Five thousand years before the cathedrals, people were already building big here: the dolmen of the Chianca, among the best preserved megaliths in Europe, stands in olive country ten minutes from the harbour, and it is not alone — there are those of Albarosa and Frisari too. But the memory of the place runs older still: in the cave of Santa Croce a Neanderthal femur came to light, and with it the bones of the cave lion, the bear, the rhinoceros and the hyena.
The name may come from the Palestine oak, once abundant here; or from the Latin vigiliae, the sentries guarding the coast against pirates. Bisceglie is a matter-of-fact seaside town, with seven and a half kilometres of shore between Trani and Molfetta, its old quarter gathered around the Romanesque co-cathedral with Norman towers keeping watch; inland the territory climbs to the first slopes of the Murge, cut by the ravines called lame. The marina and the nightlife on its quays have given it a second youth. The farewell is sweet by definition: the sospiro of Bisceglie, a little dome of sponge and custard, has a brotherhood that defends its recipe.
Castello di Bisceglie · Chiesa di Sant'Adoeno · Dolmen della Chianca and 3 more
Burrata di Andria
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Next up: Saints Maurus, Sergius and Pantaleon, the converted knights who became patrons of Bisceglie, Sunday 1 August
Nearest airport: Bari Palese, 24 km away
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📅 Every year, on the first Sunday of August
Bisceglie celebrates Saints Maurus, Sergius and Pantaleon on the first Sunday of August; according to tradition, Sergius and Pantaleon were two knights who arrived to arrest Bishop Maurus, who instead converted them to Christianity before their martyrdom.
Castello di Bisceglie Norman castle of Bisceglie with a maestra tower about twenty-four metres high and an enclosed little church. Chiesa di Sant'Adoeno Romanesque church in Bisceglie dedicated to the Normans' saint, truncated-gable facade, eleventh-century font. Dolmen della Chianca Imposing Bronze Age dolmen at Bisceglie, found in 1909, with six skeletons and its own poetry festival. Dolmen Frisari Bronze Age gallery dolmen at Bisceglie, found in 1909 and judged the most imposing in Apulia. Teatro Mediterraneo Open-air Greek-style theatre on the sea at Bisceglie, built in 1995 on the cliffs, looking towards Trani cathe 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 Bisceglie, but an easy day trip away.
