Bari, a city of Italy, capital of an Italian province, is situated on a peninsula in the Adriatic, on the coast railway, 277 miles SE. of Ancona, and 122 NW. of Otranto. The streets of the old town only are confined and gloomy. Bari is the see of an archbishop, and has manufactures of cotton, silk, linen, and soap. Its quay and roadstead are good, and a brisk export trade is carried on. The massive old castle is of Norman origin. The old church, San Nicola, a noble specimen of the Lombard style of architecture, founded in 1087, contains some interesting monuments and relics. The still older cathedral of San Sabino has been ruined by the barbarous improvements it was subjected to in the last century. It contains pictures by Paul Veronese and Tintoretto.
Pop. (1862) 33,177; (1881) 58,266. Bari, the Barium of the Romans, was an important place to the Greeks as early as the 3d century B.C. It was made a municipium by Nero, was under the Saracens for some years in the 9th century, and was taken from the Greeks after a three years' siege by the Norman, Robert Guiscard, in 1071. Later it fell to the Pope, but revolted in 1228 to join the cause of the emperor, Frederick II. In 1558 it became part of the kingdom of Naples.—The province of Bari is badly watered, but wonderfully fertile, and produces fruit, wine, oil, and nuts. Its salt and nitre works are important. Area, 2280 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 678,148. Pop. estimated in 1892: town, 74,000; province, 773,080.