A great sinkhole with caves in the heart of the city
Molfetta, a fishing town on the Adriatic coast north of Bari, has one of the most picturesque harbours in Apulia and an old town on a small peninsula, built in a "fishbone" pattern, with narrow parallel lanes to let the sea breeze through. On the waterfront stands its symbol, the Duomo Vecchio of San Corrado, a Romanesque cathedral of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries with three domes in line and two bell towers, which seems to rise directly from the sea.
Just outside the city lies a surprising natural monument: the Pulo di Molfetta, a karst sinkhole about 170 metres wide and 30 deep, which opened in the limestone plateau. Its walls are riddled with caves on several levels, inhabited in the Neolithic: a village of the sixth millennium BC was found around the rim, among the oldest in Apulia, with its necropolis. In the eighteenth century the caves were used to extract saltpetre, needed to make gunpowder for the Bourbon kingdom, and the remains of a "nitriera", a royal saltpetre factory, can still be seen at the bottom. Today the Pulo is a protected area with paths and guided tours.
Tip: the Pulo is open on certain days with a guide; in Molfetta, Easter Week has impressive processions of statues carried through the streets.
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