Monopoli

Monopoli grew as a port under Venetian and then Spanish rule, and the sixteenth-century Charles V castle and stretches of wall still stand along the shore. The old harbour, Porto Antico, is a small basin below the walls where wooden gozzi, traditional fishing boats painted in blue, red and yellow, are still moored and worked. The old town behind is a dense grid of white lanes with a baroque cathedral. Unlike its neighbours it remains a working town of around fifty thousand people rather than a resort, though visitor numbers have risen sharply. Small coves and beaches line the coast either side.

History

The area has been lived in since the Early Epigravettian, roughly 15,000 years ago, when the ice-free coast of southern Italy was a refuge for Late Palaeolithic people, and its first documented permanent settlement, around 500 BC, was a fortified Messapian city (Wikipedia, Monopoli).

Highlights

• Porto Antico - a small harbour of painted wooden fishing boats.
• The Charles V castle - a sixteenth-century fort on the waterfront.
• The white old town - a dense grid of lanes behind the walls.
• The coves - small beaches along the coast in both directions.

When to go

May to September for swimming; the town works year-round and is less seasonal than nearby resorts. August is crowded. Spring and autumn are pleasant.

Good to know

Beaches nearby are small and fill fast in season. The modern town around the centre is ordinary. Parking near the old town is difficult.

Nearby

Polignano lies north; Alberobello is inland.

Key facts