Ruvo di Puglia

Ruvo di Puglia (Rìuve in ruvestine dialect) is a city in the Land of Bari, in Apulia, southern Italy, on the Murge plateau. It is one of the major cities of art in Apulia and one of the fundamental tourist stops in the region. It is part of the Alta Murgia national park, of which it houses an operational office.

Districts and areas
Orienting yourself in Ruvo di Puglia is very simple. Its structure is in concentric rings.

Countryside
In the Ruvestine countryside there are large crops of vineyards, olive groves and almond groves in the areas adjacent to the urban center of Ruvo. Moving away from it, the natural areas increase more and more, such as Scoparella, Cavallerizza and Polvino forests. Beyond Scoparella forest begins the territory of the Alta Murgia national park, made up of large hills without vegetation that makes it look like the Siberian tundras, except for the temperatures, which in summer reach 35° C (95° F). Winter in these territories it is raw, and snowfalls can easily occur which can block the passage. In addition to this, however, there are lots of woods and pine forests, farms and the so-called "Jazzi", places dedicated to grazing. Among these we remember the Jazzo del Demonio, inside the Scoparella forest, near a large millenary oak with the background of the aqueduct bridge, making this Jazzo particularly beautiful, calm, peaceful and wild, thus becoming a camping destination.

Hamlet
Calendano – It is 6 km away as the crow flies and is mainly made up of private villas with swimming pools, but there is also the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Calendano, an ancient sanctuary in the center of the hamlet, where there are also bars, tobacconists and restaurants. Furthermore, the wooden statue of the Madonna del Lunedì dell'Angelo is kept in the Sanctuary and carried in a procession on Easter Monday that closes the Holy Week of Ruvo di Puglia.

Understand
Ruvo di Puglia is in the Metropolitan city of Bari in the Apulia region and is the third largest municipality. It is a city of olive oil, an important wine producer and one of the major industrial and research centers of the region.

The city of Ruvo presents itself as an artistic and cultural city, full of food and wine and religious events, but also of excursions on Alta Murgia national park, among its large forest such as the Scoparella, the Cavallerizza and the Polvino, in addition to the large presence of farms. The ruvestine urban center is made up of the historic centre, with its squares, its alleys and its winding streets, with a few small squares that rise between one glimpse and another. The buildings are built with limestone, common in the Apulian areas, and volcanic stone for the flooring of the main arteries of the historic centre.

Prehistory, the arrival of the Greeks and the Roman age
Some artefacts of worked stone date the first settlements in the Ruvestine countryside to the Middle Palaeolithic while some remains of villages confirm the presence of man since the 6th millennium BC. However, during the Bronze Age the territory was inhabited by the Morgetes, a people Ausonic, then expelled by the Iapygians with the advent of the Iron Age. The Iapygians settled in the Land of Bari giving rise to the Peucetians lineage and Ruvo was founded as a hilltop village now located between the municipal pine forest and the church of St. Michael the Archangel. The countryside around Ruvo in the Peucetian age was very vast and also had a port, called Respa, near Molfetta. Between the 8th and 5th centuries BC, the Greeks peacefully colonized Ruvo which from that moment took the name of "Ρυψ". Around the 4th century BC the village experienced its moment of greatest splendor by conducting commercial exchanges with most of the Italic populations, including the Etruscans, minting its own currency and boasting a population and a territory never reached again (Ruvo's polis (City-State) of the Greek age included Molfetta, Terlizzi, Corato, Trani and Bisceglie). Ruvo established itself as a thriving polis of Magna Graecia and its wealth consisted in the trade of olive oil and wine and in the flourishing production of pottery. The Greek city of Ruvo ended up becoming protected by Athens, as shown by some coins, but also an ally of Taranto. The defeat of the Greek Taranto in the war against Rome marked the end of the Hellenistic age in Apulia, thus making Ruvo enter the orbit of Romanization with the name of Rubi. Later Ruvo played a fundamental role for the Roman Republic and for the Empire, first being assigned the Roman citizenship, then the title of municipium and finally becoming the station of the Via Traiana. In 44, according to legend, Ruvo saw the rise of its own diocese at the behest of St. Peter, who appointed St. Cletus as the first bishop, who in the future would become pope. However, in the imperial age the ruvestine territory underwent a decrease as Molfetta, Trani and Bisceglie rise, thus losing contact with the sea.

Medieval Ruvo
In the fifth century the flourishing Ruvo disappeared under the blows of the invasions of the Goths which reduced the city to a pile of rubble for the first time. Ruvo, refounded on the slopes of the original hill, was first conquered by the Lombards and then fell prey to the Saracens. It was in this period that the ruvestines decided to equip themselves with a wall with towers and four doors: Porta Noè (now via Veneto), Porta del Buccettolo (via Campanella), Porta del Castello (Matteotti Square) and Porta Nuova (corso Piave). In the 11th century the fortress of Ruvo entered the county of Conversano and suffered further violence due to internal struggles for the management of power, which conflicts led to the second destruction of the city. However, it was under Frederick II of Swabia that Ruvo finally recognized a cultural and economic growth, a period marked by the construction of the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral and in the territory between Ruvo and Canosa of Castel del Monte. However, the foundations of the cities of Corato and Andria also date back to this historical moment, whose territories further diminished the ruvestine territory. From 1266 Ruvo became a fief and entered, together with the whole of Apulia, among the dominions of the Angevins. Despite this, the period of peace and prosperity Ruvo fiefdom was enjoying faded again. In 1350 the city was razed to the ground and sacked by Ruggiero Sanseverino. The Ruvestines were thus forced to rebuild the inhabited centre, the walls and also decided to build the Torre del Pilota (Pilota Tower) 33 m high (108 ft). The Crown of Aragon dominion succeeded the Angevin dominion.The clashes for domination over the Kingdom of Naples between France and Spain resulted in the famous Battle of Ruvo, in which the Spaniards led by Consalvo of Cordova defeated the French troops of Jacques de La Palice stationed in Ruvo. During this battle the city was razed to the ground for the third time. The same fief also saw the thirteen French who clashed against as many Italians in the Challenge of Barletta starting from its wall.

The Carafa: Counts of Ruvo
In 1510 Oliviero Carafa bought the fief of Ruvo and the city experienced a negative historical period. Most of the historic Ruvestine patrician families became extinct, and only in the 17th century new noble families arose that knew a particular and flourishing economic condition. The walls were further strengthened, but despite the long period of peace, the population was suffocated by the oppression of the Carafa and by the tyrannical government of the same who transformed the Pilota Tower from a defensive tool to a prison for the opponents.

Between the end of the 16th and 17th centuries, or in the era of the counter-reformation, various associations and congregations arose that are still operating today, especially in the care of the rites of the Ruvestine Holy Week. However, in this dark period of Ruvo's history some illustrious men stood out, among which the most famous is undoubtedly the doctor Domenico Cotugno. In 1806, under the Napoleonic rule, feudalism was abolished, thus concluding the dominion of the Carafa which had lasted three centuries. Among the Carafa family of the Counts of Ruvo was the hero of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799, Ettore Carafa.

From the unification of Italy to the present
After the dominion of the Carafa, the liberal uprisings also touched Ruvo, but failed miserably as in the rest of the South. However, in the early 19th century, Giovanni Jatta was particularly distinguished. He was elected by the Ruvestines as the city's lawyer, and won the case against the Carafa family, obtaining lavish compensation. He was among the protagonists of those archaeological excavations that brought to light the numerous finds of Peucet, Greek and Roman period preserved in the Jatta museum. In the period prior to the unification of Italy, Ruvo was the seat of a Carbonara sale called "Perfetta Fedeltà" which included the patriot and lawyer Francesco Rubini who was responsible for organizing the Risorgimento uprisings also in Ruvo. In the post-unification period Ruvo, albeit slowly, knew the signs of progress also thanks to the ruvestine deputy and agronomist Antonio Jatta, who pointed out to the government the numerous problems of Apulia and the province of Bari. Fundamental milestones of progress were marked in 1905 from the arrival of electric lighting and in 1914 with the diffusion of public water. During the First World War 367 Ruvestines fell on the battlefronts. During the fascist twenty years, other works of public benefit were carried out, such as the reclamation of the quagmire and the creation of the sewer in 1938. Some Fascist manhole covers with the Fascist coat of arms alongside the coat of arms of the municipality of Ruvo di Puglia can still be seen. After the Second World War Ruvo distinguished itself in the cultural sphere, above all thanks to the works of the painter Domenico Cantatore, but also in the economic sphere with the flourishing vines and olive groves.

By car
From the north (Pescara and others): coming from the Highway Autostrada Adriatica A14, exit at the Molfetta tool booth, follow signs for Ruvo in the direction of Terlizzi.

From the south (Bari and others): coming from the Highway Autostrada Adriatica A14, exit at the Molfetta tool booth, follow signs for Ruvo in the direction of Terlizzi.

From the countryside: coming from the Strada Provinciale 231 (SP231) in direction to Ruvo. There are four exit directly to Ruvo city centre.

By bus
The Provincial Transport Company (STP) runs the Molfetta-Terlizzi-Ruvo and Trani-Ruvo sections. In addition, the Ferrotramviaria SpA company runs bus routes that retrace the railway route by road, from Barletta to Bari and vice versa. The Marino and Flixbus companies run bus connections from large Italian cities such as Naples, Rome or Milan directly with the city of Ruvo.

Squares
The historic centre is enclosed by large Corsos, in addition to the presence of squares such as Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, the largest and most fascinating, but also Piazza Dante Alighieri, with its centuries-old pine trees and fountains, Piazza Felice Cavallotti and Piazza Giovanni Bovio.

Corsi
The Corsi of the city of Ruvo surround the historical centre. They are large commercial streets, similar to large boulevard avenues, of a total number of seven, overlooked by important commercial and restaurant activities, allowing leisure and entertainment in the ruvestine nightlife. In particular, in the summer, the various the different bars and nightclubs organize themed evenings which enliven the lives of young ruvestines and elsewhere. The Corsi were built in the mid-1800s, following the demolition of the medieval walls in 1820. Important palaces of the nobility or families of the ruvestine upper class overlook them, such as Chieco Palace or Testini Palace. Unfortunately, none of the many noble palaces that overlook Corsi can be visited inside. On the other hand, they create a certain atmosphere which makes Ruvo's corsi more similar to Parisian Boulevards than to simple commercial streets of an Apulian city as it is. Furthermore, they are made up of large sidewalks, often even 7-8 m wide (22-26 ft), which overlook both sides of the Corsi, and are shaded in summer by the presence of large trees such as the limes of Corso Cavour, which create a unique and refreshing. The city also has two other Corsi such as Corso Piave and Corso Antonio Jatta. The first is the smallest, and looks more like a normal road than a Corso. It is characterized by the large number of commercial activities, and at the end of it overlooks the Ruvo Hospital, the Rest Home, the Baroque church of St. Archangel Michael and the Municipal Pinewood. The second however, is the continuation of Corso Cavour which continues for another half kilometre, and is called "il rettilineo (the straight line)" by the inhabitants of Ruvo. It is characterized by its large linden trees, which give continuity to Corso Cavour. On the other hand, it is not overlooked by large commercial and restaurateur activities such as those of Corso Cavour, making it more of an access road to the city. At the end, there is the long Viale Ugo Foscolo of the cemetery, 1 km (0.6 miles) long, characterized by large cypresses, in addition to the branches for Via Vecchia di Bisceglie and Via Molfetta.