Altamura (Ialtamùre in the local dialect) is an Italian town of
70 563 inhabitants in the metropolitan city of Bari in Puglia.
Altamura PDO bread, PGI lentils, discovery of Homo neanderthalensis,
dinosaur quarry and cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta are the main
attractions.
For the facts relating to the revolution of
Altamura of 1799 she is nicknamed the lioness of Puglia.
Archaeological evidence
The Altamura area was initially
inhabited by the Peuceti, of which only some archaeological finds of
local or national heritage have been found, due to an illegal
marketing of them, and with consequent loss, testified by authors
and documents of the eighteenth century and of the nineteenth
century.
Domenico Santoro, for example, states that at least
until 1688 there were many funeral urns on the via Tarantina (via
Carpentino) near a spring called "Putida" (which retains this name).
There is no trace of these urns, as reported by scholars Tommaso
Berloco and Elena Silvana Saponaro. This confirms the existence of a
sort of black market during the 19th century, and that the finds
(vases, coins or medallions) were not sufficiently protected. Pietro
Viti also provides detailed information on these findings. Cesare
Orlandi (1770) speaks of archaeological finds both in the vicinity
and within the perimeter of the megalithic walls of Altamura.
The toponyms Petilia and Altilia
There are no historical
documents that indicate with certainty the original name of the city
of Altamura before the year 1000. In the past centuries misleading
information has been handed down which attributed the ancient names
of Petilia and Altilia to Altamura. These hypotheses were defended
by Domenico Santoro (1688) and by the priest D. Vitangelo Frizzale
(1755), while they were later completely rejected by Ottavio Serena
(1880) as unfounded, ergo they are still not confirmed today. The
main reason behind the refutation lies in the absence of reliable
sources, such as names on maps or commercial documents relating to
the early Middle Ages, which attest to one of the aforementioned
toponyms for Altamura.
In the Peutingerian table only the
toponym Sublupatia appears, which assumes the existence of a city
called Lupatia. The toponyms Sublupatia or Lupatia could also be
validly attributed to the city of Altamura. Some scholars have
assumed that there may also have been a Lupatia, being Sublupatia
reported, although the toponym Lupatia is not reported. According to
other scholars, the toponym Sublupatia (or Lupatia) instead refers
to the neighboring city of Santeramo in Colle or to the ancient
settlement of Jesce, which was probably close to the route of the
Via Appia.
The Antonine itinerary, on the other hand, leads
to the SE of Silvium, in addition to Sublupatia, also the station of
Blera, a place "of uncertain identification".
Although the
toponym Lupatia is not mentioned in the two aforementioned
itineraries, the toponym is mentioned by the Anonymous Ravenna
(Byzantine age) and by Guidone in his work Geographica (middle
ages).
During the twentieth century, the scholar Giuseppe
Lugli traced, using the then innovative technique of photogrammetry,
what was probably the route of the Via Appia from Gravina in Puglia
to Taranto. Previously, in fact, only the route that took place on
today's Lazio and Campania was known and studied. Lugli, analyzing
the photogrammetries of the area, noticed the path of a sheep track
called the "Tarantina", whose path bore the signs of a previous
centuriation and which, according to Lugli, was what remained of the
Via Appia (considering that the paths of the ancient Roman arteries
continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages). To confirm this,
there is also the presence of huge archaeological finds in that area
(including the ancient settlement of Jesce).
Analyzing the
distances reported in the Antonine Itinerary, Lugli also assigned
the toponyms Blera and Sublupatia respectively to Murgia Catena and
to Taverna (between Masseria S. Filippo and Masseria S. Pietro).
Nevertheless, the toponym Murgia Catena defined a very large area,
such as not to allow a univocal definition of the station of the Via
Appia. Luciano Piepoli, later, again based on the distances provided
in the Antonine Itinerary and on recent archaeological finds,
proposed to assign the "Santo Staso" area to the toponym Silvium,
close to Gravina in Puglia, to Blera the area of Masseria Castello
and to Sublupatia the area of Masseria Caione.
Petilia
Domenico Santoro (1688) documented, in his work, the attribution
of the toponym Petilia to Altamura on the basis of some testimonies
of Latin authors and translators of his period, which however did
not allow to correctly identify the position of the town. There is
also a quote from the historian Strabo, who called it "placed at the
head of the Lucani". The Greek historian, in his work Geography,
often confuses the Petilia Lucana with the Petelia located in
today's Calabria (perhaps today's Petilia di Policastro, also called
Belcastro, or Strongoli). According to modern scholars, the Petilia
Lucana (the one between the two which was believed to be Altamura)
should be more properly identified with the archaeological finds
found on Monte della Stella.
Ottavio Serena, in his History
of Altamura (which remains unfinished), rejects the toponym Petilia,
and traces in Raffaele Maffei the first author of a certain
authority who hypothesized that Petilia could have been the ancient
name of Altamura, as there are no previous sources that attest the
toponym. The hypothesis on the toponym Petilia was then taken up as
truth by other writers because of the authority that Maffei enjoyed
in his time.
In the Latin translations of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, reference was often made to Altamura in the
notes when speaking of Petilia. In the translation of Claudius
Ptolemy's Geography of that period (translated by Girolamo
Ruscelli), the term Petilia was translated into Italian as "Petilia,
today Altamura" [29], despite the coordinates provided by Ptolemy
pointing unequivocally towards Calabria (thus referring to Petelia
and perhaps to be identified with Petilia di Policastro or
Strongoli), as also Vitangelo Frizzale (1755) pointed out. Leandro
Alberti was the first to refute the hypothesis that Petilia was
Altamura in his Decrittione [sic] of all Italy (1550).
Altilia
The search for mythological origins for a city was very
common in antiquity and in the early Middle Ages and from this would
have originated the legends about the myrmidons and its queen Altea,
founder of the city, called Altilia. According to an ancient legend,
the first settlement was founded with the name of Altilia or Alter
Troia. This legend had a wide fame in the following eras (for
example, the appellative "Altiliensis" was used for illustrious
Altamurans, such as Massimo Santoro Tubito) and is found in Latin
inscriptions and texts.
The inscription on the portal of the
church of San Lorenzo seemed to be the oldest proof of the
historical validity of the legend, since it contained explicit
reference to the myrmidons, whose queen was Altea. Domenico Santoro
(1688) was the first author who alleged the inscription on the
portal in support of the validity of the name Altilia, stating that
the church and the inscription date back to before the year 1000 and
therefore the legend must also have been ancient. Ottavio Serena
refuted Domenico Santoro's observations and postdated the
construction of the church and the inscription by many centuries.
The toponym Altilia appears for the first time in an act dated
1299 where there is the testimony of an eighty-year-old named "Sire
Mundea di Gravina", who claims to have heard from his ancestors that
the city was formerly called Altilia when it was occupied by
Saracens.
In this regard, Ottavio Serena traces the birth of
the legend and the toponym Altilia to the work of some scholar "of
the middle ages" (Early Middle Ages), who, perhaps on the basis of
the archaeological finds found in the area, would have traced the
city to the legendary myrmidons and its legendary queen Altea and
he called it Altilia perhaps referring to the toponym Altamura. To
confirm this, the certificate of 1243 of the foundation of Altamura
states that that land would be called "ab antico" Altamura, that is,
it had already been called Altamura for a long time. Nevertheless
Ottavio Serena seems to recognize a certain validity to the toponym
Altilia, recognizing that there would be no contradiction between
the information of Sire Mundea and the diploma of 1243, the first
referring to a time older than the second.
The local historian Tommaso Berloco (1985) fully accepts the
refutation made by Ottavio Serena for the toponym Petilia, but also
seems to show reservations regarding the toponym Altilia. Tommaso
Berloco praises the critical work of Ottavio Serena, the result of
the new positivist and scientific mentality of the nineteenth
century, but on the question of the toponym Altilia Tommaso Berloco
seems to reproach Ottavio Serena for an "excess of positivism" given
that the toponym Altilia would have some bases 'more solid and may
have been handed down orally through the centuries, although the
narratives of Altea and the Myrmidons are purely legendary and to be
rejected.
In this regard, the court chronicler Pseudo
Jamsilla (1258-1266) in narrating the exploits of Frederick II of
Swabia mentions the cities he founded and, among these, mentions a
certain Alitea, placed by the author in Calabria. Since the author
mentioned Altamura and Altamura was founded by Frederick II of
Swabia, it has been hypothesized that Alitea could refer to the city
of Altamura, or it could be another Calabrian city, such as Altilia.
Murum
From some notarial documents of the city of Gravina
from the early thirteenth century, it is clear that there is a small
town called Murum in the area affected by the current Altamura. This
toponym referred to the city walls (megalithic walls), the ruins of
which are now visible and integrated into the various buildings.
Federico II and the Altamura feudal lords (1232-1799)
Emperor
Frederick II, on his visit in 1232, decided to build a basilica
dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, whose original facade turned
towards Gravina. Frederick II called, to live in the city, people
also from neighboring countries, including Greeks and Jews from the
areas of his kingdom, granting exemptions and special privileges or
the right to cultivate the land and rebuild houses without paying
taxes, dividing the city in four quadrants: Greek, Saracen in the
east and Latin and Hebrew in the west. He assigned the new city a
separate territory separated from the neighboring dioceses, with a
privilege sent to Melfi in September 1232. He conferred the title of
archpriest to Riccardo da Brindisi. Later a bull of Pope Innocent IV
was also issued in Avignon in 1248. Ferdinando Ughelli doubted this
foundation in the seventeenth century, attributing it rather to the
bishop of Gravina between 1300 and 1301. In reality, between the
bishops of Gravina and the archpriests of Altamura there have always
been profound disputes, since the former wanted to exercise
jurisdiction over Altamura, which was instead exempted by Frederick
II. In fact, Clemente V in the bull of 1307 confirmed the union that
King Charles II had already operated, of the archpriesthood of
Altamura with the treasury of the Basilica of San Nicola di Bari.
The church was subsequently destroyed by a fire and the subsequent
reconstruction modified it the position of the facade, which was
facing east.
King Charles I of Anjou in 1271 granted Altamura to Ludovico de
Belloloco (now merged into the Berloco family), and then to the
jurist Sparano da Bari. It was a fiefdom of Errico de Poheriis or de
Poherio and then of the count of Minervino Giacomo Arcuzio of Capri
at the end of the fourteenth century. In 1463, the municipal coat of
arms was surmounted by the crown, at the behest of Emperor Ferdinand
I of Aragon; the city subsequently became a fiefdom of various noble
families, starting with the Orsini Del Balzo and the Farnese
(1538-1734), patrons of numerous palaces and churches. The Orsini
del Balzo family obtained it in 1482. It was granted to Pirro del
Balzo, Duke of Venosa by King Ferdinand on October 16, 1482,
becoming the first Prince of Altamura. In all likelihood, Pirro was
present in Melfi, in the spring of 1485, at the marriage of Troiano
Caracciolo with Ippolita Sanseverino, at what was the first act of
the conspiracy of the barons against the king. In the autumn,
instead of going to Abruzzo to face Giovanni della Rovere, who had
invaded the lands of the Kingdom, he remained in Puglia, where he
took possession of Spinazzola, Genzano, Barletta; but Ferrandino
d'Aragona managed to recover the lost lands and also Acerra against
Pirro. In early September 1486 Pirro formally submitted to the king,
but soon after he was among the barons who swore to continue the
fight against the sovereign. Alfonso II of Aragon then conquered
Venosa and Pirro made the hard decision to submit to Ferrante (18
December 1486). But the barons continued to plot against the
sovereign. Pirro felt strong in his connection with the court (his
daughter Isabella had just married Frederick of Aragon, the king's
brother) and agreed with Roberto Sanseverino, prince of Salerno, for
a decisive plot that would start from Rome. But the lack of
determination prevented him from leaving: Pirro was arrested along
with numerous other barons on 4 July 1487 and locked up in
Castelnuovo di Napoli, from where he never left. All his properties
were confiscated and ended up in the hands of his son-in-law
Frederick of Aragon, who proclaimed himself Prince of Altamura.
Being Isabella (1468-1533), daughter of Pyrrhus, who became the wife
of the king of Naples Federico her, on the death of her father in
1491 she became 3rd princess of Altamura, after her sister Isotta
Ginevra (1460) had already been -1530) before her. In 1506
Ferdinando the Catholic of Trastamara, who took over the king of
Naples during the Wars of Italy, gave it to Onorato Gaetano.
In 1531, after the Spanish conquest of Puglia, the citizens redeemed
its administrative autonomy, paying the sum of 20,000 ducats to the
Spanish Crown. In 1538, reduced to the pavement due to debts, the
city was sold to Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Camerino, son-in-law of
Charles V. It was then marital dowry of Margaret of Austria, and in
this period there was a notable expansion outside of the city walls.
In 1647 Masaniello's insurrection in Naples involved many other
cities of the kingdom in a movement against feudalism; among these
Altamura, which had decisively opposed the attempts of reconquest by
Giangirolamo II Acquaviva d'Aragona, the powerful count of
Conversano. On that occasion, Altamura joined the Neapolitan
Republic and for a short time governed itself. In 1748 Charles VII
of Naples founded a university there: a difficult path of
affirmation, among the first ever in all of Southern Italy.
At the end of the eighteenth century, and for almost all the
nineties, the ancient nobility of Altamura was still very powerful,
both in terms of wealth and for the considerable influence it had at
the court of Naples; The episode of April 1797 is illuminating. The
representatives of the nobles from Altamura, with their requests,
managed to modify the program of the King, then visiting Gravina,
almost forcing him to an unexpected stay in Altamura. For the
occasion, the city was not only richly decorated, but also arranged
in the access and by remaking large stretches of road.
Part of the Altamura territory is included in the
Alta Murgia national park. Of the karst sinkholes, the Pulo di
Altamura can be seen, it opens up between the hills of the Murgian
plateau at about 477 m above sea level. Inside, a skeleton of Homo
neanderthalensis, known as Man of Altamura, was found, as well as
various animals. in October 1993 by CARS.
In a disused quarry
in the locality of Pontrelli, footprints were found imprinted by
dinosaurs that lived in the Upper Cretaceous, about 80 million years
ago.
The Murgia area, the Lamalunga cave, the De Lucia quarry
and the Pulo were candidates for the "proposal list" of UNESCO on 1
June 2006, but without success. The altitude of the municipal area
varies from 351 m above sea level at 671 m above sea level
The climate is sub-Mediterranean (Köppen climate
classification Cfsa), with moderately cold winters and hot, dry
summers. The average temperature of the coldest month (January) is
6.5 °, that of the hottest month (July) is 25.3 °. Annual rainfall
is around 550 mm, with greater frequency in the coldest months and
few episodes (sometimes violent) in the summer months. Snow occurs
sporadically in the period between December and March, usually
associated with irruptions of cold air from the north-eastern
quadrants. The snowfall in January 2017, with accumulations over one
meter even in the city, should be noted. In the autumn months, fogs
are quite frequent.
The thermal extremes from 1925 to 2013
were -8.7 ° (14 January 1968) and 43.3 ° (10 September 1946).
Below are the climatic averages and the absolute maximum and
minimum values for the thirty years 1981-2010 recorded by the
weather station managed by the Civil Protection.