Discover a city means knowing the structure, history and traditions. So, what better way than to wander through the streets of Bari, the capital of Puglia region. Stopping in front of its most important monuments and even taking advantage for an interesting cooking workshop in an old courtyard of the historic center? its just what I did with a group of American journalists, who arrived in Puglia, in search of new interesting places to visit.
Our guests were highly surprised by the very detailed description I made, especially when I told them the story of the Norman- Swabian- Aragonese castle, the ideal starting point for visiting the city.
Over the centuries, the castle has been a stronghold, an elegant royal residence and a prison as well. Now that the castle is totally restored, it houses an interesting collection of chalk copies of portals of the most important “Apulian-Romanesque” cathedrals and churches.
Then we moved to the heart of “Bari Vecchia”, the old city of Bari, often besieged by tourists. The look of our guests was immediately captured by the majesty of the Cathedral of San Sabino, a wonderful example of Apulian-Romanesque architecture; dating from the XIII century, re-modeled and restored during the XX century. I talked about the “Madonna dell'Odegitria”, the icon of the Virgin Mary who is "showing the way", historically connected to the construction of the Cathedral. Our guests actually asked me a lot of questions! We only caught sight of the upper area of the cathedral, because the celebration of a wedding was taking place, but this provided our friends with insights into our culture, such as rich floral decorations, the fateful " yes " of the spouses, the applause of the elegant guests. Then we moved to the crypt of the cathedral, an underground burial place where you get the feeling of stepping into another era. As a matter of fact, its walls and columns of marble and baroque stuccoes still witness the XVIII century appearance that also used to characterize the upper building until the twentieth century. In the crypt, is the altar dedicated to Saint Sabino, Bishop of Canosa, where his human remains are likely to be buried.
Our last stop was the Piazzetta Nicolaiana, where the San Nicholas’ Basilica is located. However, to get there, you have to enter the noisy but colourful Strada del Carmine (Carmine’s Street), dotted with shops, bars and street vendors; so our friends were literally overwhelmed by the folklores of the dialect of Bari. Once we got to the Piazzetta Nicolaiana, where he used to enter was under the protection of the saint and neither the military authority nor civil liability could do anything, I told our friends the story of the holy bishop from Myra (Southern Turkey ), highlighting how the presence of his human remains in Bari since 1087 has helped to increase the number of pilgrims and merchants in the city. Bari has always been considered as the gateway to the East and it is especially loved by the Orthodox. That is why Bari also houses a Russian Church.
Meanwhile, Carlo, a friend of ours who helped us to organize the cuisine workshop, went to the fishing market known as " nderr la lanze " (landing after sailing), located on the Nazario Sauro seafront. Here, after contracting with the vendor for at least 20 minutes, between laughter and haggling, Carlo bought the so-called " ciambotto " (a seafood dish preapared with a mix of different kind of local fishes), which would later be prepared for our guests. The culinary workshop, was organized by our friend Carlo and Tour Guide at Carmela and her son Giancarlo’s house in Largo Albicocca - a square that in summer is crowded with people because of live concerts and outdoor barbecue. They had the goal to provide our American guests with the chance to sample freshly caught fish.
Thus, among a sgagliozza, the typical fried polenta from Bari, the excellent caciocavallo cheese produced in Altamura and good fish, masterfully prepared by Carlo and his wife Elena. The mussels that we prepared for the very first time in our life with lot of smiles, curiosity, information exchange, this was truely a delightful day in Bari.