Monopoli - Concattedrale della Madonna della Madia

Monopoli, located about 50kms south of Bari, was founded by Greek settlers. During the Roman Empire, it was connected to the Via Traiana. When the neighbouring Gnathia (Egnatia) was destroyed by the troops of the Ostrogoth king Totila in 545, its inhabitants fled to Monopoli, which from then on lived up to its meaning as the “only city” (literal translation of the city's name).

In the following centuries, the area was ruled by Normans, Byzantines, Staufers, Venetians, Spaniards, Habsburgs and Bourbons. In 1860 Monopoli, like the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

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Archaeological excavations started in 1986 revealed here an area of ​​ ancient and complex temporal stratifications that, starting from about 4500 BC, reach up to the present day.

The Romanesque cathedral of Monopoli was built by demolishing a previous church of the early Christian age, built around 250 AD on the ruins of a Roman temple. The erection started with the support of Norman duke Robert de Hauteville in the 12th century but the works were soon interrupted due to the lack of material for the construction of the roof. According to tradition, in December 1117 a raft landed in the port of the city carrying the icon of the Madonna della Madia. The raft beams were used to erect the roof, but it took up to 1442 to complete the church. It had three belltowers of which two got damaged during a siege in 1528. The remaining tower collapsed in 1686, killing forty people.

In the early 18th century, the meanwhile dilapidated Romanesque basilica got demolished to replace it by a large, spacious one in Baroque style. Work began in 1742 and was completed in 1772.