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Margherita di Savoia is a town in the Province of BAT (Barletta-Andria-Trani). Until 2004 was part of the province of Foggia. It has about 13.000 inhabitants, 1 meter above sea level. It is famous for its thermal baths and “saline” (salt mine).

In 1879 the name was given in honour of Queen Margherita of Savoy; previously it had been known as Saline di Barletta.

The coat of arm is represented by a daisy.

Local inhabitants are referred to as margheritani.

HISTORY
The history of this town is linked to salt mine and its use. The location, which depended on the important pre-Roman centre Salapia, was known since the III century BC by the name of Salinis. At that time it was already exporting its products to more distant eastern shores, being at the centre of one of  the main commercial route of the time. The fall of the Roman Empire , the influence of neighbouring civilizations, and the disappearance of ancient sites such Arpi, Salapia, Sipontum, Canne and Canusium, was the starting point to a particularly chaotic period for the entire geographical area. For a long time there had not been any mention of the town in historical documents, although it continued its development around the salt mine.
In the XIII century with the spread of Christianity the village took the name of Sancta Maria de Salinis. Later, because of its strong debt with Florentine bankers, King Charles I of Anjou was forced to sell the rights of the salt mine. Meanwhile, more exactly between the late XIII and early XIV century, the hamlet of Sancta Maria de Salinis – which for its thriving salt industry had resisted to all devastation and wars - was decimated by a serious outbreak of malaria. The few survivors resigned themselves to abandon their homeland and took refuge in Barletta. From that time on, even when they returned to their place of origin, around the XVII century, the inhabitants depended on this city of Barletta, so that the village was called Salina di Barletta. The land was in the hands of a few and the tension was very strong; the feudal society had stopped the social growth. Compared with the wealth of nobles and clergy, the miner lived in absolute poverty. And in 1805, when the taxation surpassed all limits, the situation seemed to fall.
In 1813, Joachim Murat, issued the first law about the autonomy administration of tobacco and salt manufacturing: Saline di Barletta (which in 1799 had passed under the jurisdiction of the District of Cerignola and incorporated in the territory of Casale Tinità, today Trinitapoli ) were designated, for the first time, to a separate municipal administration. The Director of the Salina was also the first mayor :Vincenzo Pecorari. But, overwhelmed by the sudden decline of Napoleon Bonaparte, Murat was also destitute and shot in 1815. The development processes in the administration of the territory had a sudden interruption. From the administrative point of view, throughout the phase preceding the unification of Italy and until 1861,...

the country was run by a Decurionato. In 1879 the town name was finally changed to Margherita di Savoia, in honour of the first Queen of Italy.
In the early XX century Margherita di Savoia was hit by severe epidemics. Nevertheless, the country had recorded in those years a considerable increase in population that began to stop in the late twenties, when the first emigrants left to seek fortune overseas. The immigration process increased at the end of World War II, when, after the disasters of war, many especially from the South, moved to the big northern cities.

MONUMENTS AND SIGHTS OF INTEREST
• Mother Church of Santissimo Salvatore
• Maria Santissima Addolorata’s Church
• Beata Maria Vergine Ausiliatrice’s Church
• San Pio da Pietrelcina’s Church
• San Giuseppe ’s Church
• San Michele Arcangelo’s Church
• Salines
• Thermal baths
• Torrione (Tower)