Polignano a Mare

Domenico Matarrese

POLIGNANO A MARE

Photographs by Nicola Amato

Mario Adda Editore Acknowledgments: Giovanni Abbatepaolo don Vito Benedetti Franco Bianco Rocco Sanseverino Vito Pellegrini Dorino Contento (www.dorinogb.it) Augusto and Loretta Tavassi La Greca Bianca Tavassi La Greca Valentini Cycle routes: Associazione Ciclammino (Conversano) Map of the historical district: Etabeta Comunicazione (Conversano) Map of the sea grottoes of Polignano a Mare: Riccardo Di Leva

Translated by: Christina Jenkner

Layout: Vincenzo Valerio

Print: Grafica 080 5

Contents

7 The landscape 19 The Polignano carrot

21 Bits of history 22 From the origins to the Norman period 24 The coat of arms 26 From the Swabians to the late 19th century 31 From the unification of Italy to the present day 38 The “other” Polignano

39 Itineraries 40 The old harbour 45 The historic district (Gianni Talenti) 61 The sacred places 73 The feast of the Martyr Saints Cosma, Damiano and Espedito 79 The settlement of San Vito 92 The Patron Saint 93 The festivities of the Patron Saint 96 The sea grottoes 100 Grotta Palazzese 104 Cala Ponte Marina 106 Archaeological excavation areas 112 Santa Barbara 114 The municipal district of Polignano 117 The legend of the Christ 6

123 Flavours (Innocente Galluzzi) 131 The ice cream city

133 Famous people 134 Domenico Modugno 136 The places of Domenico Modugno 138 Pino Pascali 139 The Fondazione Pino Pascali Museum of Contemporary Art

141 Events

145 The surroundings

149 Bibliography 150 Webliography 151 Index of places The landscape 8 Polignano a Mare

Rising at the top of steep lana Grotte, reaching an al- In terms of morphology the cliffs high above the sea, titude of about 290 m a.s.l. coast appears extremely jag- Polignano a Mare, “gem” of In relation to the area’s ge- ged. Steep, rocky shores the Adriatic, is situated 30 ology, the formations crop- alternate with low ones, km south of Puglia’s main ping out date from the Up- reaching a maximum height city, Bari. per Cretacean and have ma- of about 15 m to the north of The municipal district has rine origins (Bari limestone, the town, and 22-23 m near an approximately triangular Altamura limestone, and the historic district. This shape and stretches across Mola limestone); they make kind of morphology has an area of 62.50 square up the substrate of the en- been determined by tectonic kilometres. Its 16 km long tire Murge region. On them processes, but is also the re- coast stretch runs in north- rest the Plio-Pleistocene sult of the combined action west-southeast direction. units (Gravina calcarenite of sea and weather as well as The coastal plain gradu- and Murge tufa with great karst phenomena. ally rises landwards up to amounts of fossil rests) and What makes this shoreline reaching an elevation of 80 the terraced marine and con- landscape so peculiar are the m a.s.l. and more. In this di- tinental units from the Mid- high cliffs and caves result- rection the municipal district dle-Upper Pleistocene and ing from the erosion of the projects into that of Castel- the Holocene. calcareous and calcarenite The landscape 9

outcrops. The cliffs form a waters, which are mostly er, like Pozzovivo, Monti- vertical rock face with a flat missing due to the features cello, Cala Sala or Portal- rocky platform at the top of the karst soil. As happens ga, Cala Messa, Sant’Oron- that displays a slight slope throughout the Apulian plat- zo or Monachile, Cala Pau- in direction of the sea. They form, water runs mostly un- ra, Lapilli, Torre Ciaffata, run along most of Poligna- derground through the fis- Cala San Giovanni, the La- no’s coastline, particularly sures and hollows of the mione, and Pozzo Cavalieri. between Chiar di luna and limestone. The lame end at picturesque Torre Incina, at the border The lame run mostly orthog- little sand or pebble beach- with the municipal district onally to the coast and have es, once the seat of a thriv- of Monopoli. a flat bottom, with vertical ing fishing business, now of- Here and there, the rocky slopes and a drainage divide fering a shelter to the colour- platform is interrupted by that is hard to define. Based ful gozzi, as the fishing boats the outlet of the so-called on their size, there are larg- are called, but serving above lame, namely shallow lit- er lame, such as Cala Inci- all as landing places for tle streambeds that are usu- na, Bagiolaro, Carbonel- tourist boats and as popular ally dry and fill only after li, Lamafico, Santa Can- lidos during the summer. heavy rain. They are the on- dida, Baldassarre, Macchi- ly visible trace of surface alunga. Others are small- The cliffs looking south 10 Polignano a Mare

Underground, the limestone of Polignano a Mare is giv- al regions with mild and of the Apulian platform en by the presence of caves. rainy winters and hot and holds a freshwater aquifer There are about seventy of dry summers. The aver- resting above saltwater in- them at an active evolution age annual temperature is truding from the sea. Along stage. Many of them take up 15/17°C, with the lowest in the coast, the aquifer lies at different levels on the cliff January (7°C) and the high- sea level and when it flows walls and are often the result est in August (25°/26°C) under pressure, it is often as- of karst passages shaped by and wide average tempera- sociated with freshwater or the erosion of the sea. ture ranges, both in diurnal brackish water springs in In terms of climate the ar- and yearly terms (19/20°C). the sea. ea enjoys the typical weath- Rainfall, which is less in- The peculiarity of the coast er of Mediterranean coast- tense in summer (50/75 The landscape 11 mm), is more frequent in au- a.s.l. the vegetation main- marshland grasses (reed and tumn and winter (500/700 ly includes evergreen trees, semi-aquatic plants). Above mm), with possible thunder- such as oaks (holm oak and the altitude of 200 metres storms and hailstorms. The downy oak), olive trees and we find little mixed woods forming of frost is frequent, typical species of the Medi- or downy oak groves, in- whereas snowfall is quite ra- terranean macchia, or scrub, stead. Intensive farming has re and mostly occurring in such as evergreen bush- significantly reduced the ar- the months of January and es and shrubs growing in ea covered with woods, and February. dense groups and often Associated with these cli- covered with thorns. Near mate conditions, along the coast, where there is The historic district rising the coast and up to 200 m more humidity, we can find from the steep cliffs 12 Polignano a Mare The landscape 13