Barletta
Between treasures and beauty
The Best Western Hotel Dei Cavalieri is located in a privileged position, making it an ideal starting point to reach well-known tourist destinations.
Come and discover the treasures and beauty of our land!
History
Barletta, its Challenge and the Territory
The name of Barletta has always been prominent in the history of Apulia and beyond. At the time of the crusades, it was one of the most important ports in the Adriatico per reaching the Holy Land, although Emperor Frederick II also took note of Barletta’s importance. Having passed under the Angevins, it reached the peak of its prosperity under the Aragonese, who made it the second city in the kingdom of Naples.
In 1503, the tavern ‘da Veleno’ in Barletta was the place where an altercation between Italians and Frenchmen led to a confrontation between the soldiers of the two sides that has gone down in history as the ‘Disfida di Barletta’. The Italian knights proved the Italians’ valour directly on the field in a no-holds-barred challenge that saw them victorious.
The city also proved its worth in the two world wars: with 11 gold medals and 215 silver medals, Barletta is the most decorated city in the country. Barletta’s hinterland is full of attractions, in fact, passing through Andria with its symbol of Frederick II’s greatness, Castel del Monte, Minervino the true balcony of Apulia, Canosa, an ally of Rome at the time of the Punic wars, and then the beautiful Trani, where the ‘Queen of Cathedrals’ rises soaring over the sea, Bisceglie with its five megalithic dolmens, to close with Margherita di Savoia, a thermo-swimming resort with its salt pans.
Art and Architecture
Castel del Monte Andria
A unique masterpiece of medieval architecture that Unesco declared a World Heritage Site in 1996.
Trani Castle
Trani Castle is part of the Frederician castle circuit and was chosen by Manfred, son of Frederick II, for the celebration of his wedding with Helen of Epirus
Swabian Castle of Barletta
Don’t miss the scenic castle of Barletta, built by the Normans and modified over the centuries by the Swabians, Angevins and Aragons.
Casieri Tower Canosa di Puglia
A construction from the 2nd century A.D., which falls into the typology of dado tombs. Externally, the burial monument is covered with bricks and consists of three superimposed bodies: a base, a central body and a small cylindrical drum. Inside, there is a concrete barrel vault.
Norman or Swabian Tower Bisceglie
Two systems, the Norman and the Swabian, characterise the architecture of the Tower of Bisceglie, currently home to the local ethnographic museum and the former silent guide of fishermen.
De Nittis Art Gallery at Palazzo della Marra Barletta
The opening of the ‘Giuseppe De Nittis’ Art Gallery, in the splendid premises of Palazzo della Marra, marks a historic date for the city of Barletta, which boasts, since 1914, the richest and most prestigious collection of works by the famous painter who represented one of the highest moments of 19th century art in Europe. De Nittis was born in Barletta in 1846, trained in Naples, won fame and success in Paris and London, and died aged just 38 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The Art Gallery that houses his works, donated to the city of his birth by his wife Léontine Gruvelle, not only represents a museum venue, but also takes on the significance of a return home for the great artist, who renewed, from Apulia, the dialogue with the protagonists of 19th century art and culture. The museographic itinerary, arranged according to major themes, starts from the Neapolitan experience with landscapes from life, lingers on the slopes of Vesuvius, stretches along the fascination of modernity and the changeability of the metropolis, Paris and London, opens up to the suggestions of the great world, and reveals the lyrical intimism for Léontine and the female figures that were dear to the painter from Barletta.
Cathedral of San Nicola Pellegrino Trani
One of the most beautiful Romanesque buildings in Puglia, built in limestone, which gives it a blond patina and a luminosity of undoubted charm
Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore Barletta
The Cathedral is characterised by two parts with distinctly different styles: one Romanesque and one Gothic.
Cathedral of San Sabino Canosa di Puglia
The building is a splendid example of architecture poised between Byzantine and Norman culture. Inside, it preserves precious sculptures from the Romanesque period.
Molfetta
who of a distant past in the Bronze Age settlements preserved in the Pulo di Molfetta and the Basilica of the Madonna dei Martiri, a shelter for crusaders.
Ruvo di Puglia
In addition to its prized Apulian ceramics, Ruvo is distinguished by its Romanesque architecture and the beautiful Cathedral, which is of great artistic value for the vast sculptural and figurative repertoire it houses.
Archaeological sites
Man has inhabited Apulia since prehistoric times and many traces of his presence, such as rock settlements, necropolis or ancient rural settlements, are accessible and visitable
Hypogeum Archaeological Park – Trinitapoli
Two hypogea are part of the Trinitapoli Archaeological Park: the Hypogeum of the Bronzes and the Hypogeum of the Ivories. The Hypogea are important structures excavated in the limestone rock to celebrate evocative propitiatory rites.
Hypogea Lagrasta Canosa di Puglia
The funeral complex consists of three hypogea: Lagrasta I, Lagrasta II and Lagrasta III, entirely excavated in the tuffaceous bank. The first hypogeum complex consists of five groups, a total of nine rooms
Battle Canes
A renowned location a few kilometres from Barletta, where Hannibal, commander of the Carthaginians, defeated the Romans in 216 BC. The Museum, which houses a collection of Daunian Peucezian vases with geometric designs from the 4th-3rd centuries BC, deserves special attention.
Dolmen of Bisceglie
This area has been inhabited since the remotest antiquity, and traces of settlement have been found dating back to the 18th century B.C. (Dolmen di Bisceglie), to the Neolithic period, to the Daunian-Hellenistic period, and of course to Roman times. What accentuates the fascination of so much wealth is precisely the distribution of these sites, their close link with the landscape, the impressiveness of the installations, and the absolute uniqueness of this immense heritage, due to the multiplicity of trade, the dense network of transport and the ease of landing that these places have had throughout the ages.
Nature and Landscape
Saline of Margherita di Savoia
The Saline di Margherita di Savoia wetlands, which, at around 4,000 hectares, constitute Italy’s largest maritime salt marsh, occupy a large part of the area that until the early decades of the century formed Lake Salpi, a coastal basin of brackish and marshy waters that gave its name to the ancient Salarpa. It was here that Emperor Frederick II spent his days hunting with falcons, recording the first ornithological observations that have come down to us through his work ‘De arte venandi cum avibus’.
That same area later became a State Nature Reserve and then a Wetland of International Importance under the 1971 Ramsar Convention, due to the considerable importance of its fauna. The wetland in question is of great interest due to the presence of various water birds and the nesting of some species, such as the pink flamingo.
Minervino Murge
Balcony of Apulia, we say today that the concept of ‘panorama’ is familiar to us. But while this graceful definition underlines Minervino’s natural inclination towards the land, towards the expanse of municipalities and countryside on which it overlooks, it is also true that one does not arrive at Minervino just by gradually ascending from the plain. In fact, try to get there from the same level, or rather from a slightly higher altitude: you can, coming from the Mediana Murgiana.
The sight of Minervino from there is beautiful, an unusual view that you don’t forget: it is from there that you realise that you are on the extreme edge of the ridge of the high Murgia, rather than on the ‘summit’ of something. So it is the high Murgia that juts out here with its extreme tip, but not to look at: to defend itself from the pitfalls. Perhaps one could think of a nest on the branch. And inside? Destroyed by now, the ancient and complex walls, made up of square and circular towers (of which only one survives, in vico V Scesciola), the nucleus of an unexpectedly precious, noble city remains: the palaces and churches are valuable, solid and representative architectural elements, almost as if it were a castle-city, whose rich façades are doors to secret and ornate rooms.
Events
Pinacoteca De Nittis
The ‘Giuseppe De Nittis’ Art Gallery in Barletta is one of the most important places of artistic interest in the whole of Apulia. The Pinacoteca permanently exhibits all the works of the famous impressionist painter from Barletta, Giuseppe De Nittis. Another section is dedicated to temporary exhibitions of international appeal.
