Barletta

The first evidence of human settlement in the place which went on to be called Barletta dates from the fourth century B.C. Not far away, in 216 BC, the Battle of Cannae was fought, in which the Roman army was severely defeated by the Carthaginians led by Hannibal. The importance of the city grew in the last centuries of the Middle Ages, when it emerged as the stronghold of the Normans and a stop in the journey of the crusaders and soldiers and of trade towards the Holy Land. Under Emperor Frederick II, Barletta became one of the most important cities of the kingdom of Sicily (which included the south of the continent), and in it the Emperor had one of his residences built. In the Cathedral of Barletta, in 1459, King Ferdinand I of Aragon was crowned, although the most celebrated event in the history of the city took place only at the beginning of the sixteenth century. During the wars of Italy, which saw Spain and France in opposition for the domination of the Italian peninsula, the “Challenge of Barletta” (February 13, 1503) saw a clash between Italian and French knights and the subsequent victory of the former, led by Captain Ettore Fieramosca. Having became a stronghold of Spanish power, Barletta was sacked by the French in 1528, thereby initiating a period of decline that would last throughout the Early Modern age. The plague of 1656 and a long series of earthquakes at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth century reduced the population to historic lows and diminished the political and economic importance of the city.