Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth

A temple for the archbishopric of Nazareth

The history of the church of Santa Maria di Nazareth, evidence of the very close relationships between Barletta and the Holy Land, is complex. Seat of the archbishop of Nazareth since the Middle Ages, the church was initially located outside the city walls. When, in the sixteenth century, the villages outside the city walls were destroyed, the Nazarene archbishop was granted the fourteenth-century church of San Bartolomeo in 1566. Having taken possession of the temple, the Archbishop of Nazareth Bernardino de Figueroa decided to rebuild the church, consecrating it to the Conception of Mary.

The interior, with a single nave, ends with an apse while the ceiling is wooden. Among the tombs found in the church is the sixteenth-century burial of the Affaitati family, who also owned an altar and owned a palace in front of the holy building.