BED AND BREAKFAST VILLA COSTANTINA

MOLA DI BARI

MAIN EVENTS: - Madonna d'Altomare the 1st Sunday of July - Octopus Festival 26th and 27th July - Terra Nostra 16th and 17th August - Maria SS Addolorata Patron Feast From the 5th to the 8th of September

Mola di Bari is a lively tourist town with 25000 inhabitants and only 21 kilometres from the centre of Bari. This village still has a very interesting old town centre, which is characterised by a well preserved medieval core. Here we can find the cathedral of S. Nicholas’, which was built between 1545 and 1564 and is in keeping with the Renaissance Dalmatian style.

The Castle of Charles I of Anjou is well worth seeing. This wonderful castle overlooking the sea was designed by Pierre of Angicourt. It is a massive fortification located at the town gates. Mola di Bari boasts many churches. The Church of Mary of Loreto, built in 1588, and the Hospital Church are both well worth visiting.

Inside the latter, there is the 15th century Pietà, which is made of painted stone. Another interesting church is that of Maddalena, decorated with 17th and 18th century paintings from the Neapolitan style. The real heart of the town is the small harbour, near to which is the fish market.

THE SOUTHERN BARI ITINERARY
	Polignano a Mare This wonderful town stands high on a cliff and offers a wonderful visit to its sea grottoes. The most famous one is known as the Palazzese Grotto and has a wonderfully wide terrace and is surrounded by a beautiful sea. It is also possible to visit other grottoes , such as the Grotto of the Doves, the Seal and the Ardito Grotto. These visits can be made by boat or speedboat. A big gate leads into the maze of medieval roads. In the old town centre, there is the Mother Church, which is dedicated to the Assunta. Interesting things to see are, the wooden choir from the first decade of 1600, a polyptych of the Venetian era, signed by Bartolomeo Vivarini and dated 1445 and a crib by the sculptor Stefano from Putignano. Polignano is famous for its wonderful ice-creams and freshly grilled fish can be sampled in the small rustic restaurants.
	Alberobello (The Capital of Trulli) Trulli are typical small stone houses with conical shaped roofs. There are more than one thousand trulli in Alberobello scattered in the winding roads of the town. They offer a wonderful view in an area which has been declared part of the national heritage: Monti district, Aia Piccola district, the Siamese trullo, the sovereign trullo and D’Amore house are all to be found there. A wonderful rural culture rich in simplicity and kindness, honesty and propriety is to be found in the inhabitants of the trulli area, who are always willing to invite tourists to visit their houses. Other very nice places to visit are the Mother Church, with its two bell towers, and the local wood. At almost 5 kilometres on the way to Noci one can find the 6th century Barsento Church. Alberobello’s handicrafts are very well developed, especially in the making of carpets and of different textile fabrics which can be bought from several stalls in the town market. A good idea is to stop and have lunch in the small cosy restaurants in the area where tourists can sample very good local food, such as lamb and “gnemerielle” (grilled lamb rolls and offal seasoned with parsley).
	Castellana Grotte Underground rivers created the wonderful view of these grottoes, which represent the greatest and most spectacular speleological complex known in Italy. The spectacular feature of these grottoes is in the large amount of stalagmites and stalactites which are to be found inside. They create an incomparable lunar landscape with their pinnacles and crystalline glittering columns and their strange almost natural looking sculptures. Those not to be missed can be found in the Black grotto, in the large cave of Monuments, in the cave of the owl, in the cave of the nativity, in the wonderful White cavern and in all the other caverns and caves to be found in a winding 2- kilometre long underground walk.
	Conversano The old town centre is dominated by the imposing castle of Norman origins, with its square 12th and 13th century towers, its large circular tower (14th century) and a polygonal rampart which dates from 1460. Its rooms are finely decorated by famous artists, such as, Paolo Domenico Finoglio. The nearby cathedral was started between the 11th and the 12th century and was completed during the second half of the 14th century. Its façade dates back to this period. It is divided into three parts by pilaster and has a central rose window and a richly carved protiro. Another precious important monument is the monastery of S. Benedetto, which was built in the 10th century and abandoned by the Benedictine monks after the Swabians’ downfall and became the abode of Benedictine nuns in 1266. The building is dominated by its elegant bell tower. The nunnery has two cloisters. One was built between the 16th and the 18th century, the other during the Middle- Ages. Among the many churches, the one most worth visiting is S. Cosma’s, built in 1636, with many paintings ascribed to Paolo Domenico Finoglio, Cesare Fracanzano and Carlo Rosa. Just outside Conversano, on the way to Bari, there is the other convent of S. Maria dell’Isola, whose church guards the wonderful tomb of Giulio Antonio Acquaviva. Conversano’s surroundings are rich in monuments and archaeological sites. The Church of Santa Caterina with its four-leaf-clover pattern is very quaint (maybe 1100). The impressive Marchione Castle (1730-1740) was the summer home of the Count Giulio IV of Acquaviva. Finally, Castiglione is a medieval village, which was abandoned in the 16th century and which rests on the acropolis of a town of the Peuceti. The town was completely surrounded by walls built on old megalithic fortifications and it still preserves a tower which has been recently restored.
	Locorotondo It is the rural centre which produces the famous and very good D.O.C. wine (D.O.C. denomination of controlled origins) White Locororotondo. It overlooks the picturesque and graceful Valley of Itria, the very fertile karst depression richly populated and interspersed with the typical trulli stone houses. The town is situated on the top of a hill, its circular plan is made up of concentric and radial little roads, on which white little houses with terraces can be found. The Mother Church of S. Giorgio overlooks the village. It was built between 1790 and 1825. The very beautiful Church of S. Maria la Greca has been recently restored. It was built according to Gothic patterns by the Prince of Taranto, Pirro del Balzo. A visit to the Social Wine Cellar allows the free sampling of the excellent wine produced in Locorotondo. This straw- white wine has a dry, pleasant, delicate taste, with 11 degrees of alcohol content. These features make this wine a good aperitif and a nice accompaniment for light fish starters.
	Monopoli This town has a wonderful cathedral founded in 1107. This cathedral was completely rebuilt in 1742-1770 closely following the Baroque style. Inside there is the Byzantine image of the Madonna della Madia. In the nearby bishop’s palace wonderful paintings by Carlo Rosa, Francesco De Mura, Palma the younger and others can be admired. The castle which overlooks the sea near the harbour has Aragonese origins and a polygonal plan and a circular tower. This town has many churches, such as Purgatorio, S. Domenico’s, S. Angelo’s, but the nicest is S. Maria Amalfitana, built in the 12th century on another rupestrian settlement. Monopoli’s sea-coast is very beautiful, with its fully- equipped tourist facilities. A stop at S. Stefano’s beach is advisable. This beach is named after the adjacent Benedictine Abbey, founded in 1086 by Goffredo of Altavilla. The hills around Cozzana and S. Lucia offer a very pleasant and natural view. Rural churches and fortified farms are to be found there. The little S. Procopio’s vault is worth visiting, with its many frescoes. It is in l’Assunta county and it was probably founded by John the deacon. Other interesting places are the churches of: S. John of Staveta, S. Cecilia, S. Bartolomeo in the marsh, S. Michael Archangel, the Holy Ghost and the crypt- church of Cristo Campanarello, dug in the rock with very well preserved frescoes. Many flights of stairs, a wonderful loggia and a nice little church on one side, are the distinguishing features of Masseria Spina, on the old provincial road to Bari. Very near to it, there is another farm called Spina Piccola. Its walls are still intact and make it look like a real 17th century fortress.
	Putignano It is an active, industrious little town, known for the joyous carnival which invades all its roads with extravagant floats. Putignano has many churches. The most interesting one is S. Pietro. It is the Mother Church and it was built in 1100. It was remade in the 15th century and again in the 16th. It has Baroque altars and 18th century gates. The statues sculpted by the famous Stefano da Putignano in the 16th century are very interesting. Palazzo Romanazzi is very impressive, and so is the near Musco- Pinacoteca. Just outside the town, there is a wonderful karst grotto with its polychromatic rocks and its impressive stalagmites.
	Ostuni - the white town Ostuni was declared an artistic town in 1998, for the beauty of its scenery and for its historical and artistic monuments. It is the right place for those who love the combination of culture and te environment. Ostuni is a very old town and its patrimony is partly still to be discovered. Its old town centre is itself a monument which must be seen. It is a fascinating urban web which still keeps its medieval structure, a real maze of little roads, arcades and little alleys surrounded by the old massive town walls. This whitewashed labyrinth accounts for the name of White Town and is interrupted by ochre old palazzos, churches, convents and beautiful portals which exalt the beauty of the local stone.
	Bari Bari is a modern metropolis completely absorbed by the very interesting business activities which are the basis of its prosperity and welfare. It was in the 50s and 60s, the years of the economic boom, that this city with a strong commercial spirit turned into a new cultural and innovative capital, a city where research in many fields is carried out. The town is today made up of three distinct cores: the old town, the 19th century town and the modern town. The modern town, with its residential districts, is separated from the other two by a bulky railway system. The old town rises on a small, hard limy hill which reaches down to the Adriatic Sea. The modern part was developed after 1813 the year in which Gioacchino Murat passed the law which allowed for the expansion of the city according to a detailed urban development plan. The new town was laid out according to a rectangular grid street plan. The most important monuments of Bari are the Basilica of S. Nicholas, which is one of the most beautiful samples of Romanesque architecture, the Cathedral, built in the Byzantine period, and the Swebian Castle, where today the Monuments and Fine Arts Office is located. In Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, there are many interesting 19th century monuments: the Town Hall and Niccolò Piccinni Theatre. On another artery perpendicular to Corso Vittorio Emanuele which reaches the sea, one can find the Art Nouveau Margherita Theatre, the Chamber of Commerce, a good example of Neoclassical architecture, and the magnificent Petruzzelli Theatre, one of the most famous in Italy. The new S. Nicholas stadium can be defined as a modern “monument”. It was designed by the architect Renzo Piano and can hold 60000 spectators. Bari hosts the Levante Trade Fair, which was opened in 1930. It is the most important fair in the south of Italy and the second most important fair in Italy after the one held in Milan.
	Fasano - Zoo Safari Fasano is a rural little town on the coast of the Murgia. It rises at the foot of the hill which breaks the undulating plateau of the Murgia. The town rises along the Adriatic main road, 9 kilometres away from the coast, where there are the remains of Egnazia. It has a regular rectangular grid street plan, centred on the main piazza Ciana. At the foot of the Murgia plateau, there is the Selva, a summer resort full of little villas, trulli, hotels and gardens. Pezze di Greco and Montalbano are along the Adriatic main road, to the south- east of Fasano. Savelletri a tourist resort is on the coast and has a beautifully picturesque harbour.