Bari
Its history The city is built in three distinct nuclei, the old city, the walled hamlet, and the modern city. The original remains of the old city date back to 2,000 BC, lays on a small bay, jutting out into the sea. It has traces of several different historical periods , beginning with the bronze age traces found in S. Scolastica and S. Pietro. In 38 BC the celebrated poet Orazio during his journey from Ruva, on reaching Bari defined the city as one with a lot of fish and surrounded by a wall. In reality in the past the city was host to one of the stations of Via Traiana (built by the anonymous Traiana in 108-110 A.D) which went from Benevento to Brindisi. Invaded by the Ostrogoti, conquered by the Byzantines disputed about by Bisanzio and Benevento, Bari was occupied by the Longbardi around 730. During the Imperial age, until the 1st century A.D. the columns on the sea front reascended, even if their origins remain a mystery. |
Until the 9th century there are few witnesses to the development of the city, even if academics have uncovered evidence of urban planning, with use of courtyards. Houses which were either square or circular, were built around a common central space, these spaces were called “corte”. This enabled them to have an independent defence system in several inhabited nuclei, so the city was fortified in an highly organised way, juxtaposed on an horizontal planimetry Conquered by the Saracens in 847 it was governed for 25 years by three Emiri. This concluded the period defined as the Arab period, and was followed by several years of mixed fortunes. After which began for Bari the Byzantine period. This age is characterised by a period of rapid building, an important economic growth and a demographic growth. Between the 10th and 11th centuries Bari became the most important port in the region and 1011 we saw the completion also of the building of the city of Catapano, headquarters of the Byzantine power. |
 | In 1071, at the time of the Norman conquest, the city was considered the richest the best fortified in Puglia. The transfer of the bones of S. Nicola, bishop of Mira (1087) by a group of sailors from Bari made the city grow even more in importance and influence. In order to house the bones as rightly deigned the imposing Basilica was built on the site of the old Palazzo del Catapano. The Norman dominance was marked by rebellions and skirmishes which reached a climax in 1156, when William 1st of Malo assailed and destroyed the heart of the city, only the Basilica of San Nicola was saved. The period also saw the intensification of commercial and cultural trade with the cities of the Orient. |
 | While under the Svevi, Bari remained in an economic boom, and the headquarters of the province. However, with coming of the Angioni began a long period of decadence and this only came to an end with the Aragon period , under the rule of Isabella Sforza D’Aragona, and then followed by her daughter Bona Sforza. They held their entire court in the interior of the castle ( beginning in 1501 until the death of Isabella in 1524) Bona Sforza became the Queen of Poland in 1518. on her death in 1557, passed over to the Spanish and followed a kind of Vice reigning until the 18th century. |
It was during the first half of the 1700’s which emphasised the need to build a new hamlet which would allow the growth of the city, which was by now suffocating as a walled city, even if it had only been built during the time of Napoleon, with Gioacchino Murat, deciding to give the go ahead for the building of anew part of the city. The building of this Borgo began in 1813, and honours Gioacchino Murat with an effigy, placed in the corner of Corso Vittorio Emmanuele and corso Cavour. Bari is a provincial headquarters and of the Regione Puglia, it has an important port and a university headquarters which extends for about 204 square kilometres. The city council is divided into nine boroughs: Palese S. Spirito, S. Paolo-Stanic, Picone-Poggiofranco, Carbonara-Ceglie-Loseto, Japigia Torre a Mare, Carrassi S. Pasquale, Madonnella, Libertà-Fesca-S.Girolamo, Murat-S. Nicola. The city |
 | You can be left to explore the city’s numerous treasures and beauty, works of art, sometimes hidden in the narrow city streets, in addition there are its imposing squares, it opening to the sea and to the land, with an ever continuing ebb and flow of citizens and foreigners (past and future) eager to visit its sights. To visit one can begin by starting in the old historical and commercial centre, the squares of the Ferrarese and Mercantile, and the port, tasting the flavours and odours of the seafront (lungomare) and the emotions of the old port, looked at from the North from the Fort of Sant’Antonio Abate, protected by the theatre “Politeama Margherita” and towards the south by the “molo di San Nicola”. |
The squares are in fact part of all the historical centre and the port area, and they constitute the life of the city, here the young people of the city meet, both during the day and at night, at all times of the year, as many in places and paces of entertainment are found in these two squares, in contrast to the older historical buildings. Walking around the older parts of Bari, the city within a city, one can be stupefied by the majestic elegance and the beauty of the Basilica di San Nicola, one of the most important examples of Puglian Romanesque, and not forgetting the Cathedral of San Sabino, erected in the 11th century on the site of a pre existing basilica paleocristiana. |
The city is dense with history and still to admire is the Convent of Santa Scolastica and the Chiesa di S. Pietro and the Frederickan castle erected to defend the city. Omissible is the beautiful Palazzo Ateneo. Famous for its illustrious graduates and its majestic fountain and in front of it thr Teatro Petruzzelli, noted for music and opera and the victim of a fire which devastated it in 1991, the Teatro Piccinni and the provincial art gallery, which holds a collection of many works of Barese artists and non, of the highest value. |  |
Events, traditions and culture Without a doubt the most noted tradition both for the Baresi and tourists is the celebrations for the patron saint of the city San Nicola clearly marked in two different moments on 6th December , dedicated to the liturgical celebration and that of 9th May , in which is celebrated the day in which the bones of the saint were transferred, in which reconstructs the ideal bridge between Western Christianity and Eastern Greek Orthodoxy. |
Also highly famous for its culinary and gastronomic traditions, which are weaved into Bari’s history, included in these are the following products typical to the area, bread and “friselle” and pasta known as “orecchiette”shaped liked little ears. Cultural events, worldly musical and artistic events take place in the various university headquarters’ and in the piazzas, in the museums, in the theatres, without respite throughout the year, making Bari a lively and welcoming city, a true reign of performances and culture, able to satisfy everyone’s needs and passions. |  |
 | To add to the fame of the young city there are also large and beautiful beaches which during the summer months, constitute an attraction for thousands of people. In addition to the piazzas and the streets of the city centre , full of shops are always crowded with people at the weekends and during the hot summer evenings. |
Giornata del contemporaneo: “ è ”, mostra d'arte a Galatina (Le)