Rodi is located in an area inhabited since prehistoric (
Palaeolithic and
Neolithic) times. According to early 19th-century historian Michelangelo Manicone, its origins are connected to the
Dauni ancient people, while, according to other version, it could have been founded by Greek colonists from
Rhodes.
Pliny the Elder mentions a
Portus Garnae which has been identified as the modern Rodi Garganico. After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, Rodi was destroyed by the
Ostrogoths in 485 AD and rebuilt in 553 after the
Gothic War. In 950 it was attacked by the
Saracens. In 1461 it was occupied by the
Aragonese. Starting from the 16th century, it became one of the main centers for the production and trading of
agrumes in southern Italy. ==References==