Where to Stay in Barletta, Puglia

What is Barletta known for?

A colossal statue of a Byzantine emperor stands in the open street, and the visitors it draws stay for Barletta Cathedral, whose Romanesque fabric is the second reason to stop. The castle is the third. Castle of Barletta holds one edge of the old town, and the Pinacoteca "Giuseppe De Nittis" adds a painter's collection to a list that is otherwise medieval throughout.

What are the main landmarks in Barletta?

Barletta Cathedral leads. The Castle of Barletta, the Santo Sepolcro and the Basilica of San Domenico follow it, and the concattedrale di Santa Maria di Nazareth carries a dedication borrowed from far outside Puglia. Smaller churches fill the gaps.

Sant'Agostino, the Chiesa di San Giacomo and the Greek church Santa Maria degli Angeli survive under their own names, while the Cantina della Sfida marks a different kind of memory. Museums close it out. The Pinacoteca "Giuseppe De Nittis" and the Museo civico hold the collections.

What is the history of Barletta?

The founding is undated. The oldest evidence is architectural: Barletta Cathedral is Romanesque, the Castle of Barletta is fortified stone, and the Santo Sepolcro and the concattedrale di Santa Maria di Nazareth carry dedications that belong to places a long way from Puglia. Those names travelled.

The Greek church Santa Maria degli Angeli says the same thing in plainer language, since a church named that way records a community distinct from the Latin one around it. A colossal statue completes the older layer. It shows a Byzantine emperor and stands in the open street rather than in any museum.

One episode outweighs the rest. The Challenge of Barletta has both a monument and a cellar attached to it, the Monument to the Challenge of Barletta and the Cantina della Sfida, which is more commemoration than most towns give a single event. Painting arrived later.

Giuseppe De Nittis left enough work for a pinacoteca under his name, and the Museo civico and the Museo della Cattedrale di Barletta divide the rest of what the town collected. The Archivio della Resistenza e della memoria holds the twentieth century, and Barletta now shares the seat of its province with Andria and Trani.

Where is Barletta?

The comune covers a hundred and forty-seven square kilometres. Barletta occupies part of that in Apulia, with Andria and Trani sharing the province the three of them give their names to. Its oldest streets sit close together.

Barletta Cathedral, the Castle of Barletta and the Santo Sepolcro sit close enough together that the historic core reads as a single quarter rather than as scattered monuments across the comune.

What is the climate of Barletta?

This stretch of Apulia is temperate. That much is fixed, and it gives Barletta a warm middle of the year across the hundred and forty-seven square kilometres of comune and the compact old town alike. The statue takes it outdoors.

A colossal figure standing in the open street has weathered every season the town has had, which is more than the Pinacoteca "Giuseppe De Nittis" or the Museo civico can claim for their contents.

How do you get to Barletta?

Three towns share the province. Barletta, Andria and Trani each hold a seat of it, so approaches to any one of the three run through the same stretch of Apulia and end at three different old towns. Barletta's is the walkable part.

Once inside it, Barletta Cathedral, the Castle of Barletta, the Cantina della Sfida and the Pinacoteca "Giuseppe De Nittis" are all reachable on foot, and the colossal statue stands out in the open among them.