Bisceglie - Chiesa di Sant'Adoeno

Like all places along the Adriatic coast, Bisceglie has Greek and Roman roots, but after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area was not really "developed". First small monasteries were founded, when the Lombards ruled the area before the Saracens took over for three decades in the 9th century. Around 1000 the Normans arrived in Southern Italy. A vassal of Robert Guiscard became Count of Trani in 1042. At that time the fortification of the place, that is Bisceglie now, started.

A local legend tells, that the Chiesa di Sant'Adoeno was erected by Norman soldiers, It was consecrated in 1074 and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary , Sant'Adoeno (aka "Audoeno di Rouen") and San Giovanni Evangelista. Sant'Adoeno is known in France as Saint Quen, bishop of Rouen in the 7th. So obviously the Normans worshipped a saint "from home" here. Still today dozens of towns and villages bear his name - in Northern France.