TRANI  , a seaport and episcopal see of

Apulia, Italy, on the Adriatic, in the province of Bari, and 26 m. by rail W.N.W. of that town, 23 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901), 34,688 . Trani has lost its old walls and bastions, but the 13th-century Gothic citadel is used as a prison . Some of the streets remain much as they were in the medieval period, and many of the houses display more or less of Norman decoration . The cathedral (dedicated to St Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek assassinated at Trani in 1094 and canonized by Urban II.), on a raised open site near the sea, was consecrated, before its completion, in 1143; it is a basilica with three apses; a large crypt and a lofty tower, the latter erected in 1230-1239 by the architect whose name appears on the ambo in the cathedral of Bitonto, Nicolaus Sacerdos . It has an arch under it, being supported partly on the side wall of the church, and partly on a massive pillar . The arches of the Romanesque portal are beautifully ornamented, in a manner suggestive of Arab influence; the bronze doors, executed by Barisanus of Trani in 1175, rank among the best of their period in southern Italy . The capitals of the pillars in the crypt are fine examples of the Romanesque . The interior of the cathedral has been barbarously modernized, but the crypt is fine . Near the harbour is the Gothic palace of the doges of Venice, which is now used as a seminary . The church of the Ognissanti has a Romanesque relief of the Annunciation over the door .

S . Giacomo and S .

Francesco also have Romanesque facades and the latter and S . Andrea have " Byzantine " domes . The vicinity of Trani produces an excellent wine (Moscato di Trani) ;and its figs, oil, almonds and grain are also profitable articles of trade . Trani is the Turenum of the itineraries . It first became a flourishing place under the Normans and during the crusades, but attained the acme of its prosperity as a seat of trade with the East under the Angevin princes . The harbour, however, has lost its importance .