Trani

Trani and its harbor at night

Flag

Coat of arms

Trani is a seaport city in the Apulia region of southern Italy. It is on the Adriatic Sea. Its main industries are wine-making, fishing, and mining. The number of people living in Trani in 2011 was 53,940.

History of Trani

Trani in the 18th century

The old name of Trani was Turenum or Tirenum. An old myth says that Tirenus built the city. Tirenus was the son of Diomedes, a hero in ancient Greece who fought in the Trojan War. The city was on an ancient Roman map called the Tabula Peutingeriana. It was the first map to show this city. The map was made in the 3rd century. At first, Trani was a very small city and not very important. It started to grow and be more important in the 9th century. At that time, the Lombards (a Germanic people) ruled Trani. Later, the Byzantine Empire ruled the city.

The Normans took over Trani from the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century. From the 11th century until the 13th century, Trani was a rich and very important city. This was especially true when the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II ruled Trani. Trani was an important port for the Knights Templar during the Crusades. People came from all over Italy to do business there. Many churches, palaces, and castles were built in Trani during this time. Many Jews lived in Trani at this time. There were 200 Jewish families and four big synagogues in the city. Isaiah di Trani, one of the most famous rabbis of the Middle Ages, lived there.

After Frederick II died in 1250, there was trouble in Trani. In the next 300 years, there were wars between the Angevins, Aragon and Venice over who should rule Trani. The city became poorer and less important. Trani was almost destroyed during the French Revolutionary Wars at the end of the 18th century. Many people in the town were against the French Revolution. In March 1799, they rioted and killed many members of the city's most important families. When the French army saw this, they attacked the city on April 1, 1799. The army killed many people and burned Trani's buildings. Over 1000 people died in the riots and the French attack.

Trani began to grow again in the middle of the 19th century. It grew even more in the 20th century. By 2011, 53,940 people lived in the city.

Industries

Today, the main industries in Trani are wine-making, fishing, and mining. Trani is famous for a sweet wine called Moscato di Trani. The grapes for this wine are grown in the Trani countryside. Fruit and olives for making olive oil are other important crops for Trani. There are mines for bauxite just outside the city. There are also quarries for a special kind of rock called pietra di Trani (Trani stone). Trani has special factories for cutting this stone. Many buildings in Trani and in southern Italy are made from this stone. Trani stone was used to build the ports in Malta and Egypt. Trani also has some small factories for making clothes and shoes.

Important buildings

• Castello Svevo. This big castle was built in 1233 by Frederick II, a Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick's son, Manfred, King of Sicily, married Princess Helena Doukaina in this castle.
• Cathedral of Trani. This beautiful Romanesque style cathedral is dedicated to Nicholas the Pilgrim, a saint from Greece who died in Trani in 1094. He is the patron saint of Trani.
• Palazzo Caccetta. This palace was built in 1456 by Simone Caccetta, a very rich man from Trani. It is built in the Gothic style. People from Venice used this palace in the early 1500s. At that time, Venice ruled Trani.
• Scolanova Synagogue. This medieval synagogue was changed into a church in 1380. At that time, the Jews in Trani were sent away or made to become Christians. In 2006, it became a synagogue again.

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  Castello Svevo
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  Cathedral of Trani
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  Palazzo Caccetta
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  Scolanova Synagogue

Famous people from Trani

• Giovanni Bovio (1837 – 1903), philosopher
• Luigi Chiarelli (1880 – 1947), playwright
• Domenico Sarro (1679 – 1744), composer

References

Sources

• Bode, Charles (1974). Wines of Italy. Courier Dover Publications
• Facaros, Dana and Pauls, Michael (2004). Italy. New Holland Publishers
• Facility Project (Funded by the European Union). "Apulia Region Market Analysis"
• Kleinhenz, Christopher (2004). "Trani", Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2. Routledge
• Licinio, Raffaele (1994). Castelli medievali: Puglia e Basilicata, dai Normanni a Federico II e Carlo I D'Angiò. Edizioni Dedalo. (in Italian)
• Zivotofsky, Ari and Greenspan, Ari (28 August 2006). "Jewish again in Trani". The Jerusalem Post

Other websites

• Official website of the City of Trani Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian)