What to see in Bari, from the alleys of the old town to cultural sites

Bari, capital of Apulia and lively Mediterranean port, always deserves a visit, a stroll among the elegant shops of via Sparano, a stop in the typical bars and restaurants, many of which nestle in the characteristic old town of medieval origin, renovated and relaunched in a big way for several years now. The people of Bari can make use of the Bari Palese airport, located nearby. In the surroundings, a low cost parking airport Bari for departures but also for those who want to leave the car and move on foot.

1 Old Bari

Around Old Bari nest the most significant monuments, pride and joy of the entire city: the imposing Norman-Swabian-Aragonese castle and the Cathedral of San Sabino, located right at the gates of the old town which presents itself with a picturesque tangle of alleys, small squares, courtyards, votive shrines, and symbols against the evil eye and gossip. In the alleys echo sounds and voices of the local dialect, which becomes one with the surrounding environment. Here is the Basilica of San Nicola, patron saint of Bari residents. It is here that the relics of the saint arrived from the East in 1807 and have been preserved since, although the cathedral saw its consecration only in 1197. The interior and exterior of the Basilica are the product of excellent Apulian Romanesque craftsmanship.

2 Norman Castle of Bari

Il Bari Castle, historically attributed to Roger the Norman, was built in 1131; it stands on pre-existing Byzantine residential structures. The restoration of the castle damaged by William the Bad (1156) is due to Frederick II of Swabia between the years 1233 and 1240, using the previous layout and the surviving structure of the outer wall and towers. During the Angevin period, under the orders of Charles I, important restoration work was carried out by the protomagistri Pietro d’Angincourt and Giovanni di Toul. In the 1500s, under Isabella of Aragon and her daughter Bona Sforza, the bastioned wall was built and the central courtyard was arranged, with the double flight staircase. In the nineteenth century, the castle was used as a prison and later as a barracks.

3 The San Nicola Pier

A few steps away, behind the ruins of the Teatro Margherita, the small harbor emerges, a meeting place for old and new sea wolves, with the San Nicola Pier and the famous “nderr alle lanze“, the spot where fishing boats dock with their catch of seafood, which also supplies the restaurants and stalls of the nearby market. One could spend hours watching the fishermen who “arricciano” the octopuses, beating them vigorously on the ground or with a sturdy wooden paddle, to tenderize the meat before cooking.

4 Via Sparano

Four steps through the right-angled streets of the Murat district lead to the heart of the commercial city: Via Sparano, the most elegant street in Bari, with sparkling shop windows full of refined goods, but also with places full of history and culture, like the Laterza Bookshop, housed in the former premises of the glorious publishing house, with which Benedetto Croce also collaborated, as a plaque on the building recalls.

5 Crollalanza Seafront and Petruzzelli Theater

The Adriatic is always there, just a stone’s throw away, witness to the daily stroll on the Crollalanza Seafront, an architectural expression of the Fascist era. It is the meeting point for a chat before and after dinner; while for swimming and sunbathing, people rely on the golden and welcoming beaches of Giovinazzo, Polignano a Mare, and Monopoli. Not far away is the Petruzzelli Theater, one of the largest in Italy, inaugurated in 1903. It was destroyed by a fire in 1991 and returned to the city in 2009, entirely rebuilt exactly as it was.

6 Nicolaitan Museum

The Nicolaitan Museum of Bari, inaugurated on February 6, 2010, collects important objects linked to the Basilica of Saint Nicholas. Paintings and sacred vestments, inscriptions, parchments, and illuminated manuscripts coming from the Archive of the Basilica and still precious objects offered by pontiffs, pilgrims, and bishops such as enamels, coats of arms, reliquaries, chalices, and silver from the Treasury. Of particular interest is the exhibition of two significant artifacts found during the excavations carried out in the last decade in the Nicolaitan Citadel under the scientific direction of the Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage of Puglia. These are the Roman-age entablature block and the medieval pilgrimage badge (13th-14th century) depicting Saint Nicholas, recovered respectively in the subsoil of the Nicolaitan Museum and the Library of the Nicolaian Study Center. The Nicolaitan Museum, which collects the most valuable pieces related to the centuries-old history of the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, is a great attraction for anyone interested in the Saint as well as in the civil, artistic, and religious history of the city of Bari. Starting from antiquity, it covers the Byzantine (876-1071), Norman (1071-1194), Swabian (1194-1266), Angevin (1266-1442), Aragonese (1442-1501), Viceroyal (1551-1734), Bourbon (1734-1861), and post-unification eras. Inscriptions, parchments, and illuminated manuscripts (coming from the precious Archive of the Basilica), enamels, coats of arms, reliquaries, chalices, and silver (from the Treasury), paintings, and sacred vestments allow the visitor to come into direct contact with masterpieces and documents that have made the history of the Saint, the Basilica, and the City.

7 Museum and Art Gallery of Medieval and Modern Art

The Art Gallery of Medieval and Modern Art of Bari was established on July 12, 1928. The collection was formed through the merging of the core of paintings already preserved in the Gallery annexed to the Provincial Archaeological Museum, founded in 1875, other paintings deposited by churches and convents of Apulia (particularly important was the deposit from the Archdiocese of Bari), works obtained on deposit from the National Galleries of Naples and Rome, and others purchased by the Provincial Administration of Bari itself. From its foundation until 1936, the Gallery was housed in the Government Palace. Starting in 1936, it was moved to the Palace of the Province, built following the project of the engineer Luigi Baffa, where it is still located. Since 2002, it has been named after the Apulian painter Corrado Giaquinto, born in Molfetta in 1703 and died in Naples in 1766, of whom the Museum exhibits seven works.

8 Cathedral Museum (Diocesan)

On June 7, 1981, the archbishop of Bari, Mons. Mariano Magrassi, established the Diocesan Museum of Bari. The intent was inspired by the dictates of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, so that “the sacred furnishings and precious works that adorn the house of God are not alienated or dispersed.” Initially, it served as a repository for works of art and sacred furnishings from churches in a state of neglect in the old city of Bari and the entire diocese. The Museum was officially inaugurated on June 16, 1983. On September 12, 1996, the first setup of the Treasure Room, the Exultet Room I, and the art gallery was completed. On September 11, 1998, the second phase was inaugurated, consisting of the creation of the lapidary, the Benediction and Exultet Rooms II and III, and the room of sacred vestments. With the relocation of the Curia offices by Archbishop Francesco Cacucci, the remaining surface of the first floor was also designated as museum space.

9 Civic Museum of Bari

In 1913, to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Murattiano district, the Civic Administration organized and set up a “Historical Exhibition of the 19th century.” Following the considerable success of this initiative, the Municipality decided to establish a “Historical Museum” which was inaugurated on January 26, 1919, in some rooms annexed to the Teatro Margherita. A “War Exhibition” was also organized, including the library of the De Gemmis brothers and some important collections of documents and weapons (including those of Generals Bonomo and De Bernardis).

The Museum, appointed as a Moral Entity by Royal Decree of March 4, 1926, was increasingly enriched with interesting material, such as the archive and paintings of the Tanzi family. In the 1940s, the headquarters were requisitioned by Anglo-American troops to be used as a recreational club for the military, and much of the material was lost. Only after several years was the Museum able to reopen to visitors in new premises made available by the Municipal Administration. Since 1977, it has been housed in Strada Sagges, in an ancient building whose structure is characteristic of medieval palace houses.

10 Romita Museum

Barese trained at the Royal Academy of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of Naples, de Romita was a professor of natural sciences at the Royal Technical and Nautical Institute of Bari. The museum represents the idea of redeveloping and restoring a naturalistic collection of historical-cultural and scientific importance kept for over a century at IISS Pitagora in Bari where the same curator, the illustrious naturalist Prof. Vincenzo de Romita, created it at the end of the 1800s, earning the reputation as the father of ornithology and environmentalism in Apulia. It houses several series of animals, including various species of birds not common in southern Italy. Reptiles, such as the variety of Coluber leopardinus; fish with a two-headed shark fetus. Lastly, among insects, the Ciccindela dilacerata first appeared in the fauna of the Neapolitan provinces.

11 Botanical Garden of Bari

The current Botanical Garden of Bari Institute was established in 1955, when the Faculty of Sciences was donated a villa on the outskirts of the city with an attached agricultural land of 5,000 sqm. The first attempt to create a Botanical Garden in Bari dates back to August 1813; a decree by Gioacchino Murat established that each provincial capital should have an Agricultural Society (later called Economic Society) with an attached Garden for the experimentation and production of agricultural and ornamental plants. This Botanical Garden had a very short life, because the return of the Bourbons to the throne of Naples forced the newly formed Society to abandon the newly set up premises and move to temporary facilities. In 1858, after long disputes, the Municipality of Bari granted a land of 52 moggies near the coast, where the building of the Economic Society with an attached Garden was erected. This second attempt also failed due to the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Italy. Later, by virtue of the decree of Vittorio Emanuele II of February 11, 1886, the Society was definitively suppressed. In 1964, some years after the founding of the Institute, which took place in 1955, the area of the Garden was doubled. The new area was organized giving priority to regional flora.

12 Palazzo Simi

Palazzo Simi, current headquarters of the Operational Center for Archaeology of Bari, is a Renaissance-era house that seals a dense and compact archaeological stratification both vertical and horizontal. The masonry stratifications that can be visited in the palace’s basement, dating back to the early Middle Ages and Romanesque period, rise on the remains of the Imperial era (1st century). The elegant spaces on the ground floor and upper floors are the result of the expansions and transformations of the original medieval core into a historic residence, carried out between the 16th and 17th centuries.

13 Earth Science Museum

The Earth Science Museum of the Department of Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences of the University of Bari Aldo Moro is based on the historical collections acquired by our University in the second half of the 1950s. The collections were kept until 1985 in the Palazzo Ateneo, then they were transferred to the Department of Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences at the Palazzo di Scienze della Terra of the university campus in special rooms intended for museum exhibition. Currently, the Earth Science Museum includes a Geopaleontological sector and a Mineralogical-Petrographic sector and overall has an area of about 1000 sqm.

14 Bari Zoology Museum

The Museum of the Department of Biology “Lidia Liaci” at the University of Bari Aldo Moro was founded in 1925. After some changes of location, in 1992 the Museum’s halls were moved to the University Campus. Today, it is an exhibition facility of about 170 m2, divided into two rooms and houses just over a thousand zoological specimens. It conducts research activities, environmental protection, teaching, and scientific dissemination. The teaching activity is aimed at students of natural, biological, and environmental sciences and consists of practical exercises in the recognition and survey of preparations, film screenings, and seminars. The outreach activity, on the other hand, takes place through guided tours for school groups of all levels, film screenings, use of multimedia technologies, and lecture series on aspects of animal life and nature conservation. It is part of the Interdepartmental Service Center for Scientific Museology (CISMUS) and collaborates with numerous organizations for the study and protection of Apulian ecosystems.

15 Palace of the Apulian Aqueduct

The Palace of the Bari Aqueduct (Water Palace) was designed in 1924 by engineer Cesare Brunetti and completed in 1932. The style expressly referenced in the construction of the building is ‘900 Cambellotti. The furnishings and the creation of the decorations were commissioned from Duilio Cambellotti, who was inspired by the theme of water, utilizing specialized companies for the production of furniture, stained glass, and decorations in marble, terracotta, and wrought iron. In 2000, the building underwent some transformations, especially on the first floor, for the opening of a museum of the History of the AQP, and a conference hall.

16 Ethnographic Museum Africa-Mozambique of Bari

The Ethnographic Museum Africa Mozambique was inaugurated in 1980. Work on its creation began as early as when, in the 1950s, the first Missionary Fathers arrived in Apulia. After 1950, the Missionaries continued to come to Italy for holidays and rest on various occasions, bringing numerous and different objects of local craftsmanship from Africa. These artifacts, initially collected in a room of the Sanctuary of Santa Fara, later, with the creation of the museum, formed the core of the museum.

17 Museum of the Overseas Fallen Memorial

The Military Overseas Fallen Memorial, created by engineers of the Ministry of Defense, was inaugurated on December 10, 1967. It houses the mortal remains of over 75,000 fallen soldiers, of whom 45,000 are unknown, repatriated following the closure of war cemeteries built in overseas territories where Italian units operated during World War I and World War II (Balkans, North and East Africa). The large surrounding area, arranged as a park, hosts the open-air Museum with monuments to the fallen and military memorabilia. The Polish Military Cemetery of Casamassima, which preserves the remains of 431 Polish soldiers from World War II, depends on this Memorial.

18 Other places to visit in Bari

• Archivio di Stato di Bari
• Biblioteca Nazionale Sagarriga Visconti Volpi

19 Around Bari: Torre Pelosa

In the hamlet of Torre a Mare di Bari, around 1500, to defend the coast from raids by pirates and plunderers who infested the Adriatic Sea, a watchtower was built, still existing in the center of the main square. Since then the place took the name “Torre Apellosa” or “Torre Lapillosa“, later transformed into “Torre Pelosa”, and became a small fishing village where fishermen mostly lived in trulli and natural caves, and repaired their boats in the small harbor at the mouth of the Giotta stream.

20 What to Eat in Bari

The dishes of Bari borrow from Apulian cuisine although there are some distinctly local ones. Among these certainly the tiella barese (rice, potatoes, and mussels) but there are also other dishes to enjoy. In this regard, we have written an article with some suggestions on what and where to eat in Bari.