Bari and Lecce, cities on the Aegean Coast

 

13th century church in Bari

In contrast to scruffy Naples, Bari is spotless.  Many of its Baroque buildings have been restored, though many more await someone’s enthusiasm and money.  We stayed in a wonderful B and B, Bari 102, in the heart of the university district, so there was lots going on, a myriad of restaurants, a pedestrian shopping street and students everywhere.  The historic center of Bari is a pleasant 10-minute walk away.  

ceiling of Basilica di San Nicola

Like most of this part of Italy, Bari goes back to Greek and Roman times.  During the Middle Ages, it became a major slave trading center, mostly for Slavic slaves sold into the Byzantine Empire and Muslim states.  It’s Basilica of St. Nicholas was established in the late 11^th century to hold the relics of Saint Nicholas, spirited away secretly to their new resting place from their earlier home in Byzantine lands. 

fresco from Basilica

The Basilica was built in Romanesque style, begun in 1087 and finally completed in 1197.  It is a place where Catholic and Orthodox churches come together to worship, so rather unusual.  It has a gorgeously painted ceiling along with beautiful capitals atop the columns and well-preserved frescoes.

The large Schwabian Castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times during its history as waves of conquerors came to sack Bari.  Finally, in the 17^th century, the daughter of the King of Naples restored the castle and made it her residence.  Right now, the  castle hosts a beautiful exhibition of ancient pottery found in Bari, from the plain ware that preceded the Greeks to the elaborately decorated Greek pots to Roman drinking vessels.

elephant on sarcophagus

Along what used to be the waterfront, families built tower houses, tall, skinny structures with watchtowers, in order to keep an eye out for a flotilla of invaders.  As elsewhere along this busy coast, the tower houses didn’t do much to protect the inhabitants from a determined aggressor.  It’s easy to picture family members standing in their tower, nervously searching the sea for threats and sounding the alarm when a ship was sighted.  It must have been a harrowing life. 

Schwabian castle

Bari vegetable market

There are lots of outdoor markets and shops in the historic center of Bari, so it is a fun place to wander.

South of Bari is the beautiful Baroque city of Lecce.  The entrance is the Punto di Napoli, an imposing gate leading to a large and busy city center, full of mostly crumbling, but still lovely, palaces, churches, convents and shops.  Just outside the Punto di Napoli is the university, with its rather                                                      decrepit buildings, so the center of the city is also a center of night life                                                      for all its young patrons.  

Porto di Napoli, Lecce

Baroque Basilica, Lecce

There is a fascinating Jewish museum, the Museo Ebraico, in the middle of the old city, probably right on top of the ruined synagogue in the former Jewish Quarter.  This Jewish Quarter was not a ghetto as people could move freely in and out of the Quarter.  That is rather unusual in medieval cities where Jews were often locked into their overcrowded quarters.  There was a Jewish community here in the late Middle Ages, but after World War II, no Jews remained and none have returned.  

Baroque palace needing repair

I had no idea that Jews rescued from the Nazi death camps had been housed in southern Italy after the Second World War, but we watched a very moving video about a displaced persons camp for Jews in the town of Santa Maria di Leuca, at the southern tip of Italy’s boot.  A rabbi in the camp urged the refugees to marry and have children, in order to start rebuilding the Jewish people after the ravages of the Nazis.  Three women born in the camp in Santa Maria di Leuca told their stories in the video, produced during a visit they made to the former displaced persons camp.  They carried photos of their mothers and themselves and talked about the incredible joy their mothers said they felt after giving birth to their first child.  The families later moved to Israel. 

renovated palace

Lecce has a beautiful Roman amphitheater, discovered when the city was trying to expand the main piazza.  There are music and theater performances there in the summer.  Our guide told us the locals bring their cushions and camp chairs and put them on the stone seats of the Roman era to enjoy a more comfortable experience. 

Lecce's Roman amphitheater