Bari

Walk east through the alleys for three minutes — the lane suddenly opens onto Largo Abate Elia, and the Basilica di San Nicola rises like a white limestone fortress. This is where Bari's sailors brought the relics of Saint Nicholas back from Myra in 1087, making this Romanesque church the spiritual home of the man who became Santa Claus. The facade glows in the morning sun and the bronze doors are still warm to the touch before the 11am tour groups arrive.

Tip: Descend to the crypt — the 28 columns are each carved differently, and Russian Orthodox pilgrims have left silver icons that line the side chapels (Bari is a rare Catholic site they still venerate). The 'Colonna Miracolosa' behind the iron grille is said to heal those who touch it; the grille is there because a fight once broke out among believers.

Exit the basilica by the south door and walk five minutes down Strada Palazzo di Città to an unmarked white doorway with a line of locals — Panificio Fiore has been baking in the same wood-fired oven since 1956. Order one slab of focaccia barese, still hot, with cherry tomatoes pressed into the dough and Pugliese olive oil pooling on top. This is Bari's signature carb, eaten standing on the cobbles, and one slab is a perfect lunch.

Tip: A slab of focaccia is €4; also ask for the calzone alla cipolla (sweet caramelised-onion turnover, €3) and the sgagliozze (fried polenta squares, €2) if they have them. Pay first at the till, then bring your paper ticket to the counter. They close at 14:00 sharp and the noon batch is the best of the day.

From Panificio Fiore walk five minutes west along Strada Palazzo di Città and the bulk of Castello Svevo appears behind the city walls. Frederick II's 13th-century fortress is squat and unromantic by design — it was a power statement, not a palace. Walk the empty moat counter-clockwise to see the original Norman base layered beneath the later Hohenstaufen towers; the warm afternoon light hits the western wall now and the round towers throw long shadows across the dry ditch.

Tip: Skip paying for the interior — the art collection is minor and you already saw a better Romanesque facade at San Nicola. Circle to the western moat side: that angle frames both round towers against open sky with no modern buildings in the shot. The shadow line at 13:30 is exactly right for the stonework.

Leave the castle's east side, cross Piazza Federico II di Svevia and you're suddenly on the Lungomare Nazario Sauro — the longest urban seafront in southern Italy. Walk south with the Adriatic on your left, past the white-domed Teatro Margherita on its pier, past fishermen mending nets at Molo San Nicola, past Fascist-era ministries and art-nouveau hotels lit by the western sun. Keep going to Pane e Pomodoro beach about 2.5 km down, where locals swim until October and the city skyline curves back behind you for the postcard shot.

Tip: Walk south first to Pane e Pomodoro, then turn back north around 18:30 — the setting sun lights up the white limestone palazzi from behind you, and the old town walls glow gold from about 19:00. Stop at the kiosk by Teatro Margherita on the way back for a €3 Crodino aperitivo while the lamplights come on along the breakwater.

Turn inland at Teatro Margherita and walk ten minutes north into Bari Vecchia, ducking into Piazza Mercantile under the lamp-lit columns of the Sedile dei Nobili. La Locanda di Federico occupies a vaulted underground hall that feels like dining inside a Romanesque crypt. This is where Baresi take visiting cousins, and the orecchiette con cime di rapa here is the version you'll still be thinking about after you fly home.

Tip: Order orecchiette con cime di rapa (€11) and tubettini con cozze, patate e riso (the Pugliese mussel-potato-rice pasta, €13); split a burrata di Andria (€9) to start. Reserve for 19:30 — by 20:30 there's a queue down the alley. Pitfall warning: every other restaurant on Piazza Mercantile with an English menu, photos of the food, and a waiter standing outside waving you in is priced for cruise day-trippers (€18 for a basic carbonara is normal there). La Locanda has prices only in Italian, no photos on the menu, and Italians at the next table — that's how you spot the real ones in Bari Vecchia.

Walk 300 metres east through the limestone alleys, passing the Cathedral on your right, until Piazza San Nicola broadens in front of you. The plain Romanesque façade hides one of the most important shrines in Christendom: the bones of Saint Nicholas, taken from Myra by Bari sailors in 1087. Descend straight into the crypt — its low Norman columns and the lit icon of the saint create a hush you will feel in your chest. Arrive before the 11:30 service crowd settles in.

Tip: Skip the main nave first and head down to the crypt for ten quiet minutes — the relics are visible through a grate behind the altar, and the famous 'manna' (a clear liquid said to seep from the bones) is drawn each May 9th. Modest dress is enforced; bare shoulders are turned away at the door.

Two-minute walk behind the Cathedral on Strada Palazzo di Città — you will smell the wood oven before you see the door. Panificio Fiore has baked focaccia barese in the same coal-fired oven since 1980: a thick, oil-slicked slab studded with cherry tomatoes and Cerignola olives. Order half a tray (mezza teglia, €4) and a fried panzerotto with mozzarella and tomato (€2). Eat standing in the alley like everyone else.

Tip: Cash only, and get there by 12:45 — by 13:30 the day's bake is gone and they close until 17:00. Ask for 'ben cotta' (well-cooked); the dark, crisp edges where the oil has caramelised are the prize most tourists miss by asking for the pale slabs.

Double back fifty metres into Piazza dell'Odegitria — the Cathedral stands like a quieter, older sister to San Nicola. Built in the 11th century atop a Byzantine basilica, its real treasure is underneath: a vast hypogeum where you walk on glass over Roman roads and an 8th-century mosaic floor. The acoustics in the nave are extraordinary; if a choir is rehearsing, sit down and do not move until they finish.

Tip: The hypogeum requires a separate €5 ticket bought at the gift shop inside, not at the front door — most tour groups skip it entirely. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons a custodian is usually downstairs and will point out the original 12th-century rose window viewed from below.

Walk five minutes west along Strada Sant'Anselmo, hugging the city walls — the moat opens up suddenly to your left and Frederick II's Swabian castle squats at the corner of the old town. Built by the Normans in 1131, fortified by Frederick, then softened into a Renaissance palace by Isabella of Aragon — every owner left a layer in the stone. The 16:00 light turns the limestone honey-gold, and the inner courtyard is the best spot in Bari for photos without a single car or scooter in frame.

Tip: Climb to the ramparts (included with the €10 entry) for the only elevated view over Bari Vecchia's roofs — the angle places San Nicola's bell tower directly above the orange-tile sea of old roofs. The castle closes early on Tuesdays (14:00), so plan around it.

A six-minute stroll back along the Lungomare Imperatore Augusto — sea air on your right, the limestone of Bari Vecchia on your left — brings you into Piazza Mercantile and the door of La Locanda di Federico. Vaulted stone ceilings, candles on the table, and a kitchen that does Puglia without apology. Order the orecchiette con cime di rapa (€11) and the tagliata di tonno con cipolla rossa (€18); the house red is a Primitivo di Manduria worth every cent.

Tip: Reserve a day ahead on +39 080 522 7705 and ask for table 12 in the rear vault — locals book Friday and Saturday solid. Pitfall: avoid the restaurants directly facing Piazza del Ferrarese with menus in five languages and photo boards outside — they are tourist traps serving bagged orecchiette reheated to order at twice the price.