BARLETTA (anc. Barduli)  , a seaport town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, on the E.S.E. coast, in the province of Bari, 341 M . W.N.W. of Bari by rail . Pop . (1901) 42,022 . Its importance dates from the time of the Hohenstaufen . The Gothic church of S . Sepolcro was built at the close of the 12th century, and the Romanesque cathedral was begun at the same period, but added to later . In front of the former church stands a bronze statue, 14 ft. in height, of the emperor Heraclius . The castle behind the cathedral dates from 1537 . The harbour is good . It was cleared by 5o8 sailing-vessels and 461 steamers, the latter with a total tonnage of 364,904 in 1904; the exports were of the value of £180,699 (principally wine, sulphur, oil, tartar and tartaric acid), and the imports £92,486 (coal, timber and sundries) . In the neighbourhood (between Andria and Corato), during the siege of Barletta by the French in 1503, the town being defended by the Spanish army, a combat took place between thirteen picked knights of Italy and France, which resulted in favour of the former: it has been celebrated by Massimo d' Azeglio in his Disfida di Barletta .

Seven

miles to the N.W. are the salt-works of Barletta, now known under the name of Margherita di Savoia . (T .