Thrush hunting, the charm of spollo in Canosa, in Puglia

The city of Canosa, made famous by many famous people from television and cinema, offers many sites of tourist interest to those who wish to combine thrush hunting with a holiday made up of excursions to museums, churches and farms.

The city, the landscape and the food and wine are the visiting card of a city in Puglia that will be able to welcome hunters who will go to those areas for thrush hunting. Thrush hunting is practiced in several ways. The spollo technique it is one of these and is practiced at the first light of dawn: we try to intercept the thrushes that come out of the nocturnal perch to go to the places of pasture. As the hours go by, the thrushes go into the olive groves and troll from tree to tree. There thrush hunting to the spollo it requires quick reflexes and a good aim, as well as suitable cartridges, since the thrushes show themselves for a short time and quickly interpose the obstacle constituted by the olive trees between themselves and the hunter. It is a very demanding type of hunting, which requires a lot of practice: speed and accuracy in shooting will be essential. One of the places in the Puglia Region where you can practice this fun hunting technique is in Canosa, in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani.

With a population of 31.121 inhabitants, Canosa overlooks the Ofanto valley and the extended plain of the Tavoliere delle Puglie, interposing between Mount Vulture in the Gargano and the Adriatic coast. Canosa is considered one of the main archaeological centers of Puglia and represents one of the most significant cases of a city with a very long continuity of settlement. Canosian finds and vases are known all over the world, being present in all the main museums and private collections on the planet but, obviously, evidence of its past can be found in the current city and in the surrounding area.

The slope on which it was erected is mainly clayey and sandy on the surface: it wraps around a limestone layer ("Gravina calcarenites") which in turn constitutes the typical white-yellowish tuff. This morphological characteristic has allowed the underground construction of artificial caves created by man, the re-adaptation of other pre-existing ones already used in the nineteenth century as cellars, as well as the creation of hypogea. The tuff extracted was the protagonist of the construction of buildings on the surface.

The intense phenomena of land instability caused by the pitting of the surface layer for the cultivation of new land should be noted. Furthermore, there are risks of sinking due to the presence of cavities and underground channels typical of karst environments. Canosa enjoys a typical temperate climate, particularly mild and comfortable in spring and autumn, with cold winters and mild summers. Average monthly temperatures are strongly influenced by the Murgian climate and range from 7,7 ° C in January to 24,9 ° C in August. The annual rainfalls, present mainly from September to April, are on the order of 547 mm of rain.
City rich in history, which starts from the prehistoric era of the Neolithic (6000-3000 BC), on September 17, 1962, by decree of the President of the Republic, the municipality was awarded the title of City for its historical traditions and merits acquired by its community.
The main monuments and places of interest are: the Co-Cathedral of San Sabino, the Mausoleum of Boemondo, the minor churches and the rectory, the historic buildings, the famous D'Ambra theater and the farms.
The latter were large farms inhabited, at times, also by landowners. The large rural construction also included the housing of the peasants, some only seasonal, the stables, the deposits for fodder and crops. Become a destination for excursions by many tourists, the farms are very popular in the Canosa countryside, as in the whole of the Murgia.
In Posta Piana, an area of the Canosa countryside, there are a series of farms once used as a shelter for shepherds in transhumance. Most of those that have survived the time have been redeveloped today as agritourism farms.
In Canosa it is also possible to visit many archaeological sites such as the Norman Castle, the catacombs showing an advanced civilization for the vast era (from 6000 BC to the XNUMXnd century AD), temples and archaic churches and numerous basilicas dating back to many centuries ago.

A mention of food and wine cannot be missing. The Canosa gastronomic tradition is strongly linked to the peasant and Mediterranean tradition. One of the most characteristic products is the burnt wheat flour (in the Apulian dialect gren iars): it is a dark flour of humble origins, which was obtained from the wheat recovered after the burning of the stubble following the harvest; from this process the flour with a characteristic dark color was produced. With this flour special orecchiette are made and bread with ham (in dialect ppen a prusutt), a dark bread variegated with white. Elements characterizing the gastronomy of the city are also wine and extra virgin olive oil. Rosso Canosa wine, produced with Troia grapes, obtained the DOC designation in 1979. The wine production, however, also includes white and rosé wines, as well as excellent sparkling wines obtained. The main productions with the IGT (Typical Geographical Indication) brand are: Nero di Troia, Trebbiano, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rosso Puglia, Sangiovese. Also renowned is the DOP extra virgin olive oil obtained from Coratine olives. Ultimately, the countless archaeological sites, connected to exhibitions and museums (also soon to open, such as the Provincial Archaeological Museum which will rise near the archaeological park of the Baptistery San Giovanni) and the tourist attractions described above, will give the opportunity to hunters who want to the hunt for spollo, to spend together with your family or with a group of friends, very intense days both from a hunting and touristic point of view.

In this regard, it should be noted that the design of an amusement park (San Giorgio Village) on an area of approximately 1.075.700 square meters (three times Gardaland and twice Mirabilandia) near the motorway exit is near. Canosa, like many cities in Puglia, has been committed for years to offer all comforts to tourists from all over Italy and Europe.

Commentary 3

peter guglielmi says:

10 years ago

Hello, I would like some information on thrush hunting in Canosa, is it possible to go? On what dates? Can you give me information on the costs? Are there guides who take you on a hunt? Can you recommend accommodation for il petiodo? Thanks greetings Pietro Guglielmi. [email protected]. tel 347. 1068446

angel zalambani says:

10 years ago

Good evening, we are 6/7 friends and we would like to come to Canosa to hunt thrushes.
I don't know the hunting days you have in Puglia but the period would be early November (hunting 1/2 November). Is it a good time? What do you recommend? Do we have to prepare the permits in advance? Where can we sleep?
I await your reply.
Thanks so much

marcello federici says:

10 years ago

good evening, I would like a detailed program for a thrush day or two with your organization and if possible, since I am a hunting journalist, also prepare an article with photos in the magazine "Caccia + più" .. thanking you for your availability ... I await an answer.