CASTELLO
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Castle erected by the Normans, now home to the Pinacoteca and the Municipal Museum.
On the edge of the historic center, behind the cathedral, the castle of Barletta is a monumental fortress with a square plan reinforced at the corners by four bastions in spearhead and surrounded by a ditch 10 m deep. Erected in 1090 by the Normans, the building later came under the ownership of the Swabians and it was from here that Emperor Frederick II launched the sixth crusade in 1228. Then Charles of Anjou carried out important works from 1269 to 1291, of which the ditch. Charles V added the final touch in the 16th century with the addition of the bastions. The castle now houses the collections of the municipal museum.
On the first floor, the lapidary collection includes a bust of Frederick II, the only existing representation of the emperor made during his lifetime. It also contains tombstones, stone coats of arms of the ancient local nobility and the Sarcophagus of the Apostles (3rd-4th century), the oldest evidence of the Christian presence in Barletta.
On the second floor there is a small section dedicated to the Risorgimento and a picture gallery with some works of the Neapolitan school (Francesco De Mura, Francesco Solimena) and paintings by Italian and local artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the last rooms, the Cafiero collection, donated to the city in 1936, is on display. It includes furniture, weapons, silverware, ceramics and silverware.
Don't miss the view of the sea and the bell tower of the cathedral from the top of the bastions.
