Tourist Attraction in Andria:
Santa Maria Assunta

The church of Santa Maria Assunta is the cathedral of Andria. The cathedral was built by Goffredo by Altavilla, Lord of Andria, between the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the twelfth century on a former church dedicated to St. Peter, preceding the thousandth year, which today corresponds to the crypt of the 'building. In 1063 the duomo was enlarged and three aisles joined by twelve pillars with strings, typical of the Romanesque Puglia. On the last pillar on the right were four hexes, still existing. In the Duomo the Normans left their mark, placing Emma's burial, Count Riccardo's wife from Altavilla. The Swabians also placed two burials, Jolanda of Brienne and Isabella of England, both of Federico's second wives. Today, they are found in the crypt, once in a beautiful exhibition outside the cathedral, where two mausoleums were built, later destroyed by the Angevens of the Swabians. In 1414, the Duke of Andria Francis Primo del Balzo, expanded the cathedral further. The presbytery was enlarged, with the construction of a large, sharp arch that divided the low presbytery from the high presbytery and the apse was built. In 1440, Duke Francesco Secondo del Balzo expanded the chapel of San Riccardo, adorning it with local stone bas-reliefs depicting scenes of the life of the saint. In 1473, Bishop Martino De Soto Mayor built a series of lateral chapels, next to the two aisles. On 13 February 1503, the thirteen Italian knights headed by Ettore Fieramosca, swore in the chapel of San Riccardo: "Victory or Death", before the famous Disfida di Barletta. The cathedral underwent substantial alterations in the seventeenth century, in the eighteenth century and again in the nineteenth century, when the facade and the exterior porch were built. The facade, designed by the architect Federico Santacroce, was made, in its lower part, in 1844; the upper part was completed in the twentieth century on the Romanesque model, with rosette and monofore. The belfry that adjoins the building is the result of two successive projects: it stands on a square tower of the Longobard era, with narrow, steep windows, and large bifore on the first floor. The Normans lifted them up to the octagonal tower, whose cusp culminated with a greenish rooster symbol of Saint Peter, to indicate to the faithful the place where the church of St. Peter was located. Externally, there is a marble tombstone that remembers the event of Barletta's disfid. on the outside on the right side of the façade, there is the portal of the Benedictine complex destroyed by the cathedral, and on the south wall a stele with a statue of San Riccardo. From the Sacred Spiral Chapel you access the crypt, set up with two aisles with cruise lines and pillars of pillars, some without capitals. At the bottom there is an altar hanging on a vault supporting pillar. Above the altar there is a fresco depicting the Savior who with his right hand blesses, while with the left holds a book. Between the 537 and the eighth century, the crypt was buried in a stone sarcophagus with canopies supported by columns, San Riccardo.

Attractions in Andria