[4] The archaeological site, datable from the seventh to fifth millennium BC, is characterized by two large housing structures, about twenty meters apart, along with areas intended for functional activities with industries typical of Neolithic communities devoted to cereal growing.

[60] The Hungarians, after razing the township of Auricarro, unsuccessfully attempting the siege of Palo del Colle and sacking Grumo, Toritto and Binetto, headed for Modugno, but its inhabitants had preferred to take refuge in Bari, despite the new walls built by Archbishop Bartolomeo Carafa.

In Apulia, the contention saw the prince of Taranto Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo on the side of the Aragonese and the condottiero Giacomo Caldora appointed by the Angevins as feudal lord of Bari and Bitonto.

[64] Giacomo Caldora laid siege to Modugno in late August 1436, with his son-in-law Count of Avellino Troiano Caracciolo, but was unsuccessful and contented himself with ravaging olive and almond groves in the surrounding compaigns.

Alfonso of Aragon reconfirmed to the loyal prince of Taranto all the possessions he had won in the struggles that had just ended: Modugno was the fief of Gian Antonio Orsini and remained so for thirteen years, hated by the population for his tyrannical actions.

[70] On June 19, 1464, King Ferdinand I of Naples proposed to Francesco Sforza the duchy of Bari and the two cities of Modugno and Palo del Colle, as a reward for his support in suppressing the conspiracy of the barons.

"[72] Before taking possession of the duchy, the Sforzas asked their representative in the kingdom of Naples, Antonio da Trezzo,[73] to prepare a report regarding the economic situation and tax revenues of the new fiefdom of Bari, Modugno and Palo del Colle.

In addition, the period of peace that occurred in Apulia with the end of the struggles for succession to the throne of Naples and the rise of the Aragonese favored the resumption of trade and mercantile activities in nearby Bari and Bitonto, whose fairs were frequented by Florentine, Venetian, Lombard, and Genoese merchants who imported there mainly cloth and jewelry and exported oil, almonds, and wheat.

During the same period, foreign aristocratic families moved to Modugno, quickly enriching themselves through trade, land ownership or services rendered to the Sforza and Aragon, and began to occupy prominent roles in the city administration.

The oppression continued even when Gian Antonio De Ruggiero became bishop of Ostuni in 1517 (in 1507 Isabella of Aragon had taken possession of that city's fiefdom in place of the two Calabrian towns of Burello and Rosarno) and retained the benefices of the Modugnese churches.

The great European powers fearing the sudden enlargement of the influence of the House of Bourbon (which also reigned in France with Louis XIV) confederated, giving rise to a conflict, the War of the Grand Alliance, which lasted for 13 years with ups and downs.

[121] With the accession of Charles VI to the imperial throne, the European powers, seeing in him the dangerous resurgence of the House of Habsburg, preferred to abandon the struggle by concluding peace with Louis XVI and Philip of Bourbon.

[121] During this period, Modugno was held in high esteem at the Austrian court thanks to the work of the minister of the empire Count Rocco Stella,[121] who interceded with the emperor to obtain for his hometown the title of "city," the confirmation of the fair of the Crucifix, and the granting of exemptions from customs duty.

[122] Upon his ascension to the throne of Naples, Charles III of Bourbon also had to face barons who oppressed the people with their privileges, the finances of the kingdom were in the midst of a crisis, roads were crumbling and trade was limited, land was cultivated with antiquated methods, and corruption was rife at all levels of administration.

[124] Charles III was succeeded by his son Ferdinand in whose army distinguished himself the Modugnese Eusebio Capitaneo, who in 1803 became lieutenant-colonel of the II Bari Regiment of the Province of Trani, earning the king's commendations and honors.

Soon the reactionary Sanfedist movement developed in the Kingdom of Naples, consisting mainly of commoners who started an armed struggle with the intention of defending the figure of the king and the political and social order prior to the arrival of the French, creating the Army of the Holy Faith under the leadership of Cardinal Ruffo.

[131] On the day of that resistance, which was already exceptional in itself, another extraordinary event is also remembered: the Sanfedists saw on the roof of a house a woman holding a handkerchief, who was identified as Our Lady of Sorrows, who appeared in support of the defenders and, for that reason, they moved away.

[132][133] After Napoleon's rise to power and his victory at Marengo, in the Treaty of Lunéville on February 5, 1801, Ferdinand retained his kingdom but was required to host and maintain at his own expense a French division of 13,000 men in Apulia, a bridge to Egypt.

[134] Joseph Bonaparte soon began with the implementation of radical reforms, such as the aforementioned abolition of the feudal regime on August 2, 1806 (in Modugno the farcical election of the fake baron was ended), the abolition of many religious orders with the banning of the Jesuits from the kingdom and the confiscation of monastic property (in Modugno the Augustinians had to leave their church and the Dominicans their convent), the beginning of agrarian reform to combat latifundia, tax reform with the elimination of taxes on the consumption of goods necessary for the subsistence of poor families, the adoption of the metric system, which, however, was not always used by the people, the creation of schools in every municipality (on October 1, 1806, the first school was created in Modugno, which consisted of two sections: the male one entrusted to Friar Domenico Carroccia and which held classes in the premises of the Purgatory Church; and the female section entrusted to Morena Anastasia who held classes in a room rented from the Scarli family).

[135] However, during this period, there were no reports of French soldiers being abused, and their maintenance no longer burdened municipal budgets: the government compensated the Modugno Decurionate for the expenses incurred during the January and February 1808 deployment of a detachment of Mounted Hunters.

[136][137] He changed the legislative system by adopting the Napoleonic Code and gave a strong boost to communications and trade by building new roads and restoring markets and fairs that had been abolished during previous occupations.

[143] In the early decades of the nineteenth century, Provençal entrepreneur Pierre Ravanas introduced innovative olive harvesting and processing techniques in Apulia through a new piece of machinery: the double-grindstone mill and the hydraulic press.

The walls of Modugno had long been deteriorated and dangerous to nearby dwellings due to sewage stagnation; they had already proved unsuitable for effective defense since the siege of 1799 and left unmaintained, and new neighborhoods had developed outside.

[155] Festivities were also organized “with the utmost pomp for such a happy event” with “music, ornaments and other things,” the cost of which was “seventy-seven and a half ducats.”[156] When it was decided at the Congress of Laibach to intervene in southern Italy to suppress the revolt, many Carbonari enlisted volunteers to repel, under the command of General Guglielmo Pepe, the Austrian troops.

In Modugno, for example, many Carboneria affiliates, such as Giuseppe Capitaneo and Pietro Maranta, continued to hold important public offices,[158] and the physician Nicola Longo was reinstated in aristocratic circles to such an extent that he was awarded by Ferdinand II of Bourbon the title of Knight of the Order of Saint George of the Reunion,[159] for providing medical care to the sovereign.

[163] The great poverty of the population and the new changes that exclusively benefited the bourgeoisie caused discontent that took shape in the demonstrations and riots that also occurred in Modugno on April 30, 1848, and ended only after the intervention of public force.

He left Altamura on September 3 at the head of two battalions of 1,200 men of Apulian volunteers who formed the "Peucetian brigade," and was welcomed by the jubilation of the people in all the towns he passed through, with the sole exception of Bitetto where there were reactionary demonstrations suppressed by the Garibaldian colonel.

On September 24, 1860, Modugno Mayor Nicola Capitaneo sent to the Governor of the Province of Bari a parcel containing the oath of allegiance and "adherence to the Government of the Glorious Victor Emmanuel King of Italy duly signed by the public officers of the administrative branch of this municipality.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Capture of Rome there were large celebrations in Modugno, and “Via La Marina” was renamed “Via XX Settembre.” Following the assassination attempt on Umberto I, solemn funerals were held in the Mother Church, the Municipal Council displayed mourning for a month and a plaque was placed on the facade of the Sala del Sedile dei Nobili.

The first nucleus was formed thanks to the support of the Cassa del Mezzogiorno and the incentives provided by then Prime Minister Aldo Moro for the relocation of the historical craft enterprises located in the city of Bari to the new pole.