Mention you’re going to Puglia and chances are people will ask about Bari or Lecce, maybe the Gargano Peninsula or the trulli of Alberobello. But it’s unlikely that anyone will ask you about Barletta.

Yet a day trip to this city of about 95,000 is worth the time. Located along the Adriatic Sea, about 60 miles north of Bari, Barletta is one of a trio of towns making up Italy’s newest province, Barletta-Andria-Trani, created in 2009.