In the countryside of Torremaggiore, 9 kilometers south of the city, on the west side of a hill known as the Sterparone (an inter-fluvial spur bordered by the Canale della Bufala and the Canaletto), stood the inhabited center of Fiorentino, an ancient bishop's seat. Built on an important artery that led from Teanum Apulum to Luceria, Fiorentino, it was built ex-nihilo, between 1018 and 1023 by the Byzantine catapano Basilio Baiohannes, together with Troia, Civitate, Dragonara, etc .... The city was included in the strategic-defensive system of the northern border of Puglia, in order to face the attacks of the enemies of the Byzantium empire.