Barletta
BARLETTA (anc. Barduli), a seaport town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, on the E.S.E. coast, in the province of Bari, 34 m. W.N.W. of Bari by rail. Pop. (1901) 42,022. Its importance dates from the time of the Hohenstaufen. The Gothic church of S. Sepolcro was built at the close of the 12th century, and the Romanesque cathedral was begun at the same period, but added to later. In front of the former church stands a bronze statue, 14 ft. in height, of the emperor Heraclius. The castle behind the cathedral dates from 1537. The harbour is good. It was cleared by 508 sailing-vessels and 461 steamers, the latter with a total tonnage of 364,904 in 1904; the exports were of the value of £180,699 (principally wine, sulphur, oil, tartar and tartaric acid), and the imports £92,486 (coal, timber and sundries).
In the neighbourhood (between Andria and Corato), during the siege of Barletta by the French in 1503, the town being defended by the Spanish army, a combat took place between thirteen picked knights of Italy and France, which resulted in favour of the former: it has been celebrated by Massimo d' Azeglio in his Disfida di Barletta. Seven miles to the N.W. are the salt-works of Barletta, now known under the name of Margherita di Savoia.
(T. As.)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
