Altamura

Legends and Traces of a Shared Past

Altamura is a town and comune situated on the Murge plateau within the Apulia region of southern Italy. Historical identity in Altamura was long shaped by a web of classical myths and scholarly exchanges concerning its true origins.

Through centuries of interpretations, various scholars and writers linked the settlement to ancient myths of Trojan fugitives and Greek foundations, attempting to name the ruins left behind after the community was reportedly looted by Saracens around the tenth century AD. During the Renaissance, translations of classical geography mistakenly identified Altamura with the ancient city of Petilia, an intellectual cross-pollination that persisted in maps before being dismissed by scholars such as Leandro Alberti.

Cultural exchange and foreign influence left physical markers across the urban landscape following the refounding of the city by Emperor Frederick II in 1232. The architecture of the Altamura Cathedral reflects a synthesis of regional Apulian styles and strong Gothic influences. Later, intellectual currents from abroad intersected with local governance during the Altamuran Revolution of 1799, when the population briefly embraced ideals spread by the French Revolution and joined the Parthenopean Republic.

Altamura is a town and comune located in the Apulia region of southern Italy. Situated on the Murge plateau within the Metropolitan City of Bari at an elevation of 467 meters, the municipality spans a population of 70,539 residents.

Megalithic echoes and foundational legends

Densely inhabited during the Bronze Age around the La Croce settlement and necropolis, the area preserves traces of massive megalithic walls erected between the sixth and third centuries BC. Historical identity layers shifted across centuries through various accounts and medieval traditions. An ancient thirteenth-century legend once linked the settlement to Altilia, interpreted as the other Troy founded by a fugitive friend of Aeneas named Antellus, or alternatively by Queen Althea of the Myrmidons. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, scholars frequently misidentified the town as the ancient city of Petilia.

Resurgence and revolutionary ideals

Following a period of desertion after being looted by Saracens around the tenth century AD, emperor Frederick II refounded the community in 1232 and ordered the construction of the Altamura Cathedral. Feudal administration followed under various noble lines, including the Orsini del Balzo and the Farnese, with Charles VII of Naples establishing a university in the city by 1748. Cultural exchange and political transformation marked the Altamuran Revolution in 1799, when the town became self-governed from February 8 to May 9, embracing French Revolution ideals and joining the Parthenopean Republic before Sanfedisti forces restored the rule of the Kingdom of Naples.