Discover Bitritto: Roman Remains, Churches and Olive Oil Tradition

Bitritto combines Roman remains beneath the Castello Baronale with defensive towers, churches and a thousand-year-old olive-growing tradition. This creates a destination whose history is intertwined with oil and wine production as well as religious festivals.

Roman Villa and Olive Oil Tradition

Beneath today’s Castello Baronale of Bitritto are the exceptionally well-preserved remains of a Roman villa dating from the 1st–3rd centuries AD, with an underground Trappeto-Palmento. The villa includes presses, processing basins and containers for oil and wine. The Trappeto-Palmento comprises production rooms, wells and cisterns used to process olive oil and wine. Bitritto has a thousand-year-old olive-growing tradition rooted in ancient Roman olive presses. The experience includes a visit to an olive mill and a tasting of new olive oil with homemade bread, legume soup and products from the De Carlo company.

Defensive Architecture and Churches

Bitritto has at least five historic defensive towers, built between 1347 and 1367. The Casa-Torre on Piazza Leone originally served as a watchpost for defending the settlement. The Church of San Michele Arcangelo was built outside the settlement and later became Bitritto’s collegiate church, with an attached monastery. Bitritto’s Chiesa Matrice was built in the 16th and 17th centuries and dedicated to the Madonna di Costantinopoli. The Church of Madonna del Piano is an elaborately decorated example of late Baroque architecture from the first half of the 18th century.

Festivals and Religious Traditions

The patronal festival in honor of Maria SS. di Costantinopoli in Bitritto was established in 1656 and takes place every year on the first Tuesday in March. During the spring celebration on Easter Monday, the Church of Madonna del Piano is a destination for religious devotion in Bitritto.

Surroundings with Palaces, Museums and Nature

The surroundings of Bitritto include Palazzo Angarano-Maranta, Palazzo del I ramo della famiglia Capitaneo, the Museum of Science of the Heart and the Dipartimento di Zoologia museum. Also nearby are Spiaggia Pane e Pomodoro beach, the Arco Delle Meravigli natural arch, Parco Padre Pio and Giardino Santa Scolastica. This combination of palaces, museums, beach, natural arch, park and garden gives you a broad range of themes to choose from when planning your trip, without reducing Bitritto to its Roman and religious heritage.

When choosing a hotel in Bitritto, you can therefore first decide whether cultural history, religious festivals, olive oil or nearby attractions should be the focus of your days. Roman production remains, religious events, as well as the beach, park and garden offer different starting points for your plans. Especially for an individually planned trip to Italy, this allows you to decide in advance whether you mainly want to explore architectural history in greater depth, include a festival date in your itinerary or seek culinary impressions centered on olive oil.

More Destinations for Orientation

Sammichele Di Bari, San Paolo, Cassano Delle Murge, Putignano, Noci, Altamura, Monopoli and Casamassima.

For the higher-level travel overview: Bari.