Altamura

Altamura (ˌæltəˈmʊərə, ˌaltaˈmuːra; Ialtamùre) is a town and comune of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. , its population amounts to 70,595 inhabitants. The city is known for its particular quality of bread called Pane di Altamura, which is sold in numerous other Italian cities. The 130,000-year-old calcified Altamura Man was discovered in 1993 in the nearby limestone cave called grotta di Lamalunga. The area of modern Altamura was densely inhabited in the Bronze Age (La Croce settlement and necropolis). The region contains some fifty tumuli. Between the 6th and the 3rd century BC a massive line of megalithic walls was erected, traces of which are still visible in some areas of the city. The city was inhabited until around the tenth century AD. Then it was reportedly looted by Saracens. There are no reliable sources confirming what the original name of Altamura was. Inside the Tabula Peutingeriana, only Sublupatia occurs, which may refer either to Santeramo in Colle, Altamura or to a small region nearby named Jesce. Sublupatia implies that a city whose name was Lupatia was also present, even though there is no mention of Lupatia either in Tabula Peutingeriana or the Antonine Itinerary. Nevertheless Lupatia occurs in Ravenna Cosmography (Byzantine period) and in Guido of Pisa's work Geographica (Middle Ages). According to an ancient legend, appearing for the first time in the 13th century AD, Altamura's former name was Altilia, from Alter Ilium, the "other Troy". According to a legend, it was founded by a friend of Aeneas, Antellus, also a fugitive from the Asian city destroyed by the Greeks. Another legend attributes the foundation to Althea, queen of the Myrmidons. Ottavio Serena, as early as in 1880, rejected the above legends as well as the belief that the ancient name of Altamura was Altilia, as it lacked reliable sources.