Monopoli, from the greek monos and polis - unique city, still retains faith to its name.
It’s a unique city.
It preserves intact, in fact, the charm that derives from its history and its traditions and adds, in our days, the liveliness of its productive activities - agriculture, industry, fishing - and tourism.
A town of almost 50,000 inhabitants, settled on the Adriatic coast 43 km southeast of Bari, it is twinned with Lugoj (Romania) and Lyss (Switzerland).
Its territory - connected with the municipalities of Polignano a Mare and Conversano to the north west, Castellana-Grotte to the south west, Alberobello to the south and Fasano to the south east - extends for 156 km2 from the sea to the hills, reaching the height of 408 m and develops along 15 km of low and rugged coastline, with numerous coves and long sandy beaches.
The coat of arms with three white roses on a red field was donated to the city by Frederick II of Swabia who wanted to reward it for having remained faithful to it during the siege of Gualtieri di Brienne in 1207.

Monopoli, a city of deep-rooted maritime traditions (commercial and fishing port, shipyards, yachting), has very ancient origins.
The first inhabited settlement, a village of huts also frequented by Mycenaean navigators, arose in the Middle Bronze Age (15th century B.C.), around an articulated system of landings that also included a deep harbour-canal, later silted up by the Normans in 1049.
The protohistoric village was overlaid by the Messapian city, surrounded by mighty walls in which the Romans inserted a monumental gate, now incorporated in the 16th-century castle.
The city increased its importance throughout the Middle Ages; in fact, in ancient nautical charts it is indicated as an important port city on a par with Bari and Brindisi.
Having come under Longobard control, it also came under Byzantine influence.
In 1044 it was conquered by the Normans and from 1266, like other neighbouring centres, it came under Angevin rule.
From the 16th century, it was then disputed between the Spanish and the Venetians, whose occupation it alternately suffered.
One of the most glorious episodes in the city's history is the defeat of the Marquis of Vasto, Don Francesco Ferrante D'Avalos, commander of all the Spanish armies who, after having sacked Florence and Siena at the head of an army of more than 5,000 infantrymen, besieged the city in vain for three months, even subjecting it to heavy cannon fire, which left a clear scar on the walls in the section preserved in Via Cadorna.
On 28 May 1529, the Marquis of Vasto had to leave the camp.
Having become the personal possession of Emperor Charles V in 1530, who sold it to a merchant from Messina, the city managed to redeem its freedom by paying a tribute collected with the help of all the citizens.

CREDITS: Comune di Monopoli.