LUCERA (the ancient Luceria), a town of Naples, province of Capitanata, on an eminence 12 miles W.N.W. of Foggia. It is surrounded by old walls having five gates, and the houses are generally good, though the streets are narrow, ill paved, and dirty. The cathedral, formerly a Saracenic mosque, has thirteen beautiful pillars of verd antique, supposed to have originally belonged to a temple of Apollo. The Bishop's palace is considered the finest edifice in Apulia. The Tribunale is an extensive pile of buildings, including not only the courts of justice for the province, the register office, &c., but also the residences of the president and judges, and the public prisons. Lucera has also a royal college and a fine private museum. About a quarter of a mile from the city, and on the edge of the same eminence, stands the castle of Lucera, a ruined fortress, erected by Frederick II. Three annual fairs are held here; and an active trade is carried on in cattle and cheese. Lucera is said to have been founded by Diomed, and was the capital of Daunia under the Greeks. In the war between Rome and Samnium it had apparently, with the other Apulians, joined the former, and was taken by the Samnites in B.C. 321. The following year it was besieged by the Romans, and after an obstinate resistance, fell into their hands. In B.C. 314 it revolted to the Samnites, but was speedily recovered by the Romans, who put the most of the inhabitants to the sword, and sent thither a body of 2500 colonists to supply their place. It was destroyed in the wars of the seventh century, and lay in ruins till 1239, when the Emperor Frederick II. established here a colony of Silician Saracens, and granted them great privileges. In 1269, however, Charles of Anjou expelled from the Neapolitan dominions such Moors as refused to embrace Christianity, and converted the mosque of Lucera into a church. Numerous antiquities of various periods have been discovered in and about Lucera. Pop. about 12,000.