Bari

 

Bari (Bàre - in the Bari dialect, until 1931 Bari delle Puglie) is an Italian town of 320 730 inhabitants, the capital of the Puglia region and of the homonymous metropolitan city. Located in the center of a metropolitan area of about one million inhabitants.

It is also known for being the city where the relics of St. Nicholas rest. This condition has made Bari and its basilica one of the favorite centers of the Orthodox Church in the West and also an important center of interfaith communication between Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Bari has a solid mercantile-entrepreneurial tradition and has always been a nerve center in the field of trade and political-cultural contacts with the Middle East. Its port is the largest passenger port of the Adriatic Sea. Since 1930 the Fiera del Levante has been held in Bari, one of the main trade fairs in Italy.

 

How to orient yourself

The historic part of the city of Bari, known as Bari Vecchia by its inhabitants, is included within the ancient walls, and is so called, starting from the 19th century, as opposed to the new city (whose construction began in 1813 under the reign of Joachim Murat). Bari Vecchia is located on the peninsula enclosed between the two ports of Bari (the old port and the new port), bordered to the south by Corso Vittorio Emanuele, while the new city extends between the railway and the coast, with orthogonal grid streets. Together they form the current urban center of the city of Bari and are gathered in the 9th district called the Murat district, which is the pulsating center of the Apulian capital city.

 

Sights

The current urban center consists of the new city (founded in 1813 by Gioacchino Murat) which extends between the railway and the coast with orthogonal grid streets, and the old city (the so-called barivecchia) between the new and old ports, closed to the east by the walls that separate it from the seafront, with a medieval urban layout.

Notable Romanesque monuments can be found in ancient Bari, including the basilica of San Nicola (12th century), a masterpiece of Apulian Romanesque architecture. The Cathedral of San Sabino (1170-1178), in whose archives a famous Exultet (illuminated codex) prior to 1025 and containing the liturgy of Holy Saturday is preserved.

The Church of San Gregorio (11th-12th century) is interesting from an architectural point of view. The Norman-Swabian castle built by Frederick II of Swabia (at least the main nucleus) on the site of previous Norman and Byzantine fortifications is famous. Enlarged in the 16th century, when it became the residence of Isabella of Aragon, in the 19th century the castle was first used as a prison and later as a barracks.

In the new city are the Archaeological Museum (with numerous ceramics) and, on the Nazario Sauro seafront, the Provincial Art Gallery. Not far from the seafront is also the Petruzzelli Theater, built between 1898 and 1903, recently reopened to the public after a long renovation following the fire that seriously damaged it in 1991.

Two museums in Bari must be highlighted: 1. The Archaeological Museum with vases and bronze works from the Puglia region. The Archaeological Museum is located in the University building. 2. The Provincial Art Gallery Museum, where paintings and works of art from the 11th to the 20th century are exhibited. The paintings are exhibited in the provincial building. The basilica of San Nicola of the Norman church was built in the XII century. Especially the externally mounted portals with their beautiful figures are worth seeing. Countless pilgrims visit the relics of Saint Nicholas every year, which are housed in the crypt in Bari. In the northwest of the capital of Puglia is the large castle Castel del Monte, which was built in the 12th century under Friedrich II.

 

Religious architecture

The historic center of Bari is full of small and large churches.

The most majestic are undoubtedly the Cathedral of San Sabino and the Basilica of San Nicola. However, there are numerous minor churches: Church of Sant'Anna, Church of Sant'Antonio Abate, Church of Sant'Agostino rebuilt in 1508 by the Milanese colony, Church of San Bartolomeo, Church of Santa Chiara, Church of San Domenico, Church of San Francesco alla Scarpa, Church of Santa Pelagia, Church of San Gaetano, Church of Gesù, Church of San Giacomo, the fourteenth-century Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo (parish church of the Greek rite), Church of San Giuseppe, Church of San Gregorio where throughout the th year remains the statue of St. Nicholas transferred to its basilica only on feast days, Church of San Luca, Church of San Marco dei Veneziani]], Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Church of Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio, Church of Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo, Church of San Martino, Church of San Michele, Church of Sant'Onofrio, Church of Santa Scolastica, Church of San Sebastiano, Church of Santa Teresa delle Donne, the Baroque Church of Santa Teresa dei Maschi, Church of SS . Trinità dei Medici, Church of Vallisa, Chapel of San Nicola al Porto and, with a contracted Greek cross, the Church of San Giorgio degli Armeni.

Eight churches have disappeared or have been deconsecrated: "San Benedetto", "San Demetrio", "San Eustrazio", "San Tommaso Apostolo", "San Pietro de Sergio Protospathario", "San Nicola de ipsa Pusterula", "San Giovanni Evangelista" , "St. Apollinaris".
1 Cathedral of San Sabino, Largo San Sabino. Among the most shining examples of Apulian Romanesque, it was built starting from 1087 to house the relics of Saint Nicholas, which some sailors from Bari had moved from Myra on the orders of the Normans. It was visited by Pope Urban II in 1089 to place the Nicolaian relics, and in 1098 for the Second Council of Bari. Today it is an important ecumenical center, a destination for pilgrimages of Orthodox Christians coming especially from Russia who have founded a large and active community here . The severe salient façade, tripartite and flanked by two bell towers, corresponds to a bright interior with a Latin cross layout, in which the ciborium and the episcopal chair of Abbot Elia and the monument to the Queen of Poland Bona Sforza stand out.
2 Church of San Nicola, Piazza San Nicola. The Cathedral of San Sabino was built in the first half of the 11th century and rebuilt in the last decades of the 12th century, following the destruction of the city by William the Bad in 1156. The cathedral is one of the most majestic creations of Romanesque architecture - Apulian whose characterizing elements are found in the tripartite façade with pilasters, in the exaphorate of the left side, in the transept heads. The interior, with a Latin cross plan with three naves, has a pulpit and a ciborium reassembled with original fragments from the 11th and 13th centuries and houses the relics of San Sabino and Santa Colomba, the icon of the Madonna Odegitria and the roll of the Exultet, before 1050.
Church of Santa Chiara, Via Santa Chiara. The church stands on the site of the medieval church of Santa Maria degli Alemanni or Santa Maria Theotonicorum. In 1429 it passed to the Poor Clares and in 1539 it underwent a series of renovations. At the beginning of the 18th century it was rebuilt in a Baroque style.
3 Church of Sant'Anna, via strada palazzo di città. The building dates back to the 11th century and at the time it was located on the Via Franchigena, one of the liveliest arteries of ancient Bari. It is a church of great architectural interest due to the mixture of different cultures and ethnic groups linked to the historical events of the city.

 

Civil architecture

4 Castle, Piazza Federico II di Svevia. The Norman-Swabian castle was built around 1131 by the will of Roger the Norman. In 1156 William I of Sicily destroyed it almost completely and Guido il Vasto, by the will of Frederick II of Swabia, took care of its reconstruction. The mighty and grandiose castle consists of two distinct parts: the first including the keep, of Byzantine-Norman origin and transformed by Frederick II between 1233 and 1240, with a trapezoidal plan with two towers of the original four; the second which incorporates the escarpment bulwarks with angular lance-shaped towers on the moat which were added in the 16th century on the three sides on the land side. The north side, the maritime one, retains the ogival portal (now walled up) and the graceful mullioned windows of the thirteenth-century building. The castle is accessed from the south side, crossing the bridge over the moat and entering the courtyard between the sixteenth-century ramparts and the Swabian keep, on the whose towers and curtains built in drafts of dark stone, several single lancet windows can be seen. On the west side, a sculpted Gothic portal leads into an atrium on columns with cross vaults, from which one passes into the internal quadrilateral courtyard, with a Renaissance layout, much altered. In this interior, on the left in a ground hall, there is the plaster cast gallery which houses numerous casts that portray the most interesting architectural and decorative sculptures of the Romanesque monuments of Puglia. Next to it, an interesting room with a pointed arched ribbed barrel vault, used as an archive. On the upper floor, on the southern side of the castle, there are various rooms where the Superintendence of the Galleries is located. The north side houses the restored paintings in two large rooms on the upper floor.
5 Fort of Sant'Antonio, Lungomare Imperatore Augusto. The Fort of Sant'Antonio Abate was built for defensive purposes. The date of construction is not ascertained; however some sources mention the fort starting from the 14th century. Destroyed by the people of Bari in 1463, it was rebuilt in the 16th century at the behest of Isabella of Aragon (1470-1524). A graceful wooden statue of the saint to whom the building is dedicated is located in a chapel under the entrance hall. The only day when the chapel can be visited is January 17, the day when it is opened to celebrate religious ceremonies. In the chapel there is also a noteworthy painting by an unknown artist depicting Saint Anthony the Abbot. Its spaces are currently used for cultural events, often very interesting.
6 Palazzo Fizzarotti, C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 193. radically enlarged in the years 1905-1907 by Ettore Bernich and Augusto Corradini, it appears as an imposing building in an eclectic style. Many of the stylistic features of the Apulian Romanesque are merged with different architectural traditions. The facade, made up of three floors in Venetian style onto which a light colonnaded gallery opens, is a tribute to the liberation of the city occupied by the Saracens by the Serenissima in 1002. The interiors, accessible through a suggestive marble entrance hall, host various decorations that recall the Frederick era, allegories of the economic activities of Puglia and esoteric symbols. The building is now used for residential use, but also houses a multipurpose center with exhibition halls.
7 Palazzo Atti, Corso Cavour 24 at the corner of Via Cognetti. Of the private residence, which stands along the prestigious Corso Cavour, the fundamental road axis that separates the original Murat district from the seafront, the abundance of decorations catches the eye: garlands of flowers, geometric motifs, even an imposing sculptural group on the noble loggia above the main gate. The engineer Ettore Patruno who oversaw the project in 1915 thus intended to celebrate the triumph of the eclectic style in vogue in those years.
8 Hotel Cineteatro Oriente, Corso Cavour (near Palazzo Atti). Next to Palazzo Atti, between 1918 and 1928 the engineer Orazio Santalucia designed and directed the construction of a building intended for hotel accommodation and public entertainment, adopting a concrete frame under an eclectic decoration. The floors with 15-metre beams still make it a notable example of that technique, which was innovative for the time.
9 Palazzo Stoppelli, Corso Cavour. Palazzo Stoppelli was built in 1919 for commercial and residential purposes. It has the same stylistic features as the Cineteatro Oriente hotel, with which it shared the designer and client.
10 Palazzo Colonna, Largo Adua. The contrast between the ashlar of the base and the pastel shades of the upper floors characterizes the large façade of Palazzo Colonna, on the Araldo di Crollalanza seafront. The tower equipped with a clock lightens the upper profile of the building, which was built by the architect Vincenzo Bavaro in 1925 to be used for residential and commercial purposes.
Palazzo Fione-Saponaro, eastern seafront. Built in 1925 near the Nazario Sauro seafront to a design by Giovanni Logroscino, this private residence is characterized by a classical imprint, in which, however, elements of eclecticism are not lacking. The five floors of the two-tone façade are divided by pilasters surmounted by Corinthian capitals. The parapets of the balconies are masonry columns on the main floor and wrought iron links with floral motifs on the other floors.
Palazzo Dioguardi-Durante. Built in 1925 by the architect Saverio Dioguardi as a private residence, the Dioguardi-Durante palace is located in a corner position near Piazza Eroi del Mare. All five floors that make up the facade with soft curved lines in an eclectic style are characterized by projecting balconies and large windows facing the Adriatic.
11 Kursaal Santalucia. Built in 1924 by Eng. Orazio Santalucia as a private residence, this building near the sea was soon used by the designer, who was also the owner, as a projection room. The formal solutions of the façade and of the interiors are marked by late Liberty, although the building is respectful of the compact volumes typical of the Murat district. In recent years, Paolo Portoghesi has brought the Kursaal back to its former glory, preserving its original internal decorations.
12 Building of the Mincuzzi warehouses, via Sparano (on the corner of via Sparano and via Putignani). In the heart of the Murat district, in 1923 Aldo Forcignanò drew up a spectacular project with a corner solution for the building, which still maintains clear commercial purposes. The facade is a mass of columns, ashlar pilasters, Ionic capitals and masks among which the many windows develop. The interiors, rich in Art Nouveau decorations, are dominated by a monumental staircase and illuminated by the glass dome that dominates the building. Also owned by the Mincuzzi family, the building has been leased to the mega store of the Benetton brand since 2002.
Palazzo Pollice. The architect Sabino Calderazzi adopted rationalist solutions for the facade of this private residence located on a corner in the Murat district. The mass of the building, with no less than six floors, and the use of rounded balconies made it a prominent element in the urban landscape at the time of construction (1930s).
13 Palazzo Noli. The duotone of the facade, with a dominant white at the base and ocher at the upper volumes, characterizes this private residence, built in the years 1932-1939 in via Signorile to a design by the same owner. The massive bulk of the building is softened by the sloping profile of the attic floor.

 

The public building of the fascist era

14 Palazzo dell'Acquedotto Pugliese, Via Salvatore Cognetti, 36. visit inside: Sat-Sun 10:00-12:00 (by reservation only through the website). In 1924 the Apulian Aqueduct Authority set up a central office, entrusting Cesare Vitantonio Brunetti with a building in Via Cognetti, a short distance from the sea. The imposing candid ashlar facade that runs around the four sides of the building gives the impregnable appearance of a fortress. However, once you have crossed the entrance, you can admire the splendid interiors resulting in every minimal detail from the liberty fantasy of Duilio Cambellotti: the dominant theme is that of water, which is proposed in the large frescoes in the Sala del Consiglio, in the floors, in the inlays in wood and mother of pearl of the over 140 original pieces of furniture.
15 Palace of the Province of Bari, Lungomare Nazario Sauro. As part of the larger monumental transformation project of the Lungomare Nazario Sauro south of the city, in 1930 the Provincial Administration commissioned the design of its definitive headquarters, in which the most brilliant architects of the city coordinated by Luigi Baffa participated. The building, completed in 1936, is characterized by the eclecticism that recalls the neo-medieval civil architecture. At the center of the ashlar base there are five large round arches which give access to a two-tone marble portico. Beyond the upper floors, a tower with a clock stands out in an asymmetrical position, an allusion to the bell tower of the Cathedral, also visible from the Lungomare Nazario Sauro. Seriously damaged during the Second World War, today the building houses the offices and council chamber of the Provincial Administration, the Provincial Art Gallery of Bari and the Archive. On the ground floor there is also a beautiful colonnaded portico, home to temporary exhibitions from time to time, dominated by two huge statues dating back to the post-war period.
16 Chiaffredo Bergia Barracks. Also dating back to the thirties, the building is the headquarters of the General Command of the Carabinieri of the Puglia Region. The imposing facade of the building on the Lungomare Nazario Sauro, the work of Cesare Bazzani, is made up of three distinct buildings connected by a continuous stone base, and recalls military architecture in numerous elements.
17 Command Building of the III Air Region, Lungomare Nazario Sauro 35-39, ☎ +39 080 5418111, fax: +39 080 5418587, aeroscuoleaeroregione3@aeronautica.difesa.it. In 1932 the Ministry of the Air Force commissioned Saverio Dioguardi and Aldo Forcignanò to build the building intended to house the Command of the "Third Air Region". The building occupies three sides of a block and opposes the facade to the sea, on which the long series of frameless windows is interrupted in the center by four gigantic pillars that exceed the rest of the facade in height and simulate the entrance. The entrances are actually in an angular position, camouflaged by the arcades on which two soaring towers rise.
National Security Volunteer Militia Barracks. The building was built on the Lungomare Vittorio Veneto, north of Barivecchia, between 1933 and 1937 to a design by the Bari architect Saverio Dioguardi. The long and symmetrical facade, in the center of which rises a tower, still maintains the architectural style of the Fascist era. Built as a barracks for the national security volunteer militia, it currently houses a military command.
18 Orazio Flacco High School. Built in the Fascist era to a design by Concezio Petrucci, the rationalist lines were enslaved to the celebration of Mussolini, starting from the internal courtyard plan which was brilliantly rendered in the shape of an M.
19 Monumental entrance to the Fiera del Levante, Piazzale Vittorio Emanuele III. Among the various architectural creations of the city's trade fair district, all built in view of the organization of the Fiera del Levante, the monumental entrance still retains intact the original features of the 1929 project by Augusto Corradini. It is an imposing symmetrical construction: two crenellated towers unusually equipped with mullioned windows and three mullioned windows, embrace a large access portal which echoes a triumphal arch of the classical tradition. The view on the Starita seafront is significant of the original Mediterranean vocation of the sampler.
20 Post and Telegraph Building. The ministerial architect Roberto Narducci in 1931 chose rationalist lines for the building, characterized by an angular staircase that leads to a curvilinear portico, mirroring that of the facing sidewalk. The entrance is dominated by a skylight dome which illuminates a large circular room.
21 Archaeological Museum of Santa Scolastica, Via Venezia 73 (at the end of the Bari wall), ☎ +39 080 0990882, museoarcheologico@cittametropolitana.ba.it. full ticket €5.00 reduced ticket €3.00. Closed Mon Tue-Sat 09:00-19:00 Sun 09:00-13:00. Archaeological Museum of Santa Scolastica, located in the city of Bari. Established in 1875 and then opened to the public in 1890.

 

Museums

Archaeological Museum
The "Archaeological Museum" of Bari, founded in 1875 as a Provincial Museum, has been considerably expanded over time thanks to private donations and new archaeological discoveries which have enriched the institute's showcases. In fact, it includes the most complete collection of Apulian archaeological material, especially ceramics and bronzes. The museum is essential for a complete knowledge of the Apulian civilization from the 7th to the 3rd century, of ancient Daunia (current province of Foggia), of Messapia and above all of Peucezia (current province of Bari).

The museum is located inside the former monastery of Santa Scolastica.

Art gallery of the metropolitan city of Bari
The Bari Metropolitan Art Gallery, located in the building of the Province of Bari, consists of works dating from the fifteenth century to the present, whose paternity is attributed to artists such as Tintoretto, Giovanni Bellini, Antonio Vivarini and Bartolomeo Vivarini, Paolo Veronese and painters of Neapolitan school such as Luca Giordano and numerous Italian 19th century artists. The art gallery is named after the Rococo painter Corrado Giaquinto, a native of Molfetta. The museum also houses an important collection (Grieco collection) of Italian 19th and 20th century works, including paintings by Tuscan Macchiaioli such as Fattori, Lega, Signorini, Banti and by artists such as Morandi, De Chirico, Carrà, De Pisis, Campigli, Casorati, Mafai, Sironi. There are also works by Pellizza da Volpedo, De Nittis, Netti, Boldini and Toma. The art gallery also houses works by contemporary authors such as Pino Pascali. It is home to exhibitions and cultural events.

Other museums
Mediterranean citadel of science
African Ethnographic Museum
Museum of the gipsoteca of the Norman-Swabian castle
Nicolaian Museum
Cathedral Museum
Civic historical museum
Military Memorial Museum
Bari Botanical Garden
Museum of Zoology
Earth Science Museum
Collection Museum of Physics
Water Museum - Palace of the Apulian Aqueduct
Museum of Photography of the Polytechnic University of Bari

 

Events and parties

Fiera del Levante (Fire du Levande in Bari dialect), Lungomare Starita, 4, ☎ +39 080 536 61 11,messages@fieradellevante.it. entrance authorized only if in possession of a ticket, which costs €3; however from 19:30 to 21:00 admission is free for all. Mon-Fri 10am-9pm. This great fair reached its 80th edition in 2016, it is one of the main Italian and Mediterranean fairs. The fair always takes place in the Marconi-San Girolamo-Fesca district. During the year, the exhibition center hosts about thirty international exhibitions, congresses and events. The main event is the "September Campionaria". The main declared objective of the fair is the internationalization of the southern economy, counting on a market made up of the regions of southern Italy, south-eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East and northern Africa. Over the years, some interesting initiatives related to the fair have also arisen; for example, admission - already quite cheap in itself - becomes free if you arrive at the fairgrounds by bicycle, rather than using public transport. For this purpose, the municipality has made public bicycles available for some years, which can be rented in various parts of the city in cooperation with some associations that work for a more bike-friendly Bari. Tickets, required for entry to the fair, can be purchased at the entrance or through the Vivaticket website.
Feast of St. Nicholas patron of Bari. 6-8 May. The Saint of the city celebrated by the Catholic Church is San Nicola. In Bari numerous masses gather in the early morning (4:00) of 6 December. A large crowd and many stalls cover the old city during the night. The city celebrates the main feast of St. Nicholas from 6 to 8 May with historical reconstructions, folk music and two days of fireworks competitions. For this event many pilgrims come from all over the world.

 

What to do

Palaghiaccio, Via Caldarola 6 (exit 14/A SS16 towards Brindisi), ☎ +39 080 5461848, palaghiacciobari@hotmail.it. Mon-Fri €8, Sat €10, Sun €7/10. Mon-Fri 16:30-24:00, Sat 17:00-01:00, Sun 10:30-13:00 and 16:30-24:00. Skating rink both at a competitive level and for fun.
Acquapark, Via Caldarola 6, ☎ +39 080 5461291, acquaparkbari@libero.it. Perfect water park for tourists and to spend fun days.

 

Getting here

By plane
Bari-Palese Airport (IATA: BRI) (Located north-west of the center, at a distance of about 8 km, in the territory of Palese.). Bari-Palese airport bears the official name of Karol Wojtyla. Connections with the center are made by the Amtab line 16 which ends in Piazza Moro (central station), by the Autoservizi Tempesta group shuttle and by the FM2 Aeroporto underground station.
The airlines operating domestic flights as of 2009 are listed below:
TAP: Rome-Fiumicino, Bologna, Turin, Milan-Linate, Venice
Ryanair - Alghero, Bergamo-Orio al Serio, Bologna, Pisa, Turin
Ita Airways: Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino
EasyJet: Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino
Lufthansa Italy: Milan-Malpensa.

By car
Bari can be reached via the A14 Adriatica Bologna-Taranto motorway.

On boat
Ferries periodically connect Bari to the Balkan and Greek coasts, especially during the summer season.

On the train
Bari is reached by Trenitalia Le Frecce trains, at the Bari Centrale station in Piazza Moro, which coincides with the bus terminus.

 

Getting around

The city of Bari is served by numerous railway stations, the main one being the Bari Centrale station located in Piazza Aldo Moro. The Appulo Lucane Railways and the Ferrotramviaria have their own and distinct railway stations.

The AMTAB manages the urban public transport services via bus (in the past connections by means of trolleybuses were operative, in different areas of the city it is still possible to observe the network of wires).

Subway
In the urban area, the railway services are organized on six lines converging in the Bari Centrale station, managed by four different operators, which constitute the Bari metropolitan railway service.

Northern Bari Railways
4 lines, with terminus in Piazza Aldo Moro in the Bari Nord station, (managed by the Ferrotramviaria company) connect the city center with the northern sector of the Bari suburb, the Bari-Palese airport and the municipalities of Bitonto, Corato, Terlizzi, Ruvo of Puglia, Andria and Barletta.

FR1 Regional Railway 1 Bari-Barletta (via Palese Macchie)
FM1 Metropolitan Railway 1 Bari-San Paolo
FR2 Regional Railway 2 Bari-Barletta (via Airport)
FM2 Metro Railway 2 Bari-Airport-Bitonto

Bus
The AMTAB network is made up of 34 urban lines, 2 circular lines and 5 Park & Ride shuttles which connect the parking areas to the city centre. The minimum fare, at a cost of €1.20 (June 2019), allows you to travel for 75 minutes on all buses on the network with the exception of special service lines (for example, lines used during events at the Fiera del Levante or sporting events at the San Nicola Stadium require tickets at a special rate) The bus service does not enjoy a very good reputation as the cars are often dirty, crowded or worn out and the journeys are not punctual, however the AMTAB offers more frequent and widespread connections of the rest of the means therefore remain the most used ones.

Park & Ride service
In the city there are 5 park&rides managed by AMTAB, which with a €1 (June 2019) ticket allow you to park and use the shuttle bus service, at a possible cost of €0.30 (June 2019) in the case of passengers other than the driver of the parked car.

 

Shopping

1 Zafar Trading, Corso Italia 3, ☎ +39 329 792 6854. Mon-Fri 08:30, Sun 09:30-21:30. Supermarket of ethnic and imported products, often crowded.
2 la Feltrinelli, via Melo da Bari, 119, ☎ +39 02 91947777, fax: +39 080 5207550. Mon-Sat 09:30-21:00, Sun 10:00-13:30 and 16:30-21: 00. laFeltrinelli is a bookcase equipped with armchairs where you can sit down to read. There is also a bar to stop by.
3 Nike, Via Argiro 97, ☎ +39 0 238591453. Mon-Sat 09:00-20:30.
4 Zara, Via Sparano da Bari 58, ☎ +39 02 3828 7157. Mon-Sat 09:30-21:00, Sun 10:30-21:00.
5 Lush, Via Sparano da Bari, 34, ☎ +39 080 889 0532. Mon-Sun 10am-8.30pm.
6 LEGO Store, Via Argiro 51, ☎ +39 080 472 9877. Mon-Sun 10am-8pm.
7 Laterza Bookshop, Via Dante Alighieri, 49/53, ☎ +39 080 521 1780, biblioteca@laterza.it. Mon-Sat 09:30-13:30 and 16:30-20:30. Library with a vast selection of genres, for all ages, owned by the publishing house based in Bari.
8 Footlocker, Corso Cavour 99/101, ☎ +39 080 521 1629. Mon-Sun 10am-8pm.
9 OVS, Via Abate Giacinto Gimma 87, ☎ +39 080 850 3774. Mon-Sun 10am-8pm.
10 Cotton candy, Via Napoli 6, ☎ +39 347 800 1944. Mon-Fri 7:30-14:30 and 17:30-20:00. Sweet shop of all kinds.
11 Santacroce stationery shop, Via Andrea da Bari, 30-32, ☎ +39 080 523 2228, santaxcarta@hotmail.it. Items for various parties and festivities. Different types of cards and boxes. Other miscellaneous items.

 

How to have fun

Shows
1 Multicinema Galleria, Corso Italia 15, ☎ +39 080 521 4563. Located in the heart of Bari near the station, the cinema has 7 screens plus an open-air Arena Quattro Palme.
2 Petruzzelli Theater, Corso Cavour, 12, ☎ +39 080 975 2810, botteghino@fondazionepetruzzelli.it. It is the largest theater in Bari, as well as the 4th largest in Italy. It was built from 1902. It was rebuilt following a fire in 1991.
3 Teatro Margherita, Piazza IV Novembre. The Teatro Margherita is one of the historic theaters of the city of Bari, built in 1914 by Francesco De Giglio. It underwent renovations and reopened in December 2018.
4 Teatro Piccinni, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 84. Historical theatre, built by Antonio Niccolini in 1854, it was inaugurated on 30 May of the same year. It has a capacity of 785 and reopened in 2019, after a period of renovation.

Night clubs
5 Snooker Bowling, Via Giovanni Amendola, 112/A, ☎ +39 080 5542748. Mon-Sat 09:00-13:00 and 15:00-00:00, Sun 11:00-13:00 and 15:00- 00:00. Cozy place, where you can find a variety of entertainment, including bowling, billiards, etc.
6 Fix it radio, Via Gaetano Salvemini, 10, ☎ +39 333 222 2412. Mon-Sun 8pm-3am. A place where you can drink cocktails and beers in company.

 

Where to eat

Modest prices
1 Mozzarella e basil, Piazza Giuseppe Massari, 8, ☎ +39 080 5227935. Mon-Sun 12:00-16:00 and 18:00-00:00. Cozy and quality pizzeria. Consistent pricing. Helpful staff.
2 Pizzeria Bari Naples, Via Piccinni, 187/189, ☎ +39 080 9905452, info@barinapoli.it. Mon-Fri 12:45-15:45 and 20:00-02:00, Sat-Sun 20:00-02:00. Pizzas stuffed with selected ingredients, in many flavors for a dinner with friends, a quick lunch or an evening with the whole family.
3 Pasticceria Rex dal 1960, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 146, ☎ +39 080 523 2296, pasticceriarex@tiscali.it. Mon-Sat 06:30-20:30, Sun 06:30-14.
4 Gelateria Gentile, Piazza Federico II di Svevia 33, ☎ +39 080 528 2779. Mon-Sun 11am-1am. Ice cream parlor in the old town.
5 Nagoya, via Principe Amedeo 162, ☎ +39 080 5210780. Mon-Sun 10:30-15:30 and 18:30-00:30.
6 Yogo, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 9, ☎ +39 080 522 2074. Mon-Fri 5pm-2am, Sat 5pm-4am, Sun 5pm-3am.
7 La Brace Accesa, Strada Tommasicchio 8, ☎ +39 328 358 1502. Mon-Fri 10:00-16:15 and 18:00-00:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00 and 18:00-00: 30.
8 Pizzeria La Rosa Dei Venti, Via Principe Amadeo 537, ☎ +39 080 579 7852. Mon-Sat 06:00-20:00 Sun open.

Average prices
9 La Parilla De Juan, Plaza Mercantile 21, ☎ +39 080 524 5692. Mexican food.
10 Ai due Ghiottoni, ☎ +39 080 5232240, riservailristorante@ai2ghiottoni.it. High prices. Mon-Sat 12:00-15:30 and 19:00-23:00, Sun 12:00-16:00 and 19:00-23:00. Restaurant and pizzeria. Room with indoor service. Mixed menu, mainly based on seafood. Cozy place for families and couples, also suitable for every food preference.
Osteria del porto, Via Orfeo Mazzitelli, 258/A, ☎ +39 080 3324002. Mon-Sun 12:30-15:30 and 20:00-23:30. Fish restaurant. Consumption on the spot - Take away - Home delivery. Hours or services may vary.
11 Xuan, Via, Largo Adua, 10/14, ☎ +39 080 5739035, restaurantxuan@hotmail.com. 20/23€. Tue-Sun 12:30-15:30 and 19:30-23:50. The place is welcoming and spacious, walls decorated in wood, tables present inside and also outside. The menu includes dishes not only Japanese but also of oriental origin. The menu is both all you can eat and a la carte.
12 L'aragosta restaurant, Largo Di Santo Spirito Cristoforo Colombo 235, ☎ +39 080 533 5427, restaurant.laragosta@libero.it. Tue-Sun 12:00-15:30 and 17:00-24:00. Open and closed space, very bright, with sea view.
La Muraya Ristorante, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, 140, ☎ +39 080 986 4581, ristorantelamuraya@hotmail.com. Mon-Sun 13:30-15:00 and 19:45-23:00. The peculiarity of La Muraya Restaurant are the dishes cooked with fresh local fish.
13 Fabulà, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 9, ☎ +39 353 415 6005. Tue-Sat 12:30-15:30 and 19:30-23:30, Sun 12:30-15:30 and 19:30-24:00 .
14 Jerome, Corso Cavour 197, ☎ +39 080 914 9298. EUR. Mon-Sun 07:00-21:00.
15 Alla Tortuga, Via Napoli 52, ☎ +39 320 303 8905. Mon-Sun 7pm-11.30pm.
16 Al Pescatore, Piazza Federico II di Svevia, 6/7, ☎ +39 080 523 7039, info@alpescatorebari.com. Mon-Sat 1pm-3pm and 8pm-11pm, Sun 1pm-3pm and 8.30pm-11pm. From the entrance of the restaurant you can see the Cathedral of Bari. This restaurant is famous for the excellent quality of the fish. There is the possibility to eat outside.
17 Crema e Cioccolato, Strada Tommasicchio 12, ☎ +39 351 199 1045. Mon-Fri 8.30am-11.30pm, Sat-Sun 9am-12am.
18 Pizzeria La Rosa Dei Venti, Lungomare IX Maggio,36, ☎ +39 080 534 8341. Mon-Fri 08:00-13:30 and 19:00-02:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-13:30 and 19: 00-02:00.
19 La Uascezze, Vico Sant'Agostino 2/4 (Take the road between the headquarters of the Red Cross and the Guardia di Finanza arriving from Piazza Mercantile, turn left at the first arch), ☏ +39 080 523 6023. Mon-Sun 20 -24. Restaurant of typical specialties in Bari Vecchia with rustic atmosphere.

 

Where stay

Modest prices
1 Olive Tree Hostel, Via Scipione Crisanzio, 90. Hostel.

Average prices
2 Palace Hotel, via Francesco Lombardi 13, ☎ +39 080 5216551, info@palacehotelbari.it. Check-in: 12:00, check-out: 12:00. Refined hotel with modern rooms, breakfast included, restaurant and gym.

High prices
3 Parco dei Principi Hotel & SPA, Via Vito Vasile, extension of Viale Europa 6 ("Europa" station of the North-Barese Railway), ☎ +39 080 539 4811, info@parcodeiprincipibari.it. 4-star hotel, located 1.5 km from Karol Wojtyla Airport, offers free parking and WI-FI connection and conference facilities with 10 soundproofed meeting rooms on the ground floor and 1st floor. The property houses a SPA and Wellness centre, which includes an indoor swimming pool with hydromassage, a fully equipped gym, a sauna, a Turkish bath, it also offers a buffet breakfast and 2 restaurants in the area open for both lunch and dinner. The rooms are bright, soundproofed and welcoming, suitable for families.
4 Grande Albergo Delle Nazioni, Lungomare Nazario Sauro, 7, 70121 Bari BA, ☎ +39 080 592 0111, frontoffice.nazioni@ih-hotels.com. Check-in: 15:00 - 8:00, check-out: before 10:00. 5 star hotel. Symbolically placed on the seafront looking towards the eastern coast of the Adriatic, the white mass of the hotel built in 1932, in the years following the inauguration of the Fiera del Levante, is characterized by a planimetric and volumetric solution focused on angular symmetry, although the The building only extends in one direction. These are the most successful creations of the architect Alberto Calza Bini.

 

Around

It is possible to discover the wonders of the ancient village, taking advantage of the tourist services offered by Velo Service, such as excursions by bicycle or by bike - rickshaw, respecting the urban context and eco-sustainability.

 

Physical geography

Territory

The city overlooks the Adriatic Sea for a territorial and municipal length of over 42 km, between the municipalities of Giovinazzo, to the north, and Mola di Bari, to the south. It extends in a latitudinal direction for about 18 km, starting from the port area to the extreme district of Loseto in the south-west.

The municipal territory is at the center of a large flat and depressed area, the Bari basin. However, in its central portion, it goes for a few kilometers inland, up to the centers of Capurso, Triggiano, Bitritto, Modugno and Bitonto, meeting so the first slopes of the Murge. The city ranges from 0 to 131 meters above sea level. The Town Hall, located in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, one of the main city streets, which faces eastwards on the Margherita Theater, therefore on the sea, is 5 meters above sea level.

The conformation of the city is often described as an eagle with outstretched wings, whose head is the small peninsula on which the first urban center, Bari Vecchia, was built; conformation that they wanted to give to the agglomeration and the municipal territory especially in the Fascist era.

Seismic classification: zone 3 (low seismicity), PCM Ordinance n. 3274 of 20/03/2003 updated to 16/01/2006 with the communications of the regions.

 

Climate

The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate (or, according to the Köppen classification, Csa), with mild winters and hot summers. The thermal excursions are contained by the marine mitigating action, in fact the capital, being on the coast of the lower Adriatic, is often affected by breezy winds. However, the city in the winter months can be influenced by the cold currents of north-eastern Balkan and north-western origin from the high Abruzzo mountains, which sporadically cause precipitation even of a snowy nature: to remember the snowfalls of 1987, 1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2014, 2017 and 2018 in which an average of 15 cm of snow fell on the city. The rains, concentrated in the winter months, are characterized by an extremely variable regime; in the summer months there is alternation between waves of torrid heat coming from North Africa alternating with as many waves of humid heat coming from the regions east of the lower Mediterranean basin. In contrast to heat waves, there are days in which north winds blow from the mistral, which can be associated with transient low pressure nuclei that can give rise to storms typical of the summer season, sudden drops in temperature and rough sea.

On 24 July 2007 in Bari Palese it reached 45.6 ° C, the highest temperature ever recorded at the meteorological station of the city airport. The absolute minimum temperature dates back to January 3, 1993, when it was recorded at -5.9 ° C.

 

History

Ancient and medieval age

Toponyms: Barë in Illyrian, Βαριον in Greek, Barium in Latin. The origins of Bari are not clear, but from what emerged from the excavations in the area of the church of San Pietro, in the old city, the existence of an original settlement from the Bronze Age, belonging to the Italic people of the Peucezi, seems conceivable; others hypothesize that Bari had been hegemonized by Crete. In the Messapian era, an Illyrian tribe that colonized the coasts of Puglia, the city assumed the name of Barë (literally translatable to "Meadow"), and was subsequently known by the ancient Greeks with the name of Barion and by the Romans Barium.

It became part of the Roman domain in the 3rd century BC. as a municipium, Barium developed following the construction of the Via Traiana. It had a mighty castle, a mint, a pantheon with its own pagan deities and most likely a theater (as can be deduced from an epigraph of a freedman found in the succorpo of the Cathedral, but of which no archaeological evidence has emerged).

From the 4th century, it was an episcopal seat (it was known as ecclesia varina, as we read in a dedication on the floor of a hall of the early Christian church below the current Cathedral) and after the fall of the Roman Empire it was disputed between the Lombards and Byzantines (the current structure of the "old city" dates back to this period, and is articulated around the Catapano court).

Subsequently it was in the hands of the Arabs (from 847 to 871 it was the seat of an emirate) and then of the Lombard dukes of Benevento. In 875 it returned to the Byzantines who created it as the capital of the theme of Langobardia, including Apulia and Calabria.

Freed, after six months of siege by the Saracens, from the Venetian fleet, in 1002 it rebelled under the leadership of Melo di Bari (a nobleman from Bari) against the fiscal government of the Byzantine catapano, managing to obtain its autonomy in 1018.

The last Byzantine possession in Italy, in 1068, the city of Bari was besieged by the Normans, who tore it from the Byzantines in 1071, and in 1087 the remains of Saint Nicholas of Myra were brought there. Between the 12th and 14th centuries it was the port of departure for the Crusades.

In 1098 in the crypt of the new basilica of San Nicola, the council presided over by Pope Urban II met, attended by over 180 bishops who gathered to discuss dogmatic problems inherent in relations between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Church in the aftermath of the Great Schism.

Destroyed by Guglielmo il Malo in 1156, it flourished again in the Swabian era, around the castle built by Frederick II on pre-existing Norman fortifications, a fact commemorated by a Stauferstele.

A long period of decline (due above all to the vexatious policy of the dominating governments) characterized the city under the dominations of Alduino Filangieri di Candida, Master of the Royal Court and Justice of Bari from 1284, and the Angevin, Aragonese and Spanish ones, interrupted by the splendor under the Sforzas, with the duchesses Isabella of Aragon and Bona Sforza. Bari also underwent Venetian domination, thanks to which there was an expansion of the port and a very flourishing period, also favored by the trade in inland products, much in demand on foreign markets. In 1556 Princess Bona Sforza of Aragon, second wife of the King of Poland Sigismund I the Old since 1518, left Poland and settled in Bari, from which she had inherited the principality. Bona Sforza died in 1557.

 

Contemporary age

On 24 April 1813, with Gioacchino Murat, the first stone of the city's expansion outside the medieval walls was laid ("borgo nuovo", or "borgo murattiano"), characterized by the orthogonal layout of the streets. The population grew rapidly from 18,000 inhabitants at the time to 94,000 at the beginning of the 20th century: having become the provincial capital, buildings and public institutions found their headquarters there (Teatro Piccinni, the chamber of commerce, the Apulian aqueduct, the Petruzzelli Theater, the University degli Studi) and the Laterza publishing house.

During the First World War, the 101st Squadron arrives from September 1916 and remains until 18 January 1919.

During the twenty years of Fascism the monumental seafront was built and the Fiera del Levante was inaugurated, with which the design of "Bari Porta d'Oriente" came to life, consecrated in recent years by the role of "European gateway" assigned by the European Union.

In the mid-twentieth century the city expanded further, in a disorderly way, reaching almost 400,000 inhabitants in the seventies and eighties.

The city faces the phenomena of commuting and deurbanization, while the tertiary sector and the industrial area are growing. Due to its position, Bari welcomes a significant flow of immigration from the east. On 8 August 1991 the ship Vlora docked in the port, loaded with over twenty thousand Albanians.

At the gates of 2000, the old city was restructured and given new life, while a profound infrastructural renewal involving the port, airport, interport and railway was about to end.

 

Second World War

During the Second World War the ports of Bari, Brindisi and Taranto were among the most active and strategically important for the allied forces, which occupied southern Italy following the landing in Sicily, also due to the large number of vehicles and ships that the harbors hosted for the duration of the conflict. However, the port cities were the scene of naval disasters and customary war scenarios that penalized above all the local population. Bari experienced two heavy naval catastrophes, including the second among the most disastrous of the whole war.

The first and most serious disaster took place on 2 December 1943, a few months after the expulsion of the Germans from Bari and the battle to defend the port on 9 September. The port, where dozens of Allied ships were moored, suffered a very heavy aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe. At 19:25 a shower of bombs, dropped by 105 Junkers Ju 88 bombers, hit the ships of the port flying the American, English, Polish, Norwegian and Dutch flags and which were concentrated compactly at the new breakwater. The effect was amplified by the large gathering of vehicles: 28 ships were sunk or destroyed and 12 others were damaged. The port was closed for three weeks and returned fully operational only in February 1944, The Anglo-Americans, having difficulty in supplying their troops, had to slow down the offensive, allowing the Germans to settle on the Gustav Line.

 

Contamination with mustard gas

Among the sunken ships was the English John Harvey loaded with mustard gas bombs, an asphyxiant gas already used during the First World War and present in Bari only to be used in case of military necessity. Fortunately, when the ship exploded, the wind from land blew the toxic cloud generated by the explosions offshore. However, this did not prevent the mustard gas from dispersing as an oily mixture in the waters of the port, where it contaminated the clothing of the sailors, dockers and rescuers who had worked to rescue the survivors.

The total number of victims of the raid has never been ascertained: the total according to Anglo-Saxon sources would exceed 680, but due to the many missing civilians, the estimate could exceed a thousand. Due to the seriousness of the consequences, the bombing is known as one of the most tragic air raids on naval bases of the Second World War, second in importance only to the attack on Pearl Harbor, so much so that it is remembered as "The Italian Pearl Harbor".

The second disaster hit the city on April 9, 1945, at 11.57 am, when the American steamer Charles Henderson exploded due to an accident with a load of war material. The confirmed victims, among the inhabitants of the old city and the dockworkers, were 175, and 142 were missing. In total 317 people were overwhelmed and killed by the explosion. More than 600 were seriously injured, thousands lightly. A hundred were instead the victims among the allies. The explosion, which hit the whole old city, caused heavy damage to the cathedral, the Basilica of San Nicola and the Russian Church.

 

The Anti-Fascist Congress of Bari

During the war operations, following the armistice of Cassibile stipulated on 8 September 1943, and precisely on 28-29 January 1944, Bari was held (in fact, in those years the city was one of the centers of greatest political activity in the occupied Italy by the Allies), the congress of the provincial liberation committees, which wanted to define the common guidelines for the future national political action for the anti-fascist parties, excluding the PRI: the abdication of Vittorio Emanuele III and the formation of a government that was the political expression of the liberation committees, endowed with full powers to intensify the war effort and prepare the new constitution. Most of these events were commented on and broadcast by Radio Bari which since September 1943 had become the first radio station in free Italy, even though it operated under the control of the Allies.

 

Society

Demographic evolution

Like the other Italian metropolitan areas, Bari has also been affected by progressive de-urbanization since the 1980s to the advantage of the hinterland municipalities. In the last 5 years an increase in the resident population has been observed, also thanks to the migratory flow, which sees Bari as the gateway to Europe, but also as a settlement location.

 

Languages and dialects

The Bari dialect is a diatopic Italo-Romance variant belonging to the intermediate southern group originating from the Latin language in its vulgarized form spoken during the Middle Ages, on a previous Peucetian substrate (probably of Illyrian origin, but profoundly influenced by Oscan and Greek) and, as in any other linguistic variety, presenting superstrate influences deriving, in addition to the Italo-Romance ones, also from other Neo-Latin linguistic continuities (such as the Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance ones) and non-Romance ones (mainly Greek-Byzantine); which, in some cases, have contributed to characterize the inflection for many incomprehensible, especially in relation to the phonetic level of linguistic analysis.

This language (also known as Apulian-Bari) is spoken roughly in the metropolitan city of Bari, in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the western part of the province of Taranto and in some municipalities in the province of Brindisi. In particular, exclusively in the area of Bari Vecchia, the vowel break in éu seems to exist, today almost disappeared in the more modern dialect. E.g. courgette > var. ancient zucchéune ; var. modern zucchini; lemon > v.a. leméune > v.m. lemon.

 

Religion

The most widespread religion is Catholicism. The patron saint of the city is Saint Nicholas, whose relics are housed in the basilica dedicated to him. For this reason, the city, which has always been the terminus and meeting point of East and West, has become one of the main reference points of Christianity, as well as a meeting place between Catholics and Orthodox, as well as being one of the main pilgrimage destinations of the faithful of the three main monotheistic religions.

 

Institutions, organizations and associations

Healthcare

There are several health facilities in the city, both public and private. There are three large general hospitals: the Consortium Polyclinic[30], seat of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University, the Di Venere Hospital and the more recent San Paolo Hospital. The main specialized structures are instead the Giovanni XXIII Pediatric Hospital and the John Paul II Cancer Institute, a scientific Institute of Hospitalization and Treatment, specialized in oncological treatment. Another structure that is present but has been standing still for some time is the Military Hospital.

 

Life quality

In 2010, the province of Bari was placed 93rd in the annual classification drawn up by Il Sole 24 Ore on the livability of the 107 Italian provinces, achieving a moderate result in the parameters "services, environment and health" and "standard of living", but ranking poorly in particular for public order.

In a 2007 survey by Altroconsumo on the quality of life in 21 Italian cities (almost all regional capitals), Bari came in 19th place. The ranking was compiled on the basis of the perceptions and opinions of the inhabitants themselves, therefore without considering empirical data. In 2018 it ranks 77th out of 107 cities.

A sign of important economic, social and cultural growth, in 2022 Bari placed 66th out of 107 provinces in the quality of life ranking drawn up by Il Sole 24 ORE.

 

Culture

Education

Libraries
The Sagarriga Visconti-Volpi National Library It has a library heritage of around 500,000 units: 300,000 volumes of monographs; 55 incunabula; 2,300 sixteenth-century; 50,000 ancient printed volumes from the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries; 5,000 periodicals of which 450 are current; 460 manuscripts by volume; 16,400 loose leaf manuscripts variously collected; parchments from the 13th and 18th centuries; 19th-century musical manuscripts; 818 original caricatures of Friar Menotti; letters from illustrious characters from the Bari area such as Tommaso Fiore, Giovanni Modugno and Nicola Di Cagno Politi; numerous handwritten and printed legal allegations; over 700 geographical maps; 200 photographs; 3,172 titles of historical and current periodicals. The funds donated to the library by Giuseppe D'Addosio and Giuseppe De Ninno preserve local history documents.

The collection of the Provincial Library of Gemmis, housed in the former convent annexed to the church of Santa Teresa dei Maschi, is the result of the donation of Baron Eng. Gennaro de Gemmis and contains about 70,000 volumes, mostly of historical subjects. The archival section contains about 100,000 papers and parchments from the 9th century and is considered the largest collection of local historical material in Puglia.

Diplomas and ancient parchments give particular importance to the archive of the basilica of San Nicola, but of even greater value is the illuminated parchment scroll of the Exultet, preserved in the archive of the cathedral of San Sabino. Datable between the 11th and 13th centuries.

Other library centers are:
the "Gaetano Ricchetti" Library;
the multimedia library of the Regional Council "Teca del Mediterraneo";
the CONI regional sports library;
the Library of the Gianfranco Dioguardi Foundation;
the libraries of the University of Studies and of the Polytechnic of Bari.
Neighborhood library "Don Bosco - Good culture"
In July 2020 Bari obtained the recognition of "City that reads" 2020-2021.

Research
The main research institutes are located between the university campus and the nearby municipality of Valenzano:

CNR - Mediterranean Agronomic Institute;
CNR - Institute of studies on intelligent systems for automation;
CNR - Institute of Crystallography;
CNR - Institute of Food Production Sciences;
CNR - Institute of Plant Genetics;
National Institute of Nuclear Physics;
CEMeC - Center of excellence in computational mechanics;
Tecnopolis-CSATA Novus Ortus science and technology park.
The regional biotechnological pole is being set up.

The Consortium of Mediterranean Universities (CUM) has been based in Bari since 1983, to which over 160 university institutions in the Mediterranean basin belong.

Schools
The Convitto Nazionale "Domenico Cirillo" is one of the oldest schools in Italy, in operation since the days of the Bourbon state[39]. The "Quinto Orazio Flacco" classical high school and the "Arcangelo Scacchi" scientific high school both boast a history of over ninety years in their historic locations: a building built in the Fascist era in the first case and Palazzo Chartroux in the second. Other important schools are the "Socrate" classical high school and the "Enrico Fermi" and "Gaetano Salvemini" scientific high schools. In the field of technical education, the "Euclide" higher education institutes stand out (with nautical, aeronautical and surveyors courses), the largest scholastic institute in the province, and "Guglielmo Marconi" (founded in 1939 as an industrial technical institute and today including also the "Margherita Hack" high school), and also the "Modesto Panetti" Industrial Technical Institute (since 2015 merged with the "Pitagora" technical institute for surveyors) and the commercial technical institutes (also with a linguistic high school address) "Giulio Caesar" and "Marco Polo".

 

University

Bari hosts two public universities (the University of Bari and the Polytechnic), and a private one (the LUM Jean Monnet - Free Mediterranean University).

The University of Bari[40] is the most important university in Puglia, as well as one of the largest in the South in terms of attendance. Founded in 1925, the university has 13 faculties and over 60,000 students. The headquarters are located in the historic Palazzo Ateneo in Piazza Umberto I, in the heart of the nineteenth-century center where various humanities faculties are located. The faculties of law, political science and foreign languages and literature are located nearby. The university campus houses most of the scientific faculties such as the Faculty of Agriculture (Department of Agriculture), Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Earth Sciences and Mathematics. The Faculty of Economics is located in the Poggiofranco district, that of Medicine in the Policlinico, and that of Veterinary Medicine in the municipality of Valenzano.

In 1990, by budding from the University, the second Bari university was established, the Polytechnic of Bari, which is located on the city's university campus. It has 11,000 members and three Faculties of Engineering and Architecture, two of which are based in Bari.

More recent is the foundation of the Free Mediterranean University, a private university legally recognized in 2000 which is based in the municipality of Casamassima, a few kilometers from Bari.

Conservatory of Music "Niccolo Piccinni"
The Bari conservatory appears to be a nationally recognized excellence both for the quality of the teaching and for the prestige of the venue offered, a historic nineteenth-century villa, Villa Bucciero - Lindemann, around which a small neighborhood has arisen which also includes the beautiful Auditorium "Nino Rota", named after the Milanese composer who was the first director of the greatest musical institution in Bari. The Piccinni Conservatory, with over 2,000 members, has the largest number of students in institutions of this type in Italy. Honorary director of the institute is Riccardo Muti, a student at the time of Rota.

Bari Academy of Fine Arts
It has its registered office in the city, but the teaching activity is held at the monastic complex of Santa Chiara in the nearby municipality of Mola di Bari.

 

Media

Bari is home to several local newspapers and radio and television networks, but it also has headquarters for national publications. Among these we recall the first private television broadcaster born in southern Italy Telebari and to follow Antenna Sud, Studio 100 and Telenorba, the main private Italian group for audiences, in addition to the studios of other Apulian broadcasters which are also based in Bari.

In addition, the city hosts the headquarters of various radio stations and the regional headquarters of Rai.

Press
The most important newspapers are La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, the Apulian edition of Corriere del Mezzogiorno, the southern spine of Corriere della Sera, and the Bari edition of the newspaper La Repubblica. The Bari edition of the Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia has been on newsstands since 9 August 2021. The local edition of the Quotidiano del Sud has been present since 26 August 2021. A new newspaper, L'Edicola del Sud, was born on 24 November, with the main editorial office in Bari. of Bari of the newspaper Quotidiano di Foggia, both printed in Foggia. The newspapers Puglia and Barisera, which were distributed starting in the afternoon, and the Bari editions of the free press City and Leggo have ceased publication. The free press EPolis, after the closure it became a weekly instead in 2018. A new free weekly, L'Adriatico, was born on 21 September 2018. Today's weekly Puglia has ceased publication.

The publishing activity is national in scope, from the historic Laterza and Cacucci publishing houses to the younger Adda, Dedalo, De Donato and Palomar.

Televisions
The history of Bari's televisions began with Telebari, founded by the engineer Orfeo Mazzitelli. Telebari was the first private television in southern Italy, still active in the Bari area today.

Bari is the headquarters of the regional newsroom for Puglia of Rai, Norba News and was also the headquarters of the central newsroom of the Telenorba group, based in Conversano, which controls the broadcasters TgNorba 24, Telenorba (formerly Telenorba 7) and Teledue ( ex Telenorba 8).

Bari is also home to other local television stations, such as Antenna Sud (once connected to La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno) and Studio 100 but also to Teleregione Color (a broadcaster from Barletta), Fly Tv.

 

Radio

Bari is also home to numerous radio stations, of which the main ones are:

Channel 100 (94.9 MHz)
Counterradio (97.3 MHz)
Radio I like you (former L'AltraRadio Bella to listen to) (101.5 MHz)
Radio Manbassa (98.9 MHz) - former Radio Antenna Sud frequency purchased at auction.
Radiobari (88.8 MHz)
Radio Enny Sound (96.3 MHz)
Radio Made in Italy (102.3 MHz)
Radio Popizz (101.0 MHz)
RadioSound (91.7 MHz)
Radionorba (97.0,105.5 and 106.8 MHz)
TRUE FM (95.65MHz - 105MHz)
Radio 5 Network (90.4 MHz)
There are several radios that began broadcasting from Bari, then moving to other cities: this is the case of Radio 5 Network (now in Lecce), Radio Farfalla (now in Mottola) and ReteOtto (now in Lecce).

 

Web

In addition to the web editions of paper newspapers, local TV and radio, there are also several online newspapers: BariToday of the Citynews group, BariLive, Borderline24, il Quotidiano Italiano - Bari, Pugliain, Quinto Potere, BariSeraNews.it, Barinedita.

 

Theaters

The Lyric-Symphonic Foundation "Petruzzelli and Theaters of Bari" manages the major city theatres, the Petruzzelli and the Piccinni, and the Nino Rota Auditorium at the Music Conservatory.

In addition to the Teatro Margherita, closed since 1980 but reopened in 2009 (but only for exhibitions), the other city theaters are:

Teatro dell'Anonima, managed by Bari actors Dante Marmone and Tiziana Schiavarelli, closed in 2013;
Theatreteam;
Form Theater;
Kismet Opera Theater;
Duse Theater;
Theater-Cinema Royal;
Purgatory Theater;
Little Theater of Bari;
House of Pulcinella;
Barium Theater;
Cagno Theater;
Bravò Theater (ex Salottino);
Nuovo Teatro Abeliano (new venue);
Palace Theater;
Vallis Auditorium
Showville multiplex (Room 2 is used for theater performances).
The Kursaal Santalucia theater-cinema, purchased by the Puglia Region, which has started safety measures, has been closed for some time.

 

Petruzzelli Theatre

The Petruzzelli Theater was born from the city's need to possess a cultural container worthy of a city eager to rise to the level of other Italian metropolises. Bari's passion for the theater was known, but the places of representation were not considered sufficient, even after the construction of the Piccinni municipal theater in 1854.

The Municipality therefore decided to exploit a square on the sea (Largo della Marina), used to host concerts and street performances, to build the theatre. In 1896 the project presented by two Bari merchants, Onofrio and Antonio Petruzzelli, was chosen, and in 1898 the building work began. The structure made its debut on the evening of February 14, 1903 with the performance of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Gli Ugonotti.

The Petruzzelli Theater is the fourth largest Italian theater and the largest private theater in Europe.

On the night between 26 and 27 October 1991 the theater was destroyed by arson. The last opera performed was Vincenzo Bellini's Norma (which, ironically, ends with a scene of a burning).

In 2008 the works to restore the functionality of the theater were completed and on 7 September 2009 the keys to the theater were handed over to the Petruzzelli and Theaters of Bari Foundation, which took over its management.

Piccinni Theatre
The Piccinni Theater is the oldest existing theater in Bari. The structure is capable of holding more than eight hundred spectators. The theater was inaugurated on 4 October 1854 with the performance of Gaetano Donizetti's Poliuto. A year later, in 1855, it was named after the musician Niccolò Piccinni from Bari, extremely appreciated in his hometown and in France, where he carried out his activity as a composer.

Nino Rota Auditorium
The Nino Rota auditorium, owned by the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory, is the most important listening room in the city of Bari, under renovation since 1991, it was reopened in 2017. The construction, promoted by the provincial administration in the sixties, it was completed in 1981. It was named after the Milanese composer Nino Rota, director of the Bari conservatory for a long time.

 

Cinema

The following films have had the city of Bari as the background of their plot:
Broken Idyll by Nello Mauri (1931), filmed in Bari and Acquaviva delle Fonti.
The Crystal Athlete by Enzo Fiermonte from Bari (1946)
The cry of the earth by Duilio Coletti (1948), filmed in Bari and Palese.
Stardust by Alberto Sordi (1973), filmed in Bari (Teatro Petruzzelli).
The violent law of Stelvio Massi's anti-crime squad (1976).
Black moves by Gianni Serra (1977), mini television series.
That strange desire by Enzo Milioni (1977).
Male, female, flower, fruit by Ruggero Miti (1979).
The doctor prefers the sailors by Michele Massimo Tarantini (1981).
Giselle by Herbert Ross (1987).
The young Toscanini by Franco Zeffirelli (1988).
12 directors for 12 cities by Lina Wertmüller (1989), segment dedicated to Bari.
The Bride of St. Paul by Gabriella Rosaleva (1989).
The raffle of Francesco Laudadio (1991).
Brothers Knives by Maurizio Ponzi (1997).
Out of me by Gianni Zanasi (1999).
LaCapaGira by Alessandro Piva (1999).
77 Hotel Dajti by Carmine Fornari (2000).
At dawn we will climb the mountain of Vito Giuss Potenza (2002).
My brother in law by Alessandro Piva (2003).
Under everyone's eyes by Nello Correale (2003).
Bell'epoker by Nico Cirasola (2004).
Mino Barbarese's Ariamara (2005).
Nicola, there where the sun rises by Vito Giuss Potenza (2006).
The lawyer Guerrieri - With closed eyes by Alberto Sironi (2007), TV film.
The lawyer Guerrieri - Unwitting witness by Alberto Sironi (2007), TV film.
The past is a foreign land by Daniele Vicari (2008).
The black man by Sergio Rubini (2009).
Piripicchio - The last move of Vito Giuss Potenza (2010).
Don't tell me by Vito Cea (2011).
The Sweet Ship by Daniele Vicari (2012).
Love is imperfect by Francesca Muci (2012).
Lion in the basil by Leone Pompucci (2014).
Life ahead of him by Edoardo Ponti (2020).

In the 1995 American film The Bridges of Madison County, Meryl Streep informs Clint Eastwood of his Italian origins, saying that he lived in an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea, which turns out to be Bari. However, Eastwood replies that he knows Bari, having visited it for a few day before setting sail from Brindisi for Greece.

Bari is home to the Cineporto (located in the Fiera del Levante complex), a space with recording rooms and film equipment, opened by the Apulia Film Commission with the aim of developing the film industry in Puglia.

Since 2010, the city has hosted its own film festival: the "Bif&st".

 

Music

Bari Polyphonic Association "Biagio Grimaldi"
It was founded on 8 December 1926 as the "Barese Polyphonic Academy" by the Bari musician Biagio Grimaldi (1897-1986), together with the organist Donato Marrone, who was the intellectual soul of that enterprise. The association immediately created a remarkable repertoire of sacred and profane polyphony which combined the greatest authors of the genre[84] with the music of Apulian composers and popular Bari melodies. The concerts of the Polifonica enjoyed a wide diffusion through the frequencies of Radio Bari and the Italian Radio. Upon the death of the founder, the academy took its current name. The Polifonica has a historical-musical archive, which in 1998 was recognized as having "significant historical interest" by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

 

Cuisine

The Apulian cuisine in general is based on the three main agricultural products of the region, namely wheat, oil and wine. The Bari cuisine is also enriched by vegetables and fruit, abundant in local agriculture, and by the production of Apulian bread and homemade pasta: orecchiette, recchietèdde or strascenàte, the Taranto variant chiancarelle (ie orecchiette of various sizes), cavatelli, lagane , troccoli (i.e. fettuccine), fusilli (i.e. rolled macaroni), tripoline and megnuìcchie (i.e. semolina dumplings).

Baked calzones stuffed with onion, salted anchovies, capers and olives are also prepared with homemade pasta; fried panzerotti filled with lard and ricotta or mozzarella; chests of Bari; rustic pizzas, the typical Bari-style focaccia, taralli, friselle and scagliozze, i.e. slices of fried polenta, prepared and sold on the streets of the old city.

Sovereign condiments are olive oil and garlic. Excellent are the vegetable soups and those based on bread (pancotto and caponata), chickpeas, whole or crushed broad beans (with chicory), cabbage, celery, thistles and fennel which also appear on the table alone with oil, or salted or with pork broth.

The meat dishes are mostly based on lamb (baked notches, cottarello, rolls in Bari "ghiemmerìidde"), pork (capocolli and various sausages, especially seasoned with chilli), rabbit and game. A refinement is that of thrushes in sauce preserved in white wine.

Specialties: Tiella alla Bari with potatoes, rice and mussels, a dish inherited from the Spanish occupation and also called "tièdde" (tiella), a name that suggests the use of Spanish paella in the past, as well as linguine with cuttlefish sauce and "cazzavùne ", alla barese, i.e. snails collected from the nearby Murge plateau, cooked or boiled and seasoned in various ways.

As a seaside city, Bari is famous for its numerous fish dishes: snapper with olives, sea bream alla San Nicola, arraganàte anchovies and octopus "che ll'àqua lòre", in a casserole.

Among the typical sweets, many linked to festive periods, we remember the "carteddàte" folders and the bocconotti (typical Christmas recipes), the royal pastries, the castagnèdde, the sassanìidde, the zeppole (typical of the day of Saint Joseph), the " scarcelle" (Easter cake) and u sanguiàcce, i.e. sweet black pudding.

Among the fine wines of Bari and the province are: Castel del Monte, Moscato di Trani, Primitivo di Manduria well known in the rest of Italy, Primitivo di Gioia, Negroamaro Salentino, whites from Alberobello and Locorotondo, the Aleatico and varieties of Cerasuolo and Sangiovese. The production of blending wines is abundant, including the Barletta.

 

Events

Eastern Fair
The Fiera del Levante[86] is one of the main fairs of the Mediterranean basin, born in 1929 on the initiative of the Municipality, the Provincial Administration and the Chamber of Commerce of Bari and has been operating continuously since 1930 with only two exclusions, one of the years of the second world war, from 1940 to 1946 the other one in 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, the exhibitors who participate annually in the events are five thousand, both domestic and foreign. Visitors amount to about two million.

The historical review, as well as the best known to the general public, is the trade fair, the largest in Europe, which takes place every September with over seven hundred thousand visitors and more than two thousand exhibitors, in a special vast area, approximately 300,000 square meters, located north-west of the city, near the tip of San Cataldo, on the western edge of the new port.

The fair is also aimed at promoting exchanges between East and West, of which Bari is the most favorable meeting point for thousands of years of tradition.

Feast of Saint Nicholas patron of Bari
From 7 to 9 May the celebrations in honor of the patron saint of the city, Saint Nicholas, take place. Already on the eve of religious festivities, many "ziazì" or pilgrims devoted to the saint flock to the city. One of the traditional customs is the offering of bread to the basilica. To commemorate the ancient arrival of the relics of Saint Nicholas, the historical procession of Saint Nicholas is held on the eve of the vigil[87].

On the occasion of the historic procession of San Nicola, which is traditionally held in May, the percussionists, extras and flag-wavers of its associations parade along the streets of Bari amidst choreography and staging. The two bands that perform are: the Militia Santi Nicolai and the Barium.

On the day of the feast, a solemn procession takes place in which the statue of the Saint is carried to the San Nicola pier where a Eucharistic celebration is held presided over by the Archbishop of Bari; the statue is then transported to the sea by a procession of boats. Towards evening the boats gather at the pier in which the return of the Saint is greeted in the basilica, through a new sumptuous procession at the top of which the "artefìzzie" or explosion of fireworks takes place.

The following day, following the farewell Eucharistic celebration held in Piazza del Ferrarese, the holy manna (which the Benedictine monks drew from the saint's bones) was officially taken from the crypt of the basilica in the presence of the faithful and religious and civilians. All religious rituals are immersed in a profane setting of lights and embellishments and band concerts, which contribute to creating a suggestive atmosphere.

On May 10, the last day of the feast, after the mass celebrated in Piazza del Ferrarese, the statue of Saint Nicholas, taken "from la màghene", solemnly carried in procession, is brought back to the Basilica.

St. Nicholas is also celebrated in Bari on December 6, the anniversary of his death. An important event is the atmosphere that is created in the old city, at the first light of dawn, to attend the first mass at 5:00, celebrated by the archbishop of Bari-Bitonto and the delivery of the city keys to the Saint, and continues with a long procession of the statue through the streets of the old city. December 6th is a holiday felt throughout the Christian world and particularly in the countries of northern Europe, including Russia.

In this regard, Bari was visited in March 2007 by the then Russian president Vladimir Putin, who during the Italian-Russian meeting went to the basilica of San Nicola to pay homage to the relics of the saint. On that occasion Putin defined Bari, according to the religious sentiment of the Russian people linked to the figure of Saint Nicholas, "the most important city in the world after Jerusalem". When the Russian church was handed over to its legitimate owners, officially in April 2008, the mayor of the city Michele Emiliano donated his citizenship to the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, going directly to Moscow. Putin's successor, Dmitry Anatol'evič Medvedev, returned to Bari on March 1, 2009 to retake possession of the Russian church.

The meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the patriarch of Moscow Cyril I in Bari sealed the function of the city as a meeting point between the Catholic and Orthodox worlds.

One of the traditions that is still alive is that for which girls who wish to get married write their marriage aspirations on notes which are then inserted into the glass case that houses the statue of the saint. It refers to one of the most widespread legends about Saint Nicholas, according to which the saint allowed three poor girls to get married by giving them three bags full of gold coins. Since then he has been represented, in the traditional iconography, with three golden balls in his hand.

Bari International Film Festival
The Bari International Film Festival (Bif&st) is an international film and audiovisual culture festival.

Bari Geek Festival
The Bari Geek Festival (BGeek) is an international festival dedicated to comics, board games, video games and all that is part of the so-called nerd subculture.

 

Anthropogenic geography

Urban planning

For the reading of this paragraph, it may be helpful to see the entry Quartieri di Bari and the paragraph "History" (above).

Bari Vecchia and Borgo Murattiano
The historic center of the city is made up of the old city (as the people of Bari use to call it) and the Borgo Murattiano. The old city, located on an appendage of limestone overlooking the sea (place corresponding to the primordial nucleus of Bari), has the typical medieval urban layout (characterized by narrow streets that form an irregular radial pattern, with the two main churches in the centre). , and, dating back to the Byzantine era, houses the main monuments of the city, such as the basilica, the cathedral and the Norman-Swabian castle.

The Borgo Murattiano, on the other hand, is in typical 19th-century style, very similar to the urban models of US cities (it was built in the first decades of the 19th century), with "checkerboard" blocks and wide streets like in the United States. In the Murat area there are many shops of major brands (the clothing ones are worthy of note), refined restaurants and bars.

Twentieth-century neighborhoods and Italian rationalism
The central-peripheral districts of the city develop around the centre. Madonnella, a large neighborhood built during fascism, located south-east of the center, is a typical example of fascist architecture and urban planning. Almost all of the central area of the seafront (with the exception of the historic centre) dates from the same period (twenties and thirties of the 1900s) and is characterized by public buildings (schools, barracks, office buildings, etc.) in the fascist style (properly of fascism).

The other central-peripheral districts, due to the demographic and economic development of the post-war period, are characterized by a less regular quadrilateral grid than Muratti's and have urban furnishings typical of twentieth-century rationalism: from north-west to south, San Girolamo, Fesca, Libertà, Marconi , Carrassi, San Pasquale, Picone, Japigia and Poggiofranco, which stands out for being among the richest and most modern districts of Bari.

Former aggregate municipalities
Crowning the city center and more distant from it, in the order of 5-10 km, there are then, in the North-West, South and South-East directions, the so-called ex-fractions, six other districts with a more autonomous urban physiognomy than in Bari city: these are (from north to south-east) Santo Spirito, Palese - Macchie, Carbonara di Bari, Ceglie del Campo, Loseto and Torre a Mare.

To the west and in an intermediate position between the centre-periphery and the former hamlets is the San Paolo district, a large urban agglomeration, built starting from the 1950s as part of cheap and popular housing; it is considered to all intents and purposes an appendage of the center of Bari, as it was inhabited from the beginning by many people from Bari. The industrial area is located further west, on the border between the municipal territory of Bari and that of Modugno and is shared by the two municipalities. Observing Bari from above, it can be seen how it has been urbanized en bloc from north to south and more detached towards east and west (there are large empty spaces between Japigia and San Pasquale and between Picone and the neighborhoods to the north-west).

Adjacent municipalities
The municipalities of the province of Valenzano, Triggiano and Modugno, bordering the capital, are often considered, indicatively, an integral part of it (also considering the many relationships, especially economic, that they have with Bari). To date, the metropolitan area of Bari extends over a land area of 2,269.74 km² and has about 1 million inhabitants.

Infrastructural equipment
The Adriatic Railway separates the center from the central-peripheral southern districts; flanked by this runs via Capruzzi (an important urban road), from which other important roads branch off (among these via De Gasperi and via Giulio Petroni, which after passing through Carrassi and S. Pasquale finally reach Carbonara).

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II (born in 1813 thanks to the demolition of the old city walls) is the dividing road between the historic center and the Murat area; the headquarters of the main municipal institutions overlook it (Town Hall, Palazzo della Prefettura), the Piccinni Theater and other historic buildings. Corso Cavour, from the intersection with C.so Vitt. Em.le (near the historic centre), it flanks the entire center to the east and, crossing the railway with a bridge, joins viale Unità d'Italia (large street in the San Pasquale district).

Viale Japigia-Gentile, to the east, is an extension of via Capruzzi and crosses the entire Japigia district, to then merge onto state road 16. The 16 plays a very important role in connecting and sorting traffic, facilitating access to the various peripheral areas of the city and in the municipalities (therefore acting as the "Tangenziale di Bari").

 

Bari waterfront and public facilities

The seafront (work completed during Fascism, including the addition of the strip of land between the old city - the medieval historic center - and the sea, previously not suitable for vehicles) crosses a large part of the city, connecting the San Girolamo and San Giorgio areas.

The four large public hospitals are the Policlinico (built during Fascism) in Picone, the hospital in the San Paolo district, the Di Venere hospital in Carbonara and the Giovanni XXIII pediatric institute in San Pasquale, adjacent to via Amendola.

Note the presence of the four historic popular markets of the city: "Nicolai" (q.re Libertà), "Montegrappa" (Carrassi), "Japigia", "Mazzini" (Marconi), which take their names from the streets or areas ( as in the case of the Japigia market) where until about ten years ago they were set up one day a week (with the consequent closure of those streets to car traffic). Now they are housed in covered spaces, built or adapted for this use, in the vicinity of the previous locations.

Urban planning
In recent years, the Municipality of Bari has been adopting a new General Urban Plan, whose "Preliminary Planning Document" (DPP) was approved by the City Council in 2009 and by the City Council in 2011; this Plan will replace the previous PRG, created by the architect Ludovico Quaroni in 1965 (to resume the previous Calzabini-Piacentini plan, of 1952) and implemented starting from 1979. The new Urban Plan aims to redevelop the municipal area especially in the suburbs, in the environmental sector, in the rationalization of the transport sector and in the reconnection of the "stretch marks" that have arisen over time in the urban fabric.

 

Economy

An ancient seafaring centre, Bari has always had a marked mercantile vocation which has made it an important trading centre, today the second in the south. It was the merchants who decreed the fortune of the modern city: they are responsible for the construction of the imposing building of the Chamber of Commerce, the Petruzzelli theater and many of the main historic buildings in Murat's centre.

In 2003 unemployment was below 11%: a significantly lower figure than the average for southern Italy.

Agriculture
Agriculture is also well developed: vineyards, olive groves, almond groves and orchards are the main crops, to complement which oil mills and wine and cannery establishments have sprung up. The trade of agricultural products is very active, favored by the specialization of crops (tomatoes, artichokes, cucumbers, table grapes, pears, cherries and figs), which determines a strong current of exports.

The fish trade is also highly developed, for which there is a wholesale fish market.

Industry
Industry has always been a driving force and develops in the food, chemical, petrochemical, textile, wood and, above all, mechanical sectors. Coffee companies such as Saicaf and Bristol Battista operate in the food sector. Companies such as Magneti Marelli, Nuovo Pignone, Bosch and Getrag operate in the mechanical sector: Bari hosts the main German industrial district in Italy.

At the end of the 1980s, the well-known common rail system was developed for FIAT in the Elasis centre, which was then sold to Bosch. The industrial area has progressively moved outside the city, and is now housed between the municipalities of Bari and Modugno, with offshoots towards the municipalities of Palo and Bitonto. The start of saturation of the area has also favored, in the last decade, the growth of the industrial sector of Molfetta.

Trade
In 1987, the congestion of the city center prompted a local entrepreneur, Giuseppe Degennaro, to build an integrated business and wholesale commercial center near the city: today the Baricentro, at the gates of the municipality of Casamassima, is still one of the largest trade in Europe.

Services make up one of the most vibrant sectors of the economy, with companies like Getronics, EDS, Olivetti and IBM. However, R&D spending remains low.

Central to all commercial activities is the Fiera del Levante.

The Chamber of Commerce of Bari guarantees and promotes the economic development of Bari and its province.

 

Infrastructure and transport

Streets
The city is served by the A14 motorway, which connects it with Bologna to the north and Taranto to the south. Access takes place at the toll booths of Bari Nord, near Modugno via the SS 96, and Bari Sud, near Bitritto via the Bari-Bitritto expressway.

The 16 Adriatica state road also passes through Bari, which between the Bari Japigia and Fiera del Levante-Porto di Bari exits acquires the characteristics of a freeway, with three lanes in each direction, and acts as a ring road: this serves both transit and distribution, and ANAS invests considerable sums every year for the maintenance of the artery, which is essential for connections with the port. To the south the SS 16 reaches Brindisi and Lecce, and to the north it is a valid alternative to the A14 up to Foggia.

Five other arterial roads branch off from Bari with stretches of highway: the SS 100 in the direction of Taranto, the provincial road 236 in the direction of Bitritto-Matera, the provincial road 54 in the direction of Modugno, the SS 96 in the direction of Altamura-Matera and the provincial road 231 in the direction of Bitonto-Andria.

For the relief of traffic congestion, the construction of the terminal of the North-South connection axis (from the port to the ring road)[99], of the East-West axis (from the provincial road 236 to via Giulio Petroni) and the completion of the road Terza Mediana Bis, a sort of internal ring road, between the Bari Nord motorway junction and Corso Trieste. The project road axis will have to absorb and drain a considerable part of traffic from different origins and viability and precisely: extra-urban traffic coming from the A14, the A16, the Adriatica state road 16, the Egnazia state road 379 and the Terme di Torre Canne, from the Brindisi-Lecce state road 613, from the SS 100, from the SP 231, from the SS 96, from the SP 236 and from the further provincial roads to the south (state roads ET14 and ET15), directed in the urban area between the railway network and the ring road.

Railways
The city of Bari is served by several railway stations, the main one being the Bari Centrale station; In addition to the Adriatica and Bari-Taranto lines, the Ferrovie del Sud Est (Bari-Martina Franca-Taranto and Bari-Casamassima-Putignano lines) converge here. The Appulo Lucane Railways and the Ferrotramviaria have their own and distinct railway stations; the latter, which runs the Ferrovie del Nord Barese, took over the operation of the Bari-Barletta tramway when it was set up, later replaced by the railway.

The city is served by Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, Frecciabianca and InterCity services to major Italian cities.

In the urban area, the railway services are organized on six lines converging in the Bari Centrale station, managed by four different operators, which constitute the metropolitan railway service.

Line 1 of the metropolitan railway service was activated in 2008, linking the center to the western suburbs of the city.

On 20 July 2013, line 2 of the metropolitan railway service went into service, which connects the airport to the central station and to the national railway network.

The Bari - Bitritto underground railway line is currently under construction.

The Naples - Bari HS/HC line will be completed by 2026, connecting Puglia to the Italian HS system and the Scandinavia - Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans European Network. The city is home to the secretariat for the Pan-European Corridor 8.

You bring
The port of Bari is traditionally considered a gateway between Europe, the Balkan peninsula and the Middle East. It is a multi-purpose airport capable of responding to all operational needs. Among the main ones in the Adriatic Sea, the port of Bari in 2007 handled 1.8 million passengers, of which around 350,000 were cruise passengers.

Airports
The Bari-Palese Karol Wojtyła international civil airport is located on the northern outskirts of the city, on the border between the Palese - Macchie and San Paolo districts. In 2005 the new terminal was inaugurated. The metro line connecting the airport to the central station has been active since 2013.

Interport
The Regional Freight Village of Puglia is located on the north-western outskirts of the city, a short distance from the motorway junction and the airport, and is connected to the port area, via the north-south link, and to the railway network, via a fully equipped railway terminal. It constitutes the most important multimodal logistic center for commercial exchanges in the Puglia Region, and between the region itself and the neighboring countries of the Mediterranean basin, and those of Northern Europe by sea.

Urban mobility
AMTAB is a joint-stock company born in 2003, heir of the then Municipalized Transport Autofiloviari Baresi company which began its activity on 1 October 1965; the company manages public transport in the city and in part of the Bari metropolitan area.

The city has a network of 38 urban lines, managed by the AMTAB company, plus some complementary lines, such as school lines and those reserved for the disabled.

The municipal administration had also approved the reconstruction of a 14 km long trolleybus line for which the use of four trolleybuses purchased at the end of the 1990s and another three newly built is expected.

Until 1987, the city had four trolleybus lines for a total of 15.4 km. The reintroduction of trolleybuses was scheduled for 1992. The contract was won but a dispute arose between the company and the municipality and the works were not completed. Furthermore, a new European regulation imposed a different power supply system for the trolleybus lines from the one implemented in Bari and the works were definitively blocked.

Between 1909 and 1948 a tramway network was active in the city, managed by SAER, with a line for Carbonara and Ceglie, until 1928 autonomous municipalities.

The Bari metropolitan railway service consists of two systems, managed by Ferrotramviaria (FM1 and FM2 lines) Trenitalia.

Bari is at the forefront for eco-sustainable mobility and in particular for cycle paths. To the currently numerous cycle paths available which have a total length of more than 200 km, another 400 km will be added in the near future which will connect the 41 municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Bari (Biciplan Metropolitano - Metropolitan Cycle Mobility Plan).

 

Sport

Baseball & Softball
Baseball Club Bari - Warriors founded in 1971, has played in the various national baseball championships up to the "B" series, for softball up to the "A2" series. The company is involved in youth activity at the schools, in the national championship of baseball "C" series and in the national amateur championship.

Soccer
Several football clubs are based in Bari:
Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, a player in Serie B
ASD Pink Sport Time, player in Serie B (Women's football)
A.S.D. Fesca Bari, militant in Promotion (Group A)
A.S.D. Ideal Bari (company based on public shareholders, militant in First Category)
A.S.D. Virtus Palese, militant in First Category

Motoring
For nine editions the Bari Grand Prix was held with the participation of memorable champions, who ran on road courses in the inhabited area in front of an always numerous public. In 2013 a reenactment of the race attracted 50,000 spectators.

Boating
The Bari Vogatori 1894 company, founded in 2006 and active mainly in rowing on 10 rowing machines, is based in the municipality.

Cycling
Bari was home to the arrivals of stages of the Giro d'Italia:
1911 10th stage Sulmona-Bari, won by Carlo Galetti
1913 5th stage Salerno-Bari, won by Giuseppe Azzini
1914 5th stage Avellino-Bari, won by Giuseppe Azzini
1925 6th stage Naples-Bari, won by Alfredo Binda
1927 8th stage Avellino-Bari, won by Alfredo Binda
1934 7th stage Naples-Bari, won by Adriano Vignoli
1935 8th stage Lanciano-Bari, won by Learco Guerra
1936 7th stage Naples-Bari, won by Raffaele Di Paco
1947 9th stage Naples-Bari, won by Elio Bertocchi
1948 8th stage Pescara-Bari, won by Adolfo Leoni
1954 4th stage Catanzaro-Bari, won by Angelo Conterno
1961 9th stage Castellana Grotte-Bari, (individual time trial) won by Jacques Anquetil
1963 2nd stage Potenza-Bari, won by Pierino Baffi
1971 1st stage Brindisi-Bari, won by Marino Basso
1975 5th stage Campobasso-Bari, won by Rik Van Linden
1981 6th stage Rodi Garganico-Bari, won by Giuseppe Saronni
1987 9th stage San Giorgio del Sannio-Bari, won by Urs Freuler
1990 1st stage Bari (individual time trial) won by Gianni Bugno
2014 4th stage Giovinazzo-Bari, won by Nacer Bouhanni

Football
American football has historical importance for the people of Bari as it recalls the end of the Second World War: in fact this game was shown for the first time by US soldiers in the Stadio della Vittoria. The first team was called Roosters Bari, which was followed by old partnerships such as Grasshoppers and Trucks, then many other teams were organized and many matches were held right in the same stadium as the first historic match played by US military. Currently the Bari team is called Navy Seals Bari.

Swimming and water polo
On 1 July 1976, the National School of Swimming and Water Polo, known as Payton, was set up in Bari, registered at number 39 in the FINA Federal Register. It was one of the first swimming schools in Italy recognized by FINA and the competitive swimming sector can boast numerous successes both at a regional and national level. The water polo team participates in the A2 series in the 2010/2011 championship, the highest result ever achieved by a team from Puglia. The palmarès of the youth water polo team can boast a title of vice-champion of Italy in 2009 and numerous regional titles.

Basketball
Various basketball teams are based in Bari. The most important is that of CUS Bari, which has participated in all national series, including Serie A.

Volleyball
In volleyball, the most titled association is Amatori Volley Bari: in fact they won the women's championship in 1978-79.

Rugby
The Rugby Bari Sports Association was founded in 1980 by a small group of enthusiasts. The representative coat of arms consists of a tiger cub with the official team uniform, a white-blue shirt together with white shorts. Behind the tiger cub, a sun with red and white rays recalls the colors of the city. The team, called Tigri Bari, plays its home games in the Arena della Vittoria.

In 2018 the Stadio della Vittoria hosted a 2018 Under-20 Six Nations match, Italy v Scotland which was won by the Azzurri 45-31. The event, the first in southern Italy, recorded a record attendance of over 5,200 spectators, the number ever reached for an Under-20 match in Italy.

Tennis
The Bari Tennis Club was the seat of the ATP Bari, Bari Challenger and the absolute Italian tennis championships.

Sail
The Circolo della Vela Bari organizes regattas and sailing courses.

Sport facilities
San Nicola Stadium
The San Nicola stadium, owned by the municipality and dedicated to the patron saint of the city, is the largest sports facility in Bari and is located on the south-western outskirts, in the Carbonara district of Bari. Designed by the architect Renzo Piano, it was built between 1987 and 1990 for the fourteenth edition of the 1990 World Cup, of which it hosted the final for Italy-England for third place. In 1991 it was the site of the last European Cup final, before the name was changed to the Champions League. While in 1997 it hosted the XIII Mediterranean Games, today the stadium is used for the home football matches of S.S.C. Bari, and has occasionally been used for athletics competitions, religious events and concerts.

Arena of Victory
The Vittoria stadium (or arena) is the historic sports facility of the city of Bari. Designed in 1930 and inaugurated on 16 December 1934 on the edge of the fairgrounds, it remained the major sports infrastructure in the city until the construction of the San Nicola in 1990. On November 23, 1944, some US soldiers played the first American football-touch football game in Italy, called the baby bowl, in front of 5,000 spectators. The physiognomy of the facility, originally similar to that of other contemporary stadiums, was altered in 1972 with the demolition of the Maratona Tower, the historic symbol of the facility.

In the summer of 1991 it was used to collect the more than 20,000 Albanian refugees who arrived on a ship in the nearby port. Between 1996 and 1997 the structure was restructured to be used mainly as a theater and venue for exhibitions and music, and only sporadically was it used in its original function as a sports facility. Since July 2007, the Arena della Vittoria has housed the offices of the regional and provincial CONI and of various sports federations as well as the sports medicine office. Since the same year it has been home to the home matches of the re-founded formation of the a.s.d. Liberty Bari which plays in the regional championship of Excellence. Since 2011 it has been the home ground of rugby (Tigris Rugby Bari) and American football clubs.

Palaflorio
The PalaFlorio is a multifunctional structure located in the Japigia district and built in the eighties to meet the needs of sports facilities. The name of the arena was assigned to honor the memory of Pietro Florio, president of Federvolley from Bari from 1977 to 1988.

After seven years of closure, the building was recently renovated and currently has a capacity of approximately 5,000 seats. It represents one of the largest sports arenas in the region, despite not being used properly, the fourth facility in southern Italy after those of Reggio Calabria, Caserta and Avellino. It has always been mainly used for concerts, events, congresses, and rarely for sporting events, due to the scarce local investments by entrepreneurs interested in team sports such as basketball and volleyball. Thanks to the agreements between the municipality and F.I.P. (Italian Basketball Federation) in August 2010 the building hosts the internal qualifying matches for the 2011 Europeans of the Italian men's basketball team.

CUS Bari
The Bari University Sports Center is a multipurpose facility used for various sports, such as athletics, rowing, canoeing, tennis, football, basketball, swimming, skating and karate.

PalaMartino
The PalaMartino is a multipurpose covered structure in which various athletic disciplines are practiced. It has been periodically renovated and is the oldest sports facility in the city. Several competitions were held there during the 1997 Mediterranean Games. The stands can accommodate 500 spectators. The name of the facility honors and commemorates the gymnast Francesco Martino, who won two gold medals in the Games of the VIII Olympiad: a marble plaque is placed over the entrance with a dedication to the Bari champion.

Swimming stadium
The municipal pools include the swimming stadium and other pools for teaching or training. This structure was totally restored for the 1997 Mediterranean Games: the stadium consists of an Olympic swimming pool and stands for spectators.

Polisportiva Angiulli
The official name of the sports club is Società Ginnastica Angiulli since the first athletic activity practiced by this association was gymnastics, to which many other sports were later added. The society was founded in 1908 and has sports fields for various athletic specialties. The name of the sports club remembers and honors Andrea Angiulli, who was a philosopher and pedagogue.

Ice rink
The ice rink is a covered structure reserved for the practice of ice skating for competitive and amateur athletes. There is also a youth ice hockey team but the rink cannot be approved for official matches so hockey players only train there. The grandstands can accommodate 2,000 spectators. This building is located in a large area with other sports facilities such as swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, etc.

PalaCarrassi
The PalaCarrassi is one of the facilities of the Municipality of Bari built in 1997 on the occasion of the Mediterranean Games.

Distributed over two floors and equipped with private parking and gardens, the multifunctional structure is made up of a large area of over 1,000 square meters, approved for basketball and with a grandstand for 200 people, as well as three smaller rooms , respectively of 65, 140 and 200 square meters, equipped with changing rooms.