...halfway stretched between the sea and the land, the city of Molfetta rises about 25 km from the capital Bari; among the most populous municipalities in northern Bari with about 60,000 inhabitants, Molfetta has been experiencing in the last decade a strong development, mainly urbanistic, which has shifted the city boundaries far beyond the original ones traceable in the Centro Antico. It was precisely in this place, on what was the "peninsula of St. Andrew," that the first village arose, whose subsistence was based mainly on fishing, as well as the exchange of products with other cities on the coast and inland.
It was from the medieval age that the initial nucleus expanded with new buildings, churches (including the Cathedral in Apulian Romanesque style) with adjoining courtyards, the enlargement of the port, towers, the town hall, and squares that gradually made the town's road network take on that characteristic arrangement called "herringbone" which is unique in its kind.
Over the centuries, the city has experienced an almost symbiotic relationship with the sea, considered a source of life and sustenance, and also a privileged route chosen by conquerors and destructive enemies to settle on Molfetta territory.
To leave their footprints on Molfettese soil have been Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Saracens who several times brought destruction to the city, Swabians with Frederick II who made it a "royal city," pilgrims who made Molfetta a crossroads and point of passage to the Holy Land (among them also Conrad of Bavaria who later became one of the patrons); to still Angevins, Aragonese and French authors in 1529 of the "sack of Molfetta" traumatic event that deeply marked the local population.
A history that spans the centuries and constantly changes the face of Molfetta; a history that even before being such is prehistory in one of the most representative and emblematic places of the Molfettese territory, the Pulo.
In this collapse doline of karst origin located about 1.5 kilometers from the center of the city of Molfetta, important traces dating back to settlements of the Neolithic period have been found, finds that are today preserved for the most part in the city's Diocesan Museum, another important cultural container in which the works of great Molfettan painters such as Corrado Giaquinto, already an artist in the major European courts of the 18th century, are kept.
Not only the echo of history in the Pulo, but also a profoundly naturalistic charm that also involves the surrounding countryside of centuries-old olive trees and towers and farms, stretching out over the verdant blades that overbearingly turn their gaze to the sea.
THE FEAST
The celebrations in honor of Mary Most Holy of Martyrs take place at several times of the year: on May 11 the sacred icon is carried in procession through the streets of the city to commemorate and renew the vow that the people of Molfetta made to Our Lady during the disastrous earthquake of 1560 that struck the Apulian territory but spared Molfetta precisely through the intercession of the Virgin, who is named for that occasion as "Medonn du Tremelizze" (Our Lady of the Earthquake).
Our Lady is also celebrated during the novena from August 29 to September 6 culminating in the great patronal feast on Sept. 7 - 8 - 9 when the whole city dresses up for the feast, amid the colorful lights of the illuminations with geometric figures or soft floral compositions that draw the outlines of churches and buildings and the sparkle of the fireworks that stand out in the night sky and are reflected in the sea.
At the Basilica on Sept. 7 the life-size (134 cm) wooden statue of the Virgin, made by commission in 1840 by Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Verzella, is covered with the golds donated by the faithful and crowned, thus opening the long night vigil that ends the next day when Molfettese sailors knock on the Basilica's large door and later take delivery of the simulacrum to begin the characteristic festival at sea.
The three fishing boats adorned with flags and festoons and followed by a multifarious fleet of small boats ply the waters of the harbor and finally at sunset the statue is disembarked on the quay amid the high-pitched sound of the boats' sirens and the applause of the crowd.
The procession of the Madonna accompanied by authorities and the faithful finally proceeds to the Cathedral of Molfetta where the simulacrum remains in adoration of the public until the Sunday following Sept. 8 when in a long procession, carried on the shoulders, it will return to its rightful home, the Minor Pontifical Basilica of Our Lady of Martyrs ruled by the Franciscan Friars Minor.
To visit: the Pulo, the Cathedral, Ospedaletto dei Crociati, the Basilica Madonna dei Martiri, the historic center,
the Diocesan Museum, the Archaeological Museum, the Hall of the Templars, the Cathedral.
