Bari

Bari is the capital of the province of Bari and of the Apulia (or Puglia) region, on the Adriatic sea, in Italy.It is the second economic centre of southern Italy and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicolas of Bari, the original of Santa Claus.The city itself has a decreasing population of 328,458 (2001) over 116 km², while the fast-growing urban area counts 700.000 inhabitants over 203 km². Another 500.000 people live in the metro area.

Bari consists of four different parts. On the north, the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the splendid Basilica of San Nicola (Saint Nicholas), the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035 - 1171) and the Castello Svevo of Frederick II, is now also one of the major nightlife districts. The Murattiano section to the south, the modern heart of the city, is laid out on a rectangular plan with a stunning promenade on the sea, and the major shopping district (the via Sparano and via Argiro). The more modern city surrounding this center was the result of chaotic development during the 1960s and 1970s over the old suburbs that had developed along roads splaying outwards from gates in the city walls. Finally, the outer suburbs have been in rapid development during the 1990s.

History

Ancient Bari

Barion (Latin Barium), in the region of the Peuceti, does not seem to have been a place of great importance in Magna Graecia; only bronze coins struck by it have been found. Once it passed under Roman rule in the third century BC, it developed strategic significance as the point of junction between the coast road and the Via Traiana; a branch road to Tarentum led from Barium. Its harbour, mentioned as early as 181 BC, was probably the principal one of the district in ancient times, as it is at present, and was the centre of a fishery.

The first historical bishop of Bari was Gervasius, who was noted at the Council of Sardica, 347. The bishops were dependent on the patriarch of Constantinople until the tenth century.

Middle Ages

After the devastations of the Gothic Wars, under Lombard rule a set of written regulations was established, the Consuetudines Barenses, which influenced similar written constitutions in other southern cities.

Bari was put on the political map of the region in 852 when it became a center of Saracen power for a generation, under the first emir of the area, Swadan. In 885 it became the residence of the local Byzantine catapan, or governor. The failed revolt (1009-1011) of the Lombard nobles Melus of Bari (d. 1020) and his brother-in-law Dattus, against the Byzantine governorate, though it was firmly repressed at the Battle of Cannae (1018), offered their Norman adventurer allies a first foothold in the region. In 1025, under the Archbishop Byzantius, Bari became attached to the see of Rome and was granted provincial status.

In 1071, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard. Maio of Bari (d. 1160), a Lombard merchant's son, was the third of the great admirals of Norman Sicily. The Basilica di San Nicola was founded in 1087 to receive the relics of this saint, which were surreptitiously brought from Myra in Lycia, in Byzantine territory. The saint began his development from Saint Nicolas of Myra into Saint Nicolas of Bari and began to attract pilgrims, whose encouragement and care became central to the economy of Bari. In 1095 Peter the Hermit preached the first crusade there. In October 1098 Urban II, who had consecrated the Basilica in 1089, convened the Council of Bari, one of a series of synods convoked with the intention of reconciling the Greeks and Latins on the question of the filioque clause in the Creed, which Anselm ably defended, seated at the pope's side. The Greeks were not brought over to the Latin way of thinking, and the Great Schism was inevitable.

A civil war broke out in Bari in 1117 withe the murder of the archbishop, Riso. Control of Bari was seized by Grimoald Alferanites, a native Lombard, and he was elected lord in opposition to the Normans. By 1123, he had increased ties with Byzantium and Venice and taken the title gratia Dei et beati Nikolai barensis princeps. Grimoald increased the cult of St Nicholas in his city. He later did homage to Roger II of Sicily, but rebelled and was defeated in 1132.

In 1156 Bari was sacked and razed to the ground; Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily, repaired the fortress of Baris but it was subsequently destroyed several times. Bari recovered each time.

Early modern Bari

Isabella di Aragon, princess of Naples and widow of the Duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Sforza, enlarged the castle, which she made her residence, 1499-1524. After the death of Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland, Bari came to be included in the Kingdom of Naples and its history contracted to a local one, as malaria became endemic in the region. Bari was wakened from its provincial somnolence by Napoleon's brother-in-law Joachim Murat. As Napoleonic King of Naples Murat ordered the building in 1808of a new section of the city, laid out on a rational grid plan, which bears his name today as the Murattiano. BUnder this stimulus, Bari developed into the most important port city of the region.

Modern Age

Bari is today a city enjoying a perfect balance between past and future, sea and hinterland, nature and gastronomy. The old town and the borgo murattiano highlight the appeal of two very different kinds of settings, while the combination of both mercantile and maritime vocations of the local people, has meant that Bari has been able to develop both its marine and agricultural aspects. This involves marketing of the abundant products of its fertile hinterland such as oil and wine, along with Pecorino cheese, olives and peaches, whereas the great fulcrum created by the Levante Fair has led to its industrial development.

The 1943 Chemical Warfare Disaster

Through a tragic coincidence intended by neither of the opposing sides in The Second World War, Bari gained the unwelcome distinction of being the only city to experience Chemical Warfare in the course of that war.

On the night of December 2, 1943, German JU-88 bombers attacked the port of Bari, at the time a key supply center for the American forces fighting their way up the Italian peninsula. Several American ships were sunk in the overcrowded harbor - among them "John Harvey", which was carrying mustard gas intended for use in retaliation by the Allies, should German forces initiate gas warfare. The presence of the gas was highly classified, and authorities ashore had no knowledge of it - which increased the number of fatalities, since physicians who had no idea that they were dealing with the effects of mustard gas prescribed treatment proper for those suffering from exposure and immersion, which proved fatal in many cases.

The whole affair was kept secret at the time and for many years after the war (in the opinion of some, there was a deliberate and systematic cover-up). Up to the present, there is a considerable dispute as to the number of fatalities. In one account, "Sixty-nine deaths were attributed in whole or in part to the mustard gas, most of them American merchant seamen" [1]; others put it as high as "more than one thousand Allied servicemen and more than one thousand [Italian] civilians" [2]. Part of the confusion and constroversy derives from the fact that the German attack was highly destructive and lethal in itself, also apart from the accidental additional effects of the gas (it was nicknamed "The Little Pearl Harbor"). Attribution of the causes of death between the gas and the more direct effects of the German attack causes proved far from easy.

The affair is the subject of two books: Disaster at Bari by Glenn B. Infield and Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Coverup by Gerald Reminick.

Main sights

Basilica di San Nicola

The Basilica di San Nicola (Saint Nicholas) was founded in 1087 to receive the relics of this saint, which were brought from Myra in Lycia, and now lie beneath the altar in the crypt. The church is one of the four Palatine churches of Apulia (the others being the cathedrals of Acquaviva delle Fonti and Altamura, and the church of Monte Sant'Angelo sul Gargano.

Cathedral of St. Sabinus

The church of St. Sabinus (the current Duomo of the city) was begun in Byzantine style in 1034, but was destroyed in the sack of the city of 1156. A new building was thus built between 1170-1178, partially inspiring to that of San Nicola. Of the original edifice, only traces of the pavement are today visible in the transept.

An important example of Apulian Romanesque architecture, the church has a simple Romanesque façade with three portals; in the upper part is a rose window decorated with monstruous and fantasy figures. The interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by sixteen columns with arcades. The crypt houses the relics of St. Sabinus and the icon of the Madonna Odigitria.

The interior and the façade were redecorated in Baroque style during the 18th century, but these additions were deleted in the 1950s restoration.

Others

Demographics

Bari is a very homogenous city. However due to legal and illegal migrations, there has been an increasing presence of immigrants chiefly from Albania, who also constitute the nation's largest and fastest growing minority.
*Italian: 98.1%
*Albanian: 0.4%
*Mauritian: 0.3%
*Greek: 0.2%
*Chinese: 0.1%

Other tiny groups consist of British, Filipinos, and Ethiopians.

Bari: Encyclopedia BETA

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