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What to do and see in Monopoli
Among the most beautiful villages of the Land of Bari, not far from the equally beautiful Polignano a Mare, there is Monopoli: the village on the Adriatic coast far 41 kilometers form the Apulian county seat, has recently obtained many recognitions, also international, thanks to its historic and artistic beauty, set in an enchanting landscape!
The Castle of Monopoli
Monopoli’s origins are date back to ancient times, it is said that it was already quoted by Plinius. It stands on the remains of a V century b.C. Apulian settlement and its historic centre is what makes it a village to discover.
The ancient Monopoli appears as a medieval hamlet suspended in the past, on whose paved alleys little white houses and noble palaces , churches and artisanal small shops overlook: it is enclosed by walls dotted by defensive towers, among which Torre Santa Maria, also known as Cannone for being in the past the artillery post against the Turkish attacks from the sea, stands out.
The city walls of Monopoli open on the majestic Carlo V Castle, dominating the small port from the promontory of Punta Penna: the pentagonal fortress presents at the entrance a cylindrical tower, until the 1960s a prison, nowadays seat of exhibitions and conferences.
From Carlo V Castle starts form one side the San Salvatore seafront, flanked by typical little clubs, while on the other side there is the Old Port, reachable with a promenade touching the water. Along this sort of dock, arises the XVIII century Palazzo Martinelli, that, with its round arches recalls the Venetian domination on Monopoli in the XV century.
From the Cathedral to the Porta Vecchia Bay
The Old Port, certainly the most typical corner in Monopoli, with moored fishermen’s boats and historic buildings that overlook the splendid sea that touches the hamlet. Form the small port, crossing an arch, you can enter the historic heart of the village whose hub is Piazza Garibaldi which lays in the shadow of the Torre dell’ Orologio and in the center the Colonna Infame to which, in the past, wrongdoers were tied.
Monopoli is a village rich of places of worship, from the ancient Chiesa San Salvatore, that the legend says built by a pirates crew escaped from a storm, to the Santa Maria Amalfitana rock church, built in the XII century inside a grotto.
There is then the beautiful Madonna della Madia Cathedral, whose present baroque version melts with the original Romanesque architecture of the XII century: in the Chapel della Madia, attainable with a double flights of stairs, there is the Byzantine icon of the Virgin. According to this legend, this effigy was miraculously found in the small port on a raft with wooden beams that made possible to achieve the construction of the Cathedral, as the Virgin had told in a dream to the sexton.
After a visit to the Museo Diocesano , a bath of sea and salt before waving Monopoli, with its town beach with clear seabed.