Bari - Teatro Petruzzelli

Bari was an early settlement and passed under Roman rule in the 3rd century BC. It developed strategic significance as the point of junction between the coast road and the Via Traiana and as a port for eastward trade. The first bishop of Bari was Gervasius who is known from the Council of Sardica in 347.

After the decline of the Roman Empire, the town was devasted and taken by Alaric´s Visigothic troops, then was under Lombardian rule, before the Byzantines took over. In 755 it was conquered by Pepin the Short (Charlemagne´s father) and from 847 on it was an Islamic Emirate. The Byzantine fleet returned in 871 and since 885 Bari ws the residence of the local Byzantine governor.

Following a three-year siege, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard in 1071. After the relics of Saint Nicholas, which were surreptitiously brought from Myra in Lycia (Byzantine territory), arrived in Bari, the Basilica di San Nicola was founded in 1087. This attracted pilgrims, whose encouragement and care became central to the economy of Bari. Pope Urban II consecrated the Basilica in 1089. In 1096 a crusader army embarked in the port of Bari for the First Crusade.

After the murder of archbishop Griso in 1117 a civil war broke our and the control was seized by Grimoald Alferanites, a native Lombard, in opposition to the Normans. He later did homage to Roger II of Sicily, but rebelled and was defeated in 1132.

In 1155 the city's inhabitants rebelled again against the Normans and negotiated with the Byzantines. As a retaliatory action, William I of Sicily (aka William the Wicked") had the city destroyed except for the cathedral and the Basilica of St. Nicola in the following year.

Baro recovered and had it´s heydays under Frederick II. When he returned from his crusade after 1229, the city gates were locked so he had to use force to gain entry. Therefore, he probably had the fort built in 1233 to keep the city in check. On the other hand, he granted the city generous trade privileges and left it the leading role in the region.

Napoleon´s brother in law Joachim Murat, then King of Naples, ordered the building in 1808 of a new section of the city, laid out on a rationalist grid plan, which bears his name today as the Murattiano

To find in this "modern" part of Bari is the Teatro Petruzzelli. It was commisoned by the art loving Petruzzelli brothers and opened in 1903. With about 1500 seats, one of the largest in Italy.

In October 1991 the theatre was completely destroyed by fire, the result of arson. The Teatro Petruzzelli was reconstructed entirely in 2008. On the 6th of December 2009 ("St. Nicolas Day") the first opera season in the re-built theatre began.