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Bari
A travel guide to Bari, the busy port city, town of St. Nicola (the original Santa Claus), and capital of Apulia (Puglia) Italy
www.infopointbari.com
www.viaggiareinpuglia.it
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Bari is the second largest city in, and the industrial powerhouse of, Southern Italy, a busy port and oil refining center that can thumb its economic nose at the disparaging remarks made by Italy's northerners regarding the south's lack of industrial initiative.
It's also the home of Santa Claus—or rather, the bones of St. Nicholas, sheltered in Apulia's first grand Romanesque church.
Bari has a great Old City to wander, a few more late medieval churches and a castle, and a mediocre painting gallery, along with ferries to Greece and some fine cuisine.
Bari was old when the Greeks got here, but it was the Romans who turned it into the Adriatic trading center that, under the Byzantines and later the Normans, rivaled Venice throughout the Middle Ages.
Contemporary Bari has paid a price for its modernity in urban sprawl and pollution, but it has one of Apulia's two universities to give it that spark of life often missing from southern towns, and it’s a decent base for exploring the region.
Tips
- How to get to Bari by Car: Bari's on the SS116 from Trani and Barletta and the A14 highway from Foggia. From Manfredonia, just follow the coastal road until it merges with the SS116.
- How to get to Bari by Train There are daily runs twice an hour from Foggia (67–100 min.) that pass through Trani (30–43 min.). There are also 6 daily trains from Rome (4.5 hr.).
- The Bari Centrale station is on Piazza A. Moro at the south edge of town (tel. 080-524-0148). This station is serviced by national FS trains plus several private lines, including the Ferrovia Bari Nord (ticket office on the left of Piazza A. Moro as you exit the main rail station; tel. 080-521-3577), which runs trains to Bitonto and Ruvo (both "Side Trips" below); and the Ferrovia del Sud-Est (tel. 080-546-2111), which services Alberobello and the Valle D'Itria (see section 3 of this chapter).
- How to get to Bari by Bus There are at least hourly SITA buses from Barletta (65–95 min.) and Trani (60–90 min.) and 2 early-morning buses (none Sunday) from Manfredonia (2 hr. 15 min.). In Bari, buses stop at Piazza A. Moro (the train station). The SITA office is at the edge of town, Via B. Buozzi 35 (tel. 080-521-3714 or 080-574-1800), but you can get tickets and info at the Marozzi office, Corso Italia 3 (at the corner with Piazza A. Moro).
- Visitor info: The tourist information office is at Piazza A. Moro 32 (tel. 080-524-2244), the right side of the square as you exit the train station. There's also an office inside the station (tel. 080-558-0817) open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 7pm, Saturday 8:30am to noon.
Youths should head directly to Stop Over in Bari, Via Nicolai 47 (tel. 080-521-4538, www.inmedia.it/StopOver). Besides city info and a room-finding service (available to visitors of any age), they offer (to those under 30) free: city bus pass, bikes, camping, and weekly excursions. They have coupons for shopping and restaurants and are open Monday to Saturday 8:30am to 1:30pm and 4:30 to 8:30pm.
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This material was last updated March 2010. All information was accurate at the time.
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Copyright © 2008–2012 by Reid Bramblett. Author: Reid Bramblett
- Apulia Basics
- Feature: Once Upon a Time in Apulia
- Bari
- Brindisi
- Valle d'Itria: Alberobello & Trulli
- The secret trulli road
- The Gargano Peninsula & Foggia
- Between Foggia & Bari: Le Murge & Northern Coast
- Lecce & The Salento
- Táranto & Ionian Coast
