Bari is a beautiful Mediterranean city with a millennial history located in the south of Italy; it is also known to be the capital of the region Puglia (Apulia).
Although it has solid merchant tradition, for some 20 years now it is emerging as a truly touristic city, thanks to its splendid seafront and to the beautiful old town.
And it is precisely the seafront, with its beautiful views overlooking the old town, the ideal starting point for a visit of the city.
The passage between the modern part of the city and the old town is marked by the presence of one of the city's theatres: the Margherita theatre.
The contrast between historic and modern architecture, the flowing dialogue between modern and antique, between art and technologies is well represented by the picture above; on the left of the Margherita Theatre the commercial heart of Bari with the modern buildings and on the right the picture shows the steeple of the Church of San Nicola, heart of the old town.
I mentioned the Margherita theatre earlier: I think it’s one of the most beautiful of Bari, but not only... perhaps it is also one of the most representative building of the city.
It was built among the 1912 and the 1914 directly on the sea and its story is quite particular: at that time the municipality of Bari made a deal with the Petruzzelli family according to which it would never build other theatres in the city.
So the Margherita theatre was constructed on pillars on the sea to circumvent this limitation.
The Margherita Theatre overlooking the marina as well as the old port, with the myriad of goiters rowing.
These boats are also moored in front of the theatre at a place called “N'derr alla lanz”.
Very dear to the locals, “N'derr alla lanz” literally means "at the foot of the goiters" because in the old days, the fishermen were coming back from their fishing throw the catch of the day down on the floor and sold it to that place.
But the goiters rowing are protagonists all along the seafront; along the boulevard is a relative longer walk but very pleasant with the view of all these colorful boats.
In the square in front of the theater, tourists enjoy a wonderful view of the "Muraglia Barese" (the city walls of Bari) that is the ancient barrier of the city. It was constructed in the fourth century BC and since then it has resisted the ravages of time.
Walking on the Muraglia, tourists can enjoy il Fortino di Sant'Antonio Abate (The Sant'Antonio Abate Fort).
From here tourists can admire incredible views over all the seafront.
Continuing to walk though the Muraglia, the town is a mix of pastel-coloured houses and historical buildings that takes one back to an old-style atmosphere.
Down the flight of steps to the Church of San Nicola, tourists will enter in the very core of the ancient city; locals find harmony living their own traditional life and tourists can sense that.
There is much history to discover in the alleys of Bari and in the narrow streets of the old town, will be easy to find shops and small shops of artisans that offer products of all kinds.
I mentioned the Church of San Nicola, but there is still a lot to see in this beautiful city!
But I'll write about all this and more in the next posts.. so don't miss them!
All photos taken by me.
Some photos contain some Lightroom post processing.
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