BARLETTA

BARLETTA. — In the province of Bari, on the Adriatic Sea.

I. THE DIOCESE

especially after its destruction. Barletta itself, however, was in turn contested by the Goths, the Byzantines, the Lombards, and the Normans. It was the refugees from Canusium who established in Barletta the borough of S. Antonio. The city gained considerable importance during the period of the Crusades, because its port, the only one well defended south of Ancona, served as a base for expeditions and journeys to the Holy Land. The Knights Hospitaller and the Templars built residences there; the city also flourished under the Angevins. There is no documentary evidence regarding the Christian penetration, which may have come by sea or from nearby Canusium. When Canusium was destroyed, Barletta, after a period of some autonomy under the jurisdiction of the archpriest of the church of S. Maria in Auxilio, founded by the refugees from Canusium, passed under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Trani, as attested by the bull of Alexander II in 1063 and by subsequent bulls of Urban II, Callistus II, Adrian IV, Alexander III, and Celestine III. At the beginning of the 12th century, in the borough of S. Antonio, the two churches of Barletta, the Santo Sepolcro and S. Maria di Nazareth, date from this period. The first was a dependency of the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre

and was served by a Chapter of canons regular. The second was the principal church of the archbishop of Nazareth in Galilee. After the fall of Palestine in 1187, the archbishop of Nazareth took refuge in Barletta and remained there until 1220. Later, Pope Alexander IV permitted the archbishops of Nazareth to reside in Ptolemais, and Pope Clement IV allowed them the use of the pallium and the cross, especially in churches subject to them in Italy. After the fall of Ptolemais in 1291, the archbishop of Nazareth again settled in Barletta with full episcopal jurisdiction, maintaining the rights and privileges of the churches of Nazareth. In 1455, Callistus III united the see of Nazareth Canosa (v.), a union confirmed by the bulls of Clement VII (3 July 1521) and Paul III (3 Nov. 1534), which also added the diocese of Monteverde. St. Pius V, with his bull of 29 April 1566, granted to the three united dioceses the church of S. Bartolomeo within Barletta, in exchange for the ancient basilica of S. Maria; the new cathedral of S. Maria di Nazareth was consecrated on 4 November 1571. From 1604 to 1608, Maffeo Barberini, later Urban VIII, was archbishop of Nazareth. In 1818, Pope Pius VII united Monteverde to the diocese of S. Angelo dei Lombardi, while Nazareth and Canosa were united to Trani. Leo XII merged the Chapters of S. Maria di Nazareth and S. Maria Maggiore in Barletta. Pius IX, with the motu proprio of 21 April 1860, separated the territory of Barletta from that of Trani, erecting a new archiepiscopal see with its seat in the palace of the former archbishops of Nazareth. Since then, the archbishop of Trani has also been archbishop of Barletta. In the church of the Santo Sepolcro, after the suppression of the canons regular (1489), in the 16th century the Knights of the Order of Malta established their priory of S. Giovanni.

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THE ARTICLE. The cathedral is the most prominent monument of the city. It was begun before 1150 by a certain Simiaco and his son Luca of Barletta, but was consecrated only in 1267; it was then enlarged toward the presbytery in the early years of the 14th century, and the apse was completed in the 15th.

The façade, which has a very high central section, is adorned with beautiful transenna biforas. The interior, with its three naves, reflects in the distribution of its parts the history of its construction. Indeed, the first four arcades, resting on monolithic columns, belong to the Romanesque building; then follows the 14th-century enlargement with ribbed vaults and piers. This second part of the church is joined to the Romanesque structure by a round arch, followed by three pointed arches.

Notable are the pulpit and the ciborium, similar to that of the church of S. Nicola in Bari but with capitals rich in exuberant decoration. In the apsidal ambulatory, in a small altar, there is a panel painted on both sides by Paolo Serafini of Modena (signature 1387): on one side is depicted the Redeemer, on the other the Madonna with the Child. This image is called the *Madonna della Disfida*, because it was carried in procession to meet the thirteen victorious Italians on the day of the famous challenge.

Not far from the cathedral is the 16th-century church of S. Pietro. Much greater interest is aroused by that of the Santo Sepolcro, which dates from the 11th century but was rebuilt at the end of the 13th.

The façade originally had two square bell towers; only the left one remains, truncated. On the left flank there is a fine portal with pointed arches, as well as the small arches of the crowning of the three apses. The interior reflects, in the pronaos, the ribbed vaults, and the tower on the transept, elements of Burgundian Gothic architecture that then had some diffusion even in southern Italy. Near the church is the famous Colossus of Barletta. It is a bronze statue

more than five meters high, by some thought to represent the emperor Heraclius, but more probably Theodosius. The gigantic figure stands upright, in its left hand it holds a globe, and with its right it clutches a small cross. Strongly constructed, pursuing new paths with respect to the academic tradition of Hellenistic statuary, this 4th-century image expresses a sense of strength and will truly indomitable.

The church of S. Andrea, which boasts very ancient origins (6th century) but in its present form is Romanesque, is also of considerable interest. The portal features a relief of the blessing Christ between the Madonna and the Baptist.

Inside, now transformed, there is a fine carved wooden choir made in 1599 by F. Ferrara of Naples; in the sacristy there is preserved a Madonna with the Child, signed and dated by Alvise Vivarini in 1483.

Various other buildings in Barletta preserve Romanesque elements. Among the civil monuments, the castle is particularly noteworthy; its origins date to the 11th century, but it was repeatedly remodeled and enlarged, especially during the 16th century.

Also of interest is the 16th-century Palazzo della Marra and the Baroque Palazzo del Monte di Pietà. Barletta also has a picture gallery that preserves works by modern painters, especially by Giuseppe De Nittis, a native of the city.

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### III. MASSACRE OF B.

This is one of the most exploited episodes of Protestant propaganda, which occurred in March 1866. The Protestants seem to rely solely on the written account by their co-religionist Gaetano Giannini (who was not a witness except to the very beginning of the massacre) and published later in *L'Eco della Verità*, a Waldensian newspaper, on 31 August of that same year. However, from the account of a witness who observed all the events—Antonio Marana—it emerges that things unfolded very differently from Giannini’s narrative. Specifically: the few Protestants in Barletta, led by Giannini, had wantonly insulted the religious sentiments of the Catholic inhabitants of Barletta, particularly regarding the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. After appeals to the mayor and deputy prefect proved futile, the Catholics decided to stage a peaceful protest demonstration. While this proceeded calmly under the direction of Canon Gorgoglione, another group formed, led by the peasant Raffaele Fiorella, nicknamed "Annita," who bore a grudge against the Protestant Decuratolo. Fiorella, finding his enemy in the house where Giannini was staying, killed him outright, while Giannini, aided by Canon Rizzi, managed to escape. Following this crime, the same group led by Fiorella killed a young Catholic, Ignazio Lanza, believing him to be a Protestant. Later, the group led by Gorgoglione, having abandoned the canon, went to a house where two Protestants lived, threw their belongings into the street, and burned them, though allowing the men time to flee.

In the subsequent trial, the authorities convicted the guilty parties; however, they were unjust in also sentencing two innocent priests to 20 years of hard labor. These men appealed to the court in Lucera, which acquitted them due to insufficient evidence. The author of the account adds: *"Those seeking further details should read the trial records from Trani and later from Lucera."*

The continuator of the Protestant *Martyrologium* by Foxe, W. Bramley-Moore, relying on an unclear indication in Giannini’s letter, claims that there were thirteen victims; in reality, there were only two: a poor young Catholic and the Protestant Decuratolo, the latter killed more out of personal vengeance by Annita than for religious motives. In the same account, we find a lurid description that is the product of the author’s imagination. He claims that the inhabitants of Protestant homes were thrown from windows and hacked to pieces, that mutilated victims—some already dead, others dying—were burned in the streets, that enraged women stoned and stabbed many of these wretches and, with demonic shrieks, danced around the pyres of the victims. The further assertion that this entire affair was directed by Rome to prevent the withdrawal of French troops from the Papal States is so absurd that it scarcely merits refutation. It is true that the popular anger erupted in bloody deeds, but the cause lay in the public insult and provocation by a few Protestants against the faith of the vast majority of the city.

— See Plate LVIII.

For the modern diocese of B. *v.* TRANI.

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