These are just some
of my favorite things...about Altamura
Altamura is a city in the region of
Puglia (English: Apulia), in the province of Bari
in south-eastern Italy, sort of at the top of the
heel of the boot. It is 45 kilometres (28 miles)
inland from the coastal city of Bari, itself. The
population is slightly more than 70,000.
When you say, "Altamura," what do most Italians
think of? The spectacular Romanesque cathedral
(image, left) built by Frederick
II in 1232? (He didn't physically lay
the bricks. Holy Roman Emperors usually had others
do the heavy lifting for them.) The megalithic
walls beneath the city, erected by an as yet
unknown ancient people? The dinosaur footprints?
Well, those are all good, good and good,
respectively, but no, no and no, respectively.
Italians hear "Altamura" and think, aaaaah, the
BREAD! (image, right). Roman poet, Horace,
said, "The water here is the worst in the
world! But the bread is exceedingly fine. Even a
weary traveller will carry some with him on his
shoulders." Altamura bread is made from
durum flour and in 2003 was granted PDO status
within Europe. That stands for Protected
Designation of Origin, meaning that in order to be
called Altamura bread, it must meet a range of
demands, including variety of wheat, certain
specifications of water and method of production,
and then it must have a final crust over 3mm (0.1
inches) in thickness. If you sell anything else
and call it Altamura bread just because it was
made there, the Italian state will send in SWAT
(Special Weevil Assault Team) to infest you.
Altamura is also
well-known for Altamura Man (shown), the
400,000-year-old calcified remains of a hominid
believed to be Homo heidelbergensis. In
October 1993 Altamura Man was discovered by
speleologists in a limestone cave, the Grotta
di Lamalunga, near the city. I mentioned
dinosaur footprints. They are important, too. No,
early hominids did not live at the same time as
dinosaurs. If you are one of those persons who
think they did, please leave.
Last, but certainly not least on my Altamura list
is the Archaeological Museum. It was founded in
1891, then closed in 1909 "for lack of
interest"(!); people didn't get re-interested in
the museum until the latter years of the 20th
century. Now it has a wealth of findings that date
from the early Bronze Age to the late Hellenistic
age. The museum has everything from everyday
objects, such as vases and personal possessions to
weapons and tools, much of which was recovered
from the necropoli of Altamura, Gravina in Puglia,
Toritto, Cassano Murge, Ginosa and Laterza.
There
are number of sections within the museum. One
covers the period from prehistoric times to the
early Middle Ages; another contains temporary
exhibits that the Museum holds on a regular basis;
one entire floor is given over to the Altamura
Man. There is also a significant display covering
myth, history and life as depicted in the famous
"red figure" Apulian
pottery. The display shows how local ceramic
production begins in the last years of the 5th
century BC in the cities of the Ionian coast (that
is, the "sole" of the boot of Italy). This
production was meant to imitate Greek production,
broadly diffused by the 5th century throughout the
Mediterranean by the spread of Magna Grecia.
Italian production, however, quickly incorporated
its own elements to reflect local social and
political conditions. So, all in all, you have
everything from depictions of Greek themes such as
the Trojan War to local coronations, weddings,
battles...whatever. The museum of Altamura is a
good one.
I was going to say how disappointed I was that the
museum, except for the snack shop, has no special
section dedicated to the bread. Did I mention the
bread? As it turns out, they have special limited
bread-o-ramas(!) such as the one advertised in the
image, a poster for the exhibit entitled the "The
Prehistory of Food," this particular section
dedicated to "The Origins of Bread." AND the
city of Altamura has, indeed, opened a special
Bread Museum in the building that used to house
the administrative office of the Puglia Aqueduct.
That's close enough. All this talk of dinosaurs
and prehistoric man is making me hungry.