Albanian has been spoken in Barile for five centuries. The town was made by arbëreshë fleeing the Turks, arriving in waves: the first after the fall of Scutari in 1477, then the Coronei in 1534, then thirty families who left Melfi in 1597 after too much bad blood, then the Mainotti around 1675. The Byzantine rite lasted until the seventeenth century, when they were pushed to give it up.
Behind the cellars is the Sheshë, a hill of tuff riddled with caves dug by the first Albanians and used ever since to keep the wine, Aglianico del Vulture. In the square the fountain of the Steccato, of 1713, has three apotropaic heads: they were there to keep every malign influence away from the water. There are 2,905 residents.
Fontana Steccato · Parco Urbano delle Cantine · chiesa di San Rocco e San Anastasio and 1 more
21 places to stay · top rated: RESIDENCE OLD STORIES 9.6 · THE SWALLOWS' NEST - Il nido delle rondini 9.6
Next up: The Madonna di Costantinopoli and the gypsy who bought the nails, Tuesday 25 May
Nearest airport: Bari Palese, 94 km away
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📅 Every year, on the Tuesday after Pentecost
Barile celebrates the Madonna di Costantinopoli on the Tuesday after Pentecost; but it is Good Friday that brings on stage the gypsy, covered in ten kilos of gold, and the Moor.
Fontana Steccato Built in 1713: three apotropaic masks spout the water, the town's Madonna crowns the top. 
Parco Urbano delle Cantine 131 caves in volcanic tuff: here Pasolini filmed the Nativity in 1964 
chiesa di San Rocco e San Anastasio Built around 1640 by the confraternity of the dead; outside, a cross with four skulls 
chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie Greek rite only until 1603; the earthquake of 1851 levelled all but two pieces. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Barile, but an easy day trip away.
