Bitetto ( Barese: ; la, Vitetum, or ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Metropolitan City of Bari The Metropolitan City of Bari ( it, Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a Metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari a ...

, Apulia,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Main Sights

The main attraction of Bitetto is the cathedral, dedicated to

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, one of the main examples of Apulian

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

, built in 1335. It has a sober façade divided by false columns with a big rose window. Of the three portals, the central one has a rich series of sculptures: two stone lions supporting columns with carved capitals showing vegetable motifs; these in turn support is a lunette with basreliefs of Christ and the twelve apostles. The frame has instead scenes from the New Testament. The interior was plastered in the 18th century, but was restored to the original Romanesque style in 1959. It has a nave and two aisles; the transept has three apses. The diocese of which the building was the cathedral was founded at some date between a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

Pope John XIX Pope John XIX ( la, Ioannes XIX; died October 1032), born Romanus, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1024 to his death. He belonged to the family of the powerful counts of Tusculum, succeeding his brother, Benedict VIII ...

in 1025, which does not mention it among the suffragan sees of Bari, and the bull ''Quia nostris temporibus'' of Pope Urban II in 1089, which does list it among them. Its bishop Raus, the first whose name is known, took part in the

Third Lateran Council The Third Council of the Lateran met in Rome in March 1179. Pope Alexander III presided and 302 bishops attended. The Catholic Church regards it as the eleventh ecumenical council. By agreement reached at the Peace of Venice in 1177 the bitter ...

in 1179. Its last bishop died on 1 January 1798. In 1818, the see was incorporated into the archdiocese of Bari. No longer a residential bishopric, Bitetto (Bitettum in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

) is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 851

Twin Towns

Prienai Prienai () is a city in Lithuania situated on the Nemunas River, south of Kaunas. In 2011 the city had 9,867 inhabitants. The name of the city is a derivative from a surname ''Prienas''. Pociūnai Airport is associated with the city. History ...

, Lithuania *

Józefów Józefów () is a town in east-central Poland, located in Masovian Voivodeship, in Otwock County. It lies about southeast of Warsaw city centre and is a part of that city's metropolitan area. Located on a picturesque confluence of Vistula and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

Cities and towns in Apulia {{Apulia-geo-stub