Saint Spyridon church

The church of Saint Spyridon, dedicated to the island patron saint, lies in the heart of Corfu old town and is easily recognizable in the city skyline by its high bell tower, terminating in a small red dome, inspired by San Giorgio Church in Venice.

It was built in 1590, once the old holy building had been demolished to enlarge the town walls.

The exterior is extremely plain: a simple façade terminating in a straight line, only enlivened by the window opening and a portal.

Inside it features a single-nave basilica plan and an elaborate paneled ceiling with gold frames enclosing paintings that portray scenes from the Saint’s life.

On the church sides two different entrances open up to allow for the influx of pilgrims who come in large numbers to visit St. Spyridon’s relics on several liturgical occasions during the year.

According to hagiographic legend, he was a Cypriot shepherd who lived in the 4^th century, dedicated his life to the Church and performed many miracles.

His remains, which are said to smell like basil, were brought to Constantinople when Cyprus was invaded by the Saracens and then in 1453 to Corfu, where they are still kept, in a rich silver casket that is taken in procession several times a year: on the patron saint’s festival in December, during the Holy Week, and in August when people celebrate Corfu rescue from a Turkish attack, the faithful ascribe to Saint Spyridon’s intercession. There are various ex-votos inside the church, mainly embossed silver lamps.

Corfu, old town, bell tower of Saint Spyridon Church (By Jean-Luc 2005 – Own workOriginal text: selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64277686)

Corfu, Saint Spyridon Church, interior, a detail of the ceiling. (By Piotrus – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12243367)

Pontikonisi island and Vlacherna monastery

Kanòni Peninsula is located south of Corfu, within Garitsa natural bay, and offers one of the most enchanting views in the island: that of Vlacherna Monastery, which seems to rise in the middle of the sea. It is connected to the mainland through a narrow jetty, used as a dock for fishing boats. From this small dock it is possible to get to Pontikonisi islet, with its Byzantine chapel dedicated to Christ Pantokrator. Various literary and artistic echoes have been linked to this place. Many people have identified it with the subject of Böcklin’s painting, Isle of the Dead, whereas others with the island where Shakespeare set The Tempest; further, according to legend, it may be the Phaeacians’ ship Neptune turned into stone as an act of revenge.

Achilleion Palace

Corfu, Achilleion (Author: Piotrus – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12187305)

Close to Benítses, Achilleion Palace is located 12 km far from Corfu city center, in the picturesque village of Gastoúri.

The summer residence of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, is a neoclassical-and Pompeian-style palace, designed by the Neapolitan architect Raffaele Caritto in 1890. The building, in which different styles coexist, is characterized by a spectacular and very elaborate main staircase and, externally, by panoramic terraces and lush gardens.

Turned into a museum, today it hosts various works inspired by Greek mythology in line with the style that is typical of the end of the nineteenth century; it attracts many tourists, not only for the appeal Sisi still holds for present generations, but especially for the enchanting view enjoyable from its various panoramic spots.

Corfu, Achilleion, the exterior

Author: Thomas Schoch — own work at http://www.retas.de/thomas/travel/corfu2006/index.html, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=843512

Visits are allowed every day

ADDRESS: Achilleio 490 84, Gastoúri, Greece

CONTACTS: +30 2661 056210

The new Fortress

Corfu, New Fortress (foto partner)

The imposing bulk of the “Neo Frourio”, the New Venetian Fortress, rises on the left side of Corfu port, at the top of the gentle hill that marks the border of the old town. This defensive structure, surrounded with strong walls, is actually slightly more recent than the Old Fortress, located on the opposite side of the city.

The New Fortress was erected under the direction of the architect Francesco Vitelli, between 1576 and 1645, when the island was an important garrison under Venetian rule to stem the Turkish advance. Tunnels and galleries were excavated inside to connect it with to the Old Fortress and other parts of the town. Mostly destroyed during the Second World War, it has been recently restored and today is home to art exhibitions and cultural events. From its ramparts you can enjoy a wonderful view of Corfu.

(Free visits are allowed every day from 9.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.)

The old Venetian Fortress

Corfu, Old Venetian Fortress (foto partner)

The town of Corfu was once surrounded with massive walls, since it was an important Venetian bulwark against Saracen raids.

The older fortress close to the sea rises on the natural islet at the east end of Corfu. It is reachable through the bridge connecting the promontory to the town, after following the Spianada, one of the most beautiful streets in the old town. The moat is now used as a dock for fishing boats.

The oldest part of the fortress dates back to Byzantine times, but the Venetians reinforced the ramparts and gave it its current appearance. The English were responsible for the construction of further defensive structures and of the small neo-Doric chapel dedicated to Saint George in 1840. Today it is possible to see only some parts of the imposing building, but the view makes it worth visiting.

The former Palazzo Motta

Until about forty years ago in Bari, the twelve-story building located at the corner of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Corso Cavour was known to everyone as “the Motta skyscraper”. At the top of it there was the big – and a little garish – neon sign of the famous Milan candy brand, which had started a large bar and a restaurant on the building ground floor and first floor, real reference points for Bari citizens.

The “skyscraper” was built in the late Fifties on the ruins of a two-story building that hosted a historic local coffee brand. Although described as the symbol of the “banditesche imprese di speculazione edilizia” that spoilt the Murat district in Bari, it had become an urban point of reference (B. Zevi, Cronache di architettura).

When the Motta sign was removed and the first two floors of the building, after having been abandoned for decades, were taken over by a well-known American fast food restaurant multinational, a lot of people regretted the garish neon light that used to light up the Murat district nights with its cold red light.

The Basilica of Saint Nicholas

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola (author: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61405024)

The Basilica di San Nicola, commissioned by the Benedictine abbot Elias in 1089, was consecrated in 1197. The cultured abbot wanted to erect a building that combined various functions and meanings. It had to be a pilgrimage church, the main church of Bari people and a landmark for those who came from the sea and immediately faced the shape of its soaring towers.

Within the urban fabric, after walking alongside the castle and the cathedral, following today’s Via delle Crociate, and crossing the Arco angioino (the Angevin arch), we get to Piazza di San Nicola.

The basilica, the manifestation of Apulian Romanesque architecture par excellence, stands out in its austere and white tripartite façade, enlivened only by small blind arches in succession until the main portal tympanum and, on the upper register, by the light and dark effect of single-lancet and mullioned windows.

The solid volumes of the building can be clearly perceived thanks to the deep arches running along the side perimeter of the building.

The upper register is lightened on both sides by the elegant succession of six-light windows, which, as stone embroideries, let the light create interesting sculptural effects.

It is a totally homogeneous structure, similar to a fortress, which recalls the big Romanesque cathedrals in the North as for the façade flanked by two imposing towers, but encloses the domes and vaults volumes in rectilinear structures, in line with the Middle East construction techniques and as a tribute to a long Apulian tradition. In order to allow for the flow of pilgrims, who visited in large numbers Saint Nicholas’ relics, along the basilica perimeter there are five decorated portals with sculptures able to combine the beauty of shapes and the rich educational content. In the basilica sculptural decorations, all energy of the Apulian Romanesque style emerges: worlds inhabited by monstra, obtained directly from the Northern bestiaries, coexist with precise classical echoes enriched with clearly Islamic motifs, which are taken from cloth and valuable objects that reached Apulian coasts together with pilgrims and merchants.

In particular, the so-called portal of the lions is worth noting: it opens on the left side of the basilica, just under the first deep side arch. Along the archivolt, the epic of the Normans – the new Lords of Bari – is told through sculpture. With an extraordinarily successful ductus in terms of narration and propaganda, the elegant patterns of the Bayeux Tapestry seem to acquire new life and shapes in these sculptures, arrived in town to tell the stories of the Lords from the North to the new southern subjects.

Bayeux Tapestry, 11^th century, today at the Centre Guillaume-le-Conquérant in Bayeux: a detail

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, portal of the lions, 12^th century, a detail

On the contrary, a clearly more Mediterranean style connotes the sculptures of the two column-bearing oxen that ornate the prothyrum of the basilica main portal, made by an anonymous sculptor able to combine local classical tradition motifs with a fully Romance and European style.

For ages the elderly inhabitants of the old town have been telling a legend to the travelers stopping in front of the church. When the Myra Saint’s body came to town:

i cittadini non erano d’accordo sul luogo dove riporlo. Perciò fu stabilito di prendere dei buoi dalla campagna e di deporre le reliquie in una chiesa da costruirsi lì dove gli animali avessero trasportato il carro. Allora i buoi trassero il carro sul quale era stato posato il santo corpo dalla riva del mare. E la chiesa di San Nicola fu costruita lì, nel mare, donde l’acqua penetra talvolta nella cripta. (A. Adorno, Itinéraire d’Anselme Adorno en Terre Sainte)

Actually the basilica location, despite the legend, is not fortuitous but meets precise symbolic and political needs. The new palatine church had to rise where the Katepano Palace was located, in order to indicate that the patron Saint and the Norman Lords who had supported the church construction were about to take the place and role once occupied by the Byzantines; furthermore, the location close to the sea had to highlight the close relationship of the town with the Adriatic Sea. Therefore, the basilica apse area, facing the sea, is like a second façade, with a very large window decorated with carved animals. They are elephants and sphynxes, which, in addition to their symbolic meanings, refer to the East reached and left by pilgrims and merchants boarding in Bari under Saint Nicholas’ protection.

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, sphinx carved in the apse window, a detail.

The church interior has a Latin cross plan with reduced transept wings and is divided into three naves by very big Oriental columns – decorated with carved capitals – that alternate with pillars. The transverse arches were built after the first construction stage instead.

In the chancel area, the travelers may admire the so-called Abbot Elias’ cathedra. The throne, intended for the abbot, is entirely carved out of marble by an artist able to combine the Byzantine elegance in the decorative elements with Romanesque expressionism connoting the telamons that support the throne, whose faces show the effort to bear the load and the burden of sin.

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, interior, Abbot Elias’ cathedra

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, interior, Abbot Elias’ cathedra, a detail

In this solemn Romanesque setting, the elegant art de cour, imported from Île-de-France by the Angevins, who succeeded to the Normans and the Swabians as leaders of the town, and the oriental purely Byzantine splendor of the crypt, full of sumptuous ornaments and icons, dialogue in an interesting contrast (M. S. Calò Mariani, L’immagine ed il culto di san Nicola a Bari e in Puglia).

The crypt may be accessed through a staircase in the aisle that leads the faithful to a spiritual dimension, thanks to the abundance of icons, lamps, precious metal ornaments, fabrics and embroideries, which contribute to make the view of Saint Nicholas’ relics, here kept, extremely evocative.

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, crypt. (GNU Free Documentation License)

Bari, Basilica di San Nicola, crypt, the column in the grating.

The crypt is not only the site of the sacred, but also a place of narration and legend, where everything contributes to lead the faithful to meditation and the traveler to listening, as the ancient column surrounded by a grating in a corner. Various legends have been passed down about this object over the centuries and have contributed to increase Bari people’s and pilgrims’ devotion to Saint Nicholas. It is said that, after the Council of Nicaea, Nicholas went to Rome to pay tribute to Pope Sylvester. There, in front of a loose woman’s house about to be demolished, he saw a nice column and drove it into the Tiber, through which it miraculously reached Myra port. Back from Rome, he put it in the cathedral of his town. As it had miraculously reached the Anatolian city, it is said to be floating again in Bari’s waters, when the saint’s relics came to town. However, nobody was able to get it. The night before Saint Nicholas’ relics were placed in the new church that was consecrated to him, the inhabitants of Bari heard the bells ringing, rushed to the basilica and saw a holy bishop complete the work, placing a pink column with the help of two angels (See A. Beatillo, Historia delle vita, miracoli, traslatione, e gloria dell’Illustrissimo confessore di Christo s.Nicolò il Magno, arcivescovo di Mira, patrone, e protettore della città di Bari).

Since then, that column, which is said to have traveled from the East to the West, exactly as Saint Nicholas’ cult, has become an object of devotion on the part of local people, pilgrims and especially marriageable women.

A lot of artworks coming from the Basilica are now kept in the Museo Nicolaiano in the old town, located at 3 Strada Vanese not far from the church.

The cathedral of Bari

Bari, Cathedral of San Sabino (Author: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61448663)

The Cathedral of Bari, dedicated to Saint Sabinus and the Virgin Hodegetria, that is “she who points the way”, seems to hardly emerge from the noisy alleys of the old town, almost hidden in its heart and by the more famous and venerated Basilica di San Nicola. It is the bell tower – the only one that stands out among the low roofs of the village and has remained a distinctive point of reference in the urban skyline for centuries – that makes the church imposing.

Internally and on the tripartite white façade it is possible to read its history, which began in ancient times in the succorpo^[1], adorned with beautiful Early Christian mosaics, and unfolds over the centuries until the Baroque additions, visible in the crypt and the statues with their emphasized theatricality, that enrich the main portal.

The building took on its current appearance between 1170 and 1178, when it was completely rebuilt, after having been razed to the ground by William I, called the Wicked, following the uprising of Bari people against the new Norman lords.

The façade is divided into three sections by pilaster strips, thus externally reflecting the inner division of the naves. The tops of the slopes have hanging arches that lie on shelves carved with snakes and animals, directly taken from the rich and creative Medieval bestiary.

A large rose window, decorated with statues of monsters, dragons, snakes and grotesque figures, dominates the upper register in line with the main portal. The apse area is not externally visible thanks to a rear façade that has a wonderful large window, considered as one the masterpieces of 12^th-century Romanesque sculpture. This wide scalloped opening, framed by a baldachin supported by hanging columns, is abundantly carved with eastern plant and animal motifs, including in particular a mysterious harpy.

Bari, Cathedral, rear façade, apse window.

Bari, Cathedral, rear façade, a detail of the apse window

The creative sculptural external Romanesque decoration is in contrast with the austere and mystical inner atmosphere, where the silence of the deep naves is enlivened only by the imposing effect created by the arcades, in counterpoint to the elegant three-lancet windows of the upper matronea.

Bari, Cathedral of San Sabino, interior. (Author: Porcullus Marek Postawka – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3526917)

The oldest core of the church is located five meters below the Cathedral level and dates back to the 6^th century. It is an Early Christian basilica that has maintained its ancient charm nearly intact. The area, formerly divided into three naves, now keeps the foundations of the original columns and a mosaic pavement ornate with geometric motifs and plant and animal elements. It is still possible to read an inscription that mentions a man named Timothy who paid for the floor mosaic decoration to honor a vow.

The crypt hosts the icon of the Virgin Hodegetria, known also as Madonna of Constantinople, an object of deep devotion. Tradition has it that the board came to Bari from Constantinople in the 8^th century, when during iconoclasm the Eastern Roman Emperor had ordered to destroy all the icons. Actually, it is a 16^th-century board that reproduces the Byzantine iconographic type of the Virgin enthroned who points to the Child thus showing the way to heaven, that is Christ.

Over the 18th century, the board was changed, and according to the style and aesthetics of that period, it was protected and covered with a sumptuous silver riza.

Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria

(Author: Sailko – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58901057)

1. T. N.: The vast hypogeum church underneath the Cathedral. ↑

The castello svevo

THE CASTELLO SVEVO (NORMAN-SWABIAN CASTLE)

The Castello Svevo of Bari, with its imposing and austere bulk, rises on the extreme edge of the old town, where once acted as the pivot of the ancient city walls.

Bari, Castello Svevo (author: Carlo Dani – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77189036)

The castle of Bari contains at least two more castles, as in a Chinese box game. In fact, archaeological evidence has shown the presence of Roman defensive structures, on whose remains a Byzantine Kastron and other dwellings were built. On this site, Roger II of Sicily ordered Saracen workers to erect the castle in 1130. The inhabitants of Bari have never loved this place, such a clear symbol of royal power and, in fact, it has been demolished by the population over the centuries several times. When the Swabians arrived and in line with the encastellation policy promoted by Frederick II in the first half of the 13^th century, the Norman fortification was resumed, having being heavily damaged during the previous century popular uprisings. The imposing quadrilateral, with its trapezoidal plan, equipped with ashlared angular towers, was refined by single-lancet and mullioned windows and a wonderful Gothic and Frederick II’s style portal, carved with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, mythological motifs and clearly heraldic symbols inspired by imperial iconography. On the keystone, an eagle stands out and catches a small lion in its talons, a recurrent symbol in Frederick’s II architecture.

Also the vestibule, which can be accessed passing through the portal, dates back to the same age and aesthetic style. This area is covered with cross vaults, supported by columns and pilasters with finely sculpted capitals: a stone world, in which Gothic and Frederick II’s naturalism coexists with Islamic echoes. It is known that among the workers employed by the emperor there were many Arab artists, artisans and stonemasons. Just in the castle of Bari, a man called Ismael, who left his signature on one of the capitals, worked with the stonemasons Finarro di Canosa and Mele da Stignano, documenting the cultural melting pot promoted by the king.

The Angevins succeeded to the Swabians and decided to restore the northern part of the castle and the official rooms; nevertheless, the new lords have never stayed in this place, which was abandoned until the arrival of Isabella Sforza and her daughter Bona in 1524. They were the real ladies of the castle and made it a luxury Renaissance dwelling, surrounded by new city walls.

Inside the castle, arcades, stairs, state rooms, and frescoes embellished the austere fortress. After Bona Sforza’s death, the castle of Bari has no longer experienced glory times, but fell into ruin.

The Castello Svevo is not only a building of great historical and architectural value, but within its old walls there is the echo of the stories related to a legendary meeting between Saint Francis and Frederick II. The episode that tells how Emperor Frederick II subjected the poor man of Assisi to the lust of the flesh just in the rooms of the castle of Bari is not supported by any evidence.

The church of Vallisa

Bari Vecchia, Church of Vallisa, (author: Gigi Scorcia is licensed under CC BY 2.0 )

<p style=”font-size: 0.9rem;font-style: italic;”><a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/7994827@N03/2847030066″>”in giro di domenica con 38°C all’ombra”</a><span>by <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/7994827@N03″>Gigi Scorcia</a></span> is licensed under <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html” style=”margin-right: 5px;”>CC BY 2.0</a><a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=html” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer” style=”display: inline-block;white-space: none;opacity: .7;margin-top: 2px;margin-left: 3px;height: 22px !important;”><img style=”height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;” src=”https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc_icon.svg” /><img style=”height: inherit;margin-right: 3px;display: inline-block;” src=”https://search.creativecommons.org/static/img/cc-by_icon.svg” /></a></p>

The church of Vallisa is a small Romanesque basilica, commissioned by the Ravello and Amalfi merchant communities that were in town in the Middle Ages. The name “Vallisa” is derived from the dialect word Raveddise, used by Bari inhabitants to indicate the Ravello merchants. The three semicircular apses that characterize the rear of the church overlook Piazza Ferrarese.

The building, dating back to the 11^th century, has its entrance in Strada Vallisa, one of the small and typical alleys that cross Bari Vecchia old town. The façade is preceded by a deep three-arched porch. The interior has a simple basilica plan with three naves terminating in as many apses. This place, so different from the past, has maintained its austere and mystical charm. Today it is a deconsecrated church, used as a diocesan auditorium where various music shows take place.