| Thanks to favourable conditions such as a mild climate, abundant water, forests and grottoes, making for an ideal habitat, the territory around Santeramo has been home to numerous peoples since antiquity. All the civilisations that lived on the Murgia in succession from the Neolithic peoples to the Peucetii, from the Greeks to the Romans, from the Longobards and Byzantines to the Normans and Swabians, occupied the highest points in the land, building small fortified settlements and using them as positions to watch over and control the territory. The whole area contains scattered remains of prehistoric and protohistoric settlements. Large quantities of Peucetii, Greek and Roman pots, coins, arms and objects of daily use have been found in various places. The tract of the ancient Appian Way between Venusia e Taranto passes through the southern part of the Santeramo countryside. The modern name derives from its patron Erasmus, Bishop of Antioch, martyr of the Diocletian age, who according to legend founded it when crossing the Appian Way. |