faces the Cafiero Quarries Park and the shapes of  Trinitapoli and Margherita in the distance; and on the other side, a more hilly side on which stands the archaeological park of Canne della Battaglia on a strategic outpost close to the river plain. Further downstream, the mouth of the Ofanto, once a delta, is still today a wetland of extraordinary importance and ecological resilience, surrounded by a system of coastal gardens that extend on one side to the Margherita di Savoia salt flats on the other until the moat of the castle of Barletta.

The construction of a cycling and walking bridge is planned near the mouth along a stretch of itinerary in common with the future Adriatic Cycle Route.