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00 Giovinazzo
Stemma di Giovinazzo

Apulia · Bari

Giovinazzo

An Adriatic fishing port twenty kilometers northwest of Bari, with a Norman cathedral and a Bronze Age dolmen in the agro inland.

Best time
May–Sep
By car
31 min from Bari
By train
Station in the comune
Population
19,366

Known for

  • NORMAN CATHEDRAL

    Santa Maria Assunta, built 1125-1180 by the Normans, holds the Byzantine Madonna of Corsignano icon and is the town's patronal seat.

  • OLIVE OIL

    Città dell'Olio with one of the largest olive-growing agri in the Metropolitan City of Bari, anchoring small frantoi across the countryside.

  • DOLMEN SAN SILVESTRO

    Bronze Age megalithic tomb from roughly 1500 BC, the only intact dolmen in this stretch of the Murgia coastal terrace.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

  • J13°
  • F15°
  • M16°
  • A19°
  • M24°
  • J29°
  • J33°
  • A32°
  • S28°
  • O23°
  • N18°
  • D15°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 13°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Tommaso, 3 July

Why come

Giovinazzo sits on the Adriatic twenty kilometers northwest of Bari, between Molfetta and the Bari coastal belt. The Romans called it Natolium, fortifying the site under Trajan in 102 AD on what may be the older Peucetian settlement of Netium. The Norman cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was built between 1125 and 1180 in the Puglian Romanesque style and consecrated in 1283; it still holds the Byzantine icon of the Madonna of Corsignano, the patron, celebrated through August.

The medieval centro storico runs in narrow stone lanes around the harbor, where the small fishing fleet still ties up below the sea wall. Five kilometers inland, the Dolmen di San Silvestro is a Bronze Age funerary chamber from around 1500 BC, set in a grove of olive and carob, the agro that makes Giovinazzo a Città dell'Olio. The town hosts one of the few elite roller hockey clubs in Italy.

The Sunday letter

Giovinazzo is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Giovinazzo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Giovinazzo in our articles

How to get there

From Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 19 minutes by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 3 hours away.

By car from the centre of Bari 31 minutes, Lecce 2h 20m or Salerno 3 hours.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Bari?

Coming by train into Bari Centrale? Giovinazzo is about 32 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Bari / Brindisi airport.

Giovinazzo, photo 1
Giovinazzo, photo 2

What to see

  • Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

    Norman cathedral of 1125-1180 in Puglian Romanesque, consecrated in 1283, with the Byzantine icon of the Madonna of Corsignano above the main altar.

  • Centro storico

    Medieval old town in narrow stone lanes wrapping the small port, walled on the seaward side and rebuilt after Norman reconquest in the eleventh century.

  • Dolmen di San Silvestro

    Bronze Age funerary dolmen from around 1500 BC, set on a Murgia terrace among olive and carob trees five kilometers inland from town.

  • Chiesa di San Domenico

    Sixteenth-century Dominican church on the main piazza, redone in Baroque style in the eighteenth century, with a painted wooden ceiling.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Giovinazzo fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

We recommend

Where to eat

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Living here

  • Population 19,366
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 19 min drive
  • Regional capital Bari, 31 min drive

Common questions

What is Giovinazzo known for?
Giovinazzo is an Adriatic fishing port twenty kilometers northwest of Bari, with a Norman cathedral and a Bronze Age dolmen in the agro inland.
Where is Giovinazzo?
Giovinazzo is a comune in the province of Bari, in Apulia, at 7 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Giovinazzo?
Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 19 minutes by car.
Can you get to Giovinazzo without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Bari to Giovinazzo?
About 31 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Giovinazzo?
Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Giovinazzo?
Yes. Sagra del Panino della Nonna. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Giovinazzo?
Trinitapoli, Bisceglie and Grottammare.
How many people live in Giovinazzo?
19,366 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 7 m
  • Population: 19,366
  • Surface area: 44.3 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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