Toritto

The coat of arms of Toritto is a document in three layers. It was created in 1818, when the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies asked every comune to provide itself with civic arms: here, following the legend about the origin of the name, they put a silver bull on a blue field standing on green ground — even though the likeliest etymology has nothing to do with the animal and points rather to the Latin torus, height, or to tauretum, hill. In 1935 the historic arms were recognised with the addition of the chief of the Lictor, which was then a compulsory ornament. And since 1957, that chief removed, a silver band with three blue six-pointed stars has taken its place. Three different regimes left a mark on the same shield, and the bull survived them all.

The oldest papers tell another story. On 15 May 1092 duke Roger Borsa and duchess Adela gave to the Benedictines of Aversa the church of Sancta Maria de Turitto «cum hominibus, eorum possessionibus et pertinentiis»: that is, with its men, their goods and their appurtenances — the people were part of the package. Another church, that of the Madonna della Stella, is older than 1092, was bought in 1560 by the duke of Toritto and rebuilt in 1619, and is to this day the private property of the heirs of the ducal family. On the old square stands the clock tower, which bears the date 1564 carved in relief. The rest is Murgia: the town lies inside the national park of the Alta Murgia, has the karst chasm of the Pulicchio and lives on olives and above all on almonds.