I still have quite a few kilometers to go before reaching todayâs destination, and thereâs never enough time. Still, I decide to spend five minutes walking through this small town.
Although itâs located inland, Loseto is currently a neighborhood of Bari, in the Puglia region of southeastern Italy.
To enter the historic center, you must pass through the monumental gate. The plaque, inscribed in Latin, reads: âTo God, the Highest and Greatest. O traveler, this town you now see was once an ancient and barren heap of rubble. But, once the church was built, numerous houses were constructed, an olive press was erected, and the uncultivated lands were tilled, the excellent gentleman Francesco De Ruggiero offered a sacred place to the Church, a home to the inhabitants, a comfortable livelihood to those who harvest olives, wealth to the farmers, and beauty to the entire town. Realizing that now only a gate was missing, he also added the gate. In the year of salvation 1778.â
Once through the gate, you find yourself in the square where the church of San Giorgio Martire was built. Then cycle down an alley to reach the baronial castle.
The building stands on the foundations of an older outpost from the Norman-Swabian era.
The current structure was rebuilt and expanded primarily during the 15th century. In the 16th century, Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland and Duchess of Bari, donated the fiefdom of Loseto to her courtier Giosuè de Ruggiero. His descendants retained ownership and made radical alterations in 1764, transforming the medieval fortress into a two-story baronial palace with a pentagonal floor plan.
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