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What to do and see in Polignano a Mare
Far from Bari 33 kilomters , one of the most picturesque hamlet of the entire Apulia: it is Polignano a Mare, whose beautiful historic center was built on high cliffs by the crystal clear sea which touches this land. Polignano springs up on a quite rocky part of the coast, marked by marine grottoes and lame, sort of canyons born from the erosive action of the sea and the wind.
Discovering Polignano
Crossed the Arco Marchesale, monumental entrance dated back to 1530, you enter a little suspended in time world, where churches, squares, arcades, little stairways and small paved alleys alternate.
The heart of Polignano still has nowadays the signs of the ancient dominations undergone over the centuries, from the Norman to the Venetian domination, the latter performed by the Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia in the XVI century (which has left Palazzo dei Dogi). The first aspect that strikes in the historic center are the verses, more or less famous, placed on doors, steps, floor, walls: the idea is by Guido il Flaneur, who gave the wonderful frame of Polignano the love for poetry. Entering the alleys, reading the verse of a poem while biting into the typical Pescaria sandwich (stuffed at your choosing with octopus, swordfish, shrimps or salmon), you reach the panoramic terraces of Polignano: viewpoints overlooking the cobalt blue sea, sometimes calm others stormy, which seems almost swallowing the hamlet in an ancestral bond.
From the Cathedral to Lama Monachile
There are many squares in Polignano: piazza Aldo Moro adorned with olive trees, Piazza Garibaldi on which Palazzo Marchesale overlooks and then Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, in the shadow of the Torre dell’Orologio: this palace had a sundial, under the statue of the patron saint San Vito, replaced in the XIX century with a modern clock manually adjustable. In Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II opens the late Gothic Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral, dating back to 1295: it contains San Vito relics, an XVIII century baptismal font, a XVI century wooden pulpit and a beautiful polyptych of the Virgin and Child by Vivarini.
From the Polignano terraces, Lama Monachile, one of the symbols of the hamlet, is to be seen: the cove, touched by crystal clear waters and nestled among high rocks, was used by the Romans as a docking for their vessels coming from the East. The monumental XIX century Ponte Borbonico, 15 meters high, dominates it: from the bridge it is easy reaching the open arms bronze statue of Domenico Modugno, a famous singer-songwriter born exactly in Polignano. Out of the historic center, there is instead the splendid Abbazia di San Vito, abbey realized in the X century: it overlooks a small port and it is from this point that the sea procession of San Vito, performed every year on the 14th June starts.