Altamura is a working city on the limestone plateau of the Alta Murgia, close to the border between Puglia and Basilicata. Its central streets lead into a compact medieval quarter of small squares, churches and enclosed courtyards; beyond the built-up area, the landscape opens into cereal fields, rocky grassland, sinkholes and farmsteads. The municipality’s civil registry reported 70,582 residents for the Comune on 31 December 2025. Its January 2026 bulletin explicitly describes this as a preliminary, unofficial count awaiting final ISTAT processing, so it should be read as the latest municipal-register figure rather than a final census result. Altamura is about 40 km from Bari and around 19 km from Matera according to the Comune’s local history page, making it a plausible stop between the regional capital and Basilicata. The municipal registry’s population bulletin and the Comune’s account of the town and its setting give the date and scope behind those details.
What the old stories can—and cannot—prove
The territory’s human history reaches far beyond the medieval centre. The municipality’s account points to the megalithic walls, conventionally dated to around 500 BCE, and to finds from prehistoric and Peucetian settlements. It also recounts a popular story connecting the name Altamura with the mythical Queen Altea and an ancient place called Altilia. That belongs to local tradition; it is not proof of a documented Greek or Roman foundation for the present city. The best-known prehistoric evidence is the Altamura Man, a Neanderthal skeleton discovered by speleologists in Lamalunga cave in 1993. The Ministry of Culture describes it as roughly 150,000 years old, with calcite and uranium-thorium work placing the remains in a broader range of about 172,000 to 130,000 years ago. The skeleton is still embedded in the cave’s calcite formations and the cave itself is inaccessible to ordinary visitors. A nearby interpretation centre uses displays and virtual material to explain the karst system and the discovery. The Ministry of Culture reports the scientific dating and Neanderthal identification; the municipal Lamalunga visitor-centre page explains what visitors can actually see.
The town’s more visible urban history turns on Frederick II. The Comune dates the rebuilding of Altamura to 1232, when the emperor ordered the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and granted the settlement the status of a free city under royal authority. The municipal account says newcomers from different communities, including Greeks, Arabs and Jews, were invited to populate it. That story helps explain the claustri: small enclosed courts that open unexpectedly off narrow lanes, many with a well or a shared space, and with forms shaped by family and community life. The Comune counts more than eighty. Rather than treating them as a decorative maze, walk through them as a practical urban response to social life, water and the hot plateau climate. The cathedral has also changed repeatedly: much of the 13th-century church was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1316, its orientation was reversed in 1534, and the façade and towers carry later phases. The cathedral’s municipal history separates its medieval origins from later additions, while the Comune’s claustri project describes efforts to reconnect the courtyards and lanes to contemporary community life.
A cathedral and a city that remembers its revolutions
Give the cathedral time. Its façade is framed by twin bell towers and a loggia; the rose window has fifteen radiating columns, while the Gothic portal layers sculpture around biblical scenes. Some surviving interior elements belong to the original imperial church, while other work reflects Angevin, Renaissance and Baroque interventions. This is not a single-period monument: its accumulated forms tell how an important civic and religious building was adapted over centuries. Piazza Duomo remains both a threshold into the old town and a public square. In 1799, during the short-lived Neapolitan Republic, the people of Altamura planted a Tree of Liberty and proclaimed a republic; royalist forces led by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo later besieged and sacked the town. The memory gave Altamura its local epithet, “Lioness of Puglia.” A municipal monument and annual commemorations keep the episode visible, but the guide treats it as a specific political moment rather than a timeless claim that the town was always rebellious. The city page for Piazza Duomo records the Tree of Liberty, and the municipal history outlines the 1799 siege and its aftermath.
Bread, farming and the contemporary visitor economy
Altamura’s best-known food is also a precise product, not a generic rustic loaf. Pane di Altamura received EU Protected Designation of Origin registration in 2003. Its specification ties production to a defined area of north-western Murgia and to durum wheat, remilled semolina, sourdough, water and salt. Two traditional shapes are recognised by local names: the tall folded “U sckuanète” and the lower “a cappidde de prèvete.” The product grew from a rural food system in which bread was made for households and baked in public ovens; the long-keeping loaf suited farmers and shepherds spending days at masserie. Today the DOP supply chain connects growers, mills and bakeries. It is a visible strand of the local economy and identity, but the available sources do not justify saying that bread accounts for a particular share of jobs or output. For visitors, buying from a bakery that identifies the certified product is more meaningful than assuming every loaf sold in town carries the DOP. The EU regulation registers Pane di Altamura as a DOP; Puglia’s product profile explains the ingredients, area and traditional forms.
The food story has places to explore. The Museo del Pane occupies the Antico Forno Forte and interprets the town’s relationship with baking; its municipal page notes steps at the entrance and says a booking is required for some visits, so check current access before going. The Museo Etnografico dell’Alta Murgia, in a former Carmelite convent, presents tools and objects from pastoral, agricultural and craft life. Its published opening days are limited and should be reconfirmed. At the National Archaeological Museum, material from prehistory through the Middle Ages puts local settlement in a broader Peucetian and Murgia context. The city has also been officially listed by the Puglia region among places with a mainly tourist economy and as a city of art, but that designation is not a detailed employment survey. In practice, visitors encounter food production, museums, lodging, restaurants and services alongside an inhabited regional centre. The municipal bread-museum page, the ethnographic museum’s visitor information and the Ministry’s archaeological museum page help build a visit around different parts of that story.
From the Pulo to the Murgia plateau
Altamura’s outdoor appeal lies in the landform as much as in any single viewpoint. The Pulo, around 9 km from town, is a large bowl-shaped karst depression about 500 m across and up to 75 m deep, formed by the movement of water through limestone. Caves and shelters in its walls were used in prehistory; the deep cave at the base is reserved for speleologists, not casual visitors. Around it, the Alta Murgia National Park protects limestone grasslands, rocky ridges, sinkholes, caves, cultivated fields, pasture and dry-stone farm complexes across thirteen municipalities. The terrain is exposed and can be hot, so bring water, suitable footwear and check weather and trail conditions. The park’s older routes may not reflect current maintenance, access or closures; ask the park or municipal visitor centre before setting out. The Comune’s Pulo description gives its dimensions and access notes; the National Park presents the wider plateau landscape.
Another extraordinary site is Cava Pontrelli, where the municipality describes more than twenty thousand Cretaceous dinosaur footprints, about 70 million years old. The tracks are evidence of the ancient landscape, not proof that the later town began in dinosaur times. At present, the Comune says the quarry is inaccessible because infrastructure work is underway and that no visitor hours or ticket details are available. Do not plan a visit until the municipality confirms reopening. This is a case where a truthful guide should tell visitors what cannot be entered yet. Instead, add the National Archaeological Museum or Lamalunga visitor centre to a day that includes the Pulo, and check municipal news for any new arrangements. The municipality’s current Cava Pontrelli notice reports its access status; the Lamalunga centre offers a visitable interpretation point for the Neanderthal discovery.
Getting here and making a practical itinerary
Ferrovie Appulo Lucane links Altamura with Bari, Matera and Gravina in Puglia. The operator’s route map lists stations from Bari through Altamura to Matera, and its timetable page publishes current rail schedules and replacement-bus timetables. Recent infrastructure works have altered services on parts of the network, so check the journey for the precise date, station and direction rather than relying on an old timetable or assuming every train runs through. Altamura is also on the FAL route toward Gravina, which makes a two-town itinerary possible when the connecting schedule works. The historic centre is best explored on foot once in town; for the Pulo, Lamalunga and more distant archaeological sites, confirm transport, guided-visit and return options in advance. FAL’s route page lists the Bari–Altamura–Matera stations, the timetable hub gives current services and the operator’s August 2026 notice records a recent reopening after works.
A first day can remain within the old centre: begin at the cathedral, follow the lanes and claustri, pause at Piazza Duomo, then visit the archaeological museum and choose a local bakery for Pane di Altamura DOP. A second day can move outward to Lamalunga’s visitor centre and the Pulo, with time for the Murgia landscape. If Cava Pontrelli reopens, it could become another stop, but access is currently restricted. Visitors have practical services in town—rail connections, museums, food shops, restaurants and accommodation—while the surrounding sites need more careful planning. Check opening times, bookings, park notices, weather and FAL schedules before travel; they change more often than the stone streets and cathedral portal that make Altamura worth slowing down for.