Bari

Lore & Background

Bari was known in antiquity as Barium, a harbour of the Iapygian Peuceti. In the 3rd century BC, it became part of the Roman Republic. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Bari was invaded by Barbarians and occupied by the Ostrogoths. It was taken by the Byzantine Empire during the Gothic wars. For 20 years, Bari was the centre of the Emirate of Bari; the city was captured by its first emirs Kalfun in 847. The city was conquered and the emirate extinguished in 871. In 885, Bari became the residence of the local Byzantine catapan. In 1071, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine power in the region. Relics of Saint Nicholas were brought to Bari in 1087. In 1095, Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade there. In October 1098, Urban II convened the Council of Bari. In 1136 the Holy Roman Emperor, Lothair, captured Bari. A Byzantine army took control of Bari from William I of Sicily in 1155; William recaptured the city the following year. During Joanna I of Naples' conflict with Hungary, Bari was besieged in 1349 and captured by a combined Germany and Hungarian army. A long period of decline characterized the city under the dominations of Aldoino Filangieri di Candida, and those of the Kings of Naples. This decline was interrupted by the splendor under the Sforzas, who ruled the city as Dukes of Bari. Bari also underwent Venetian domination. In 1556, Princess Bona Sforza of Aragon settled in Bari; she died there in 1557. In 1813, Joachim Murat began a new urbanization. Modern plumbing arrived on 24 April 1915. During the 1930s, Araldo di Crollalanza oversaw the development of its modern waterfront. On 11 September 1943, Bari was taken without resistance by the British 1st Airborne Division. On 2 December 1943, a German Luftwaffe attack destroyed the SS John Harvey, carrying a secret cargo of 2,000 mustard gas bombs, causing death and injury.

In Their Own Story

Inside the San Paolo, humidity clung to the air thick with anticipation. Scarves waved in unison—a sea of blue swallowing the white of the visitors. When kickoff came, it wasn't just eleven men on grass; it was generations of southern pride colliding. The roar from Curva A shook the stadium foundations, drowning out the referee's whistle. In that moment, league positions vanished. There was only the ball, the goal, and an unspoken demand to prove who truly ruled the South.

Reader's Guide

Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the north is the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035–1171) and the Norman-Swabian Castle, which is now also a major nightlife district. To the south is the Murat quarter (erected by Joachim Murat), the modern heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan with a promenade on the sea and the major shopping district (the via Sparano and via Argiro). Modern residential zones surrounding the centre of Bari were built during the 1960s and 1970s replacing the old suburbs that had developed along roads splaying outwards from gates in the city walls. In addition, the outer suburbs developed rapidly during the 1990s.

Did You Know?

• Bari is the city of Saint Nicholas, whose relics were brought there in 1087.
• The city was the centre of the Emirate of Bari from 847 to 871.
• Bari served as one of the major slave depots of the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages.
• The first historical bishop of Bari was Gervasius, noted at the Council of Sardica in 347.