Commercial and administrative capital of Puglia, a university town and the Mezzogiorno's second city, BARI has its fair share of interest. But although an economically vibrant place, it harbours no pretensions about being a major tourist attraction. Primarily people come here for work or to leave for Greece on its many ferries.
Bari was already a thriving centre when the Romans arrived. Later the city was the seat of the Byzantine governor of southern Italy, while under the Normans Bari rivalled Venice, both as a maritime centre and, following the seizure of the remains of St Nicholas, as a place of pilgrimage. Since those heady days Bari has declined considerably. Its fortunes revived briefly in 1813 when the king of Naples foisted a planned expansion upon the city - giving the centre its contemporary gridded street pattern, wide avenues and piazzas. And Mussolini instituted a university and left a legacy of strident Fascist architecture. But the city was heavily bombed during the last war, and today its vigorous centre is a symbol of the south's zeal for commercial growth at the expense of local identity and character
The City
There's not a lot to the new city of Bari, bar a good museum or two. Its straight streets are lined with shops and offices, relieved occasionally by the odd piazza and bit of greenery, best of which is the starting-point of the evening There's not a lot to the new city of Bari, bar a good museum or two. Its straight streets are lined with shops and offices, relieved occasionally by the odd piazza and bit of greenery, best of which is the starting-point of the evening passeggiata, Piazza Umberto is usually full of stalls selling jewellery, books and prints. Off the piazza, the university building houses an excellent Museo Archeologico, which is unfortunately closed for restoration at present. If it's re-opened by the time of your visit, it's well worth a look for anyone interested in the region's history: it holds a good selection of Greek and Puglian ceramics and a solid collection of artefacts from the Daunic, Messapian and Peucetic peoples - Puglia's earliest inhabitants. Afterwards, cut to the right for tree-lined Corso Cavour , Bari's main commercial street, which leads down to the waterfront. Right along here, in the Palazzo della Provincia, the Pinacoteca Provinciale (Tues-Sat 9am-1pm & 4-7pm, Sun 9am-1pm; L5000/?2.58) is a local art collection of mainly southern Italian stuff, twelfth- to nineteenth-century, with strong work by the fifteenth-century Vivarini family.
|
|
|
|
