BISCEGLIE
BISCEGLIE
Bisceglie (from popular latin viscilia, oak) is a rural and seafacing town which rose in the 10th century as a result of the depopulation of Medieval Casali, hamlets, spread out in the territory (remains of which are still to be seen) and for the impulse of the Norman Count Peter the First.
The ancient town, with an exagonal plant, is a valuable example of medieval urbanistic planning. Founded by the Normans, with remarkings and over-structures built in later years. it is full of artistic churches and some beautiful Renaissance palaces.
The town walls, with towers and bastions, were built by the Aragonese.
The modern town rises all around: it is spacious and elegant and in continuous development. Bisceglie is a vivacious center of commerce of agricultural products grown in the surrounding country, which is cultivated with vine, olive and almond-trees.
The territory, with numerous traces of prehistoric life, offers suggestive views and a nice seaside. A remarkable monument is the prehistoric "Dolmen della Chianca" which is about 4 Km far from the town. It was discovered in 1909 by Mosso and Gervasio. It is a typical sepulchre-altar of the bronze age (3000-1000 a.C.) and the biggest and best kept "dolmen" in Europe. In the Bisceglie territory there are five "dolmen".
CATHEDRAL
from Margherita Square aling Card. Dell’Olio Street to Duomo Square
Built in 1073 by the Norman Count Peter the Second and dedicated to St. Peter, the Cathedral is one of the most ancient romanic churches in Puglia. It is made in romanic-apulian style, but it appears much spoiled by later remakings of baroque style.
The façade has a decorated portal, with a triple band of vinetwig leaves, and an arch supported by snouts on marble columns, surmounted with capitals decorated with acanthus leaves. The archivolts of the side portals, wich are now walled up, are on brackets supported by lions; on the higher part of the building there is a crowning of little arches, two mullioned windows with two lights, and four romantic mullioned windows with one light. A large baroque window substitutes the original rosace. The inside of the building is divided in three naves and has a women’s gallery. It has been recently brought back to original style (1972). A beautiful chorus made of walnut wood is on the sides of the presbytery; this chorus comes from the Benedectine Badia of St. Mary of the Miracles of Andria. It is of an 17th century unknown artist. The Crypt, full of baroque ornaments, is supported by ten columns of breccia coralline.
ST. MATTHEW
from Duomo Square to Largo S. Matteo
This church was built under bishop Mancusio in 1099; destroyed by a fire on the beginning of the 17th century, was rebuilt in 1628.
Painting: Angelo Bizamano, a cretese artist of the 16th century, is the author of the Madonna of Costantinopoli, painted on a table with a gilded background which is on the second altar on the left. The major altar is in baroque style, of Neapolitan school. The painting is surrounded by a wonderfully engraved and gilded wooden frame. Paintings of Neapolitan school.
ST. ADOENO
from Largo S. Matteo along Largo the Archi to Largo S. Adoeno
St. Adoeno’s church was built in 1074 and dedicated to Adoeno, the Normans Patron-Saint. After the Cathedral, St. Adoeno, an early and pure example of romanic-apulian style, is the most ancient local church. The pointed façade is built of dark calcareous, with a low cut tympanum crowned by an eagle overhanging a wild beast; in the middle of the façade there is a rosace with five brackets topped by four romanic lions and the statue of St. Adoeno, Bishop of Rouen. The centering portal has an ornate frame.
The inside with three naves is completely altered by baroque embellishments. In the church are kept three illuminated antiphonaries that were presented by the Angevin kings of Naples. Noteworthy a baptisimal basin of the 12th century, which stands on a quadrangular base with blunted corner edges. A 15th century palace with embossment, reputed abode of Lucrezia Borgia, is in front of the church.
NORMAN TOWER AND SUABIAN CASTLE
from Largo S. Adoeno along O. Tupputi Street to Largo Castello
The majestic tower, a rare construction in Puglia, was built in 1060 by the Norman Count Peter the First; the tower was later called by the people "Torre Maestra".
The castle, of which there are only the remains, was built under the Suabians betwwen the years 1270 and 1280 and later restored and reinforced by the Angrvins. At the end of the 16th century, the castle was given over to the Common, as it was considered unfit for fire-arms modern war.
ST- MARGARETH
from Largo Castello along Corso Umberto to S. Margherita Street
This little church is the jewel of Bisceglie. It is a fine model of romanic-apulian architecture, built by the family of the Falconi outside the urban walls in 1197. Immune from posterior remakings, the little church has conserved uprightly her beauty, made of harmony and simplicity. Made of cut stone, it has a rectangular plant and a semicircular apse. The dome, which has a square base on the outside, is surmonted by a pyramid roof.
The smooth façade ends with a triangular fronton with a crowning of arches, and has a rose on which are impressed the initials of the Saint; the portal is a double hooked arch.
Outside on the left, there are three sepulchres of the Falconi, the only ones of that kind that we have in southern Italy. The first sepulchre, unfinished, with a laying figure of a warrior, is dedicated to Basilio and Mauro Falconi; the second, done by Peter Facitulo, has a rich canopy with beautiful decorations and is dedicated to Richard Falconi; "This is the most beautiful to be imagined for its fine carved works and the architectural embellishments" (Vinaccia); this sepulchre is somewhat similar to the graves of St. Clara in Naples. The third sepulchre, destinated to the children of the Falconi and done by Anseram of Trani (1246), has a rich arch canopy supported by two little columns.
The inside of the church has one nave. On the right you can see a canopy with two columns supported by romanic lions.
TUPPUTI AND FRISARI’S PALACES
from Corso Umberto to Margherita Square along Card. Dell’Olio Street to O. Tupputi and G. Frisari Streets
The elegant renaissance Tupputi’s palace, with a diamond point embossment on the upper part of the façade, is a typical style of local architecture of the 16th century. This palace is adorned with columns of numidic granite that were bought in the 16th century. These columns, remains of a destroyed temple, were the ornament of the Cathedral of Giovinazzo. In the palace was held a historic "Dieta delle Puglie" (July 1820).
ST. LUOIS
G. Frisari Street
The church with a baroque façade was built on the beginning of the 16th century, on the remains of an old little temple, in which was buried Louis the First of Anjou. (An epigraph of posterior date, which is on the right side of the entrance, reports the notice). The church has been modified in later centuries.
Painting: Francesco Palvisino’s Madonna with the Holy Child.
Beside the church there is the Monastery of the Clarisse (1519), in which there are many art works.
ST. DOMINIC
from Frisari Street to Trento Street
This church was given to the Dominican friars in 1502 and embellished in 1525. Aside it arises the Dominican convent, adapted today as Town Hall. Many art works are kept in the church: in the left nave, on the wall of the second altar, there is a fresco of St. Mary of the Wall, a local artistic work of the 14th century; St. Mary of Giano, an old painting of bizantine style, is kept in the sacristy.
AMMAZZALORSA PALACE
from Trento Street to Trieste Street
This palace, a massive 18th century building, was restored in the 20th century by Quagliati in the style of the Renaissance. Inside od it, you can admire a collection of porcelains, fans, weapons, cuirasses, etc., a private painting and a sculpture collection of Grosso and Dossena.