Bari Audio Tours

The Basilica di San Nicola was built in 1087 to house relics brought from Myra in what is now Turkey, which means the real Saint Nicholas, the fourth-century bishop whose generosity seeded the Santa Claus legend, lies in a crypt beneath Bari's most famous church. Pilgrims from the Eastern Orthodox world come here year-round, and the basilica's austere Romanesque exterior opens into a surprisingly intimate interior where centuries of devotion have left thick layers of candle-smoke and silver.

Bari Vecchia, the old town on a small peninsula jutting into the Adriatic, is one of the most compelling medieval urban mazes in southern Italy.

Its whitewashed alleys are narrow enough to touch both walls with outstretched arms, and in the mornings you will find women seated at small tables in doorways rolling orecchiette by hand, the ear-shaped pasta that defines Puglian cooking. The pasta is sold fresh in paper bags and eaten that evening with turnip greens and a splash of fierce local olive oil.