Basilica of St Nicholas

Festivals and dates

• Liturgical feast of St Nicholas: 6 December (Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: i primi tempi)
• Feast of the Translation of the relics (Sagra di San Nicola): 7-9 May (Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: i primi tempi · Basilica di San Nicola - Sagra di San Nicola 2026)
• Winter
• Spring

From the catepan's palace to the basilica

The site of the basilica was not originally religious: it was the residence of the catepan, the Byzantine emperor's representative who governed southern Italy from Bari from 968. In 1071, after a three-year siege, the city surrendered to Robert Guiscard and lost its role as capital, while the Muslim advance in Asia Minor was hurting its trade.

It was in this setting, in spring 1087, that a group of Bari sailors and merchants returning from Antioch stopped at Myra, took the saint's bones and carried them to Bari, where they arrived on 9 May. After clashes between those who wanted the relics in the cathedral and those who did not, the archbishop agreed that the catepan's palace should become a church. Work began on 8 July 1087 under the Benedictine abbot Elias.

On 1 October 1089 Pope Urban II, arriving from Melfi, placed the relics beneath the altar of the crypt. A few years later the knights of the First Crusade stopped to pray at the tomb, and in 1098 the basilica hosted the Council of Bari, attended by 185 Latin and Greek bishops and by Anselm of Aosta. Under Charles II of Anjou, in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the basilica enjoyed its golden age, enriched with fiefs, liturgical manuscripts and relics.

Sources: Basilica di San Nicola - Architettura · Basilica di San Nicola - Traslazione delle reliquie · Basilica di San Nicola - Dalla residenza del Catepano alla Basilica nicolaiana · Basilica di San Nicola - La Prima Crociata e il concilio di Bari

A saint between East and West

Nicholas, bishop of Myra, was already venerated in Bari as patron of sailors before the translation; after 1087 he became St Nicholas of Bari for everyone. News of the relics' arrival spread through Europe very quickly, because Nicholas was among the most venerated saints in both East and West.

The basilica stresses his ecumenical dimension: Nicholas is the most venerated saint in the Orthodox world, especially among Slavs, and his cult crosses Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant confessions. For this reason the basilica also welcomes Orthodox pilgrims, who celebrate their own liturgies there.

The cult is linked to the 'manna', the water that gathers in the saint's tomb: the small door in front of the altar, guarded by two angels holding phials, was made precisely for venerating the relics and drawing the manna, which is still solemnly collected during the May feast. By the early 20th century pilgrim groups were arriving in large numbers from Abruzzo, Molise, Campania and all of Puglia, and today they still come mainly from these regions.

Sources: Basilica di San Nicola - Traslazione delle reliquie · Basilica di San Nicola - Dalla residenza del Catepano alla Basilica nicolaiana · Italia.it - Cattedrale di San Nicola · Basilica di San Nicola - La tomba del santo · Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: il XX secolo · Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: i primi tempi · Basilica di San Nicola - Sagra di San Nicola 2026

Apulian Romanesque, crypt and the saint's tomb

The basilica is one of the great examples of Apulian Romanesque, massive and sober like Norman architecture. Abbot Elias was responsible for the walls and the remarkable sculpture: the Abbot Elias chair, the Lions' Portal and the capitals of the ciborium. On the lintel of the Lions' Portal knights charge a castle, a scene read in connection with the spirit of the Crusades.

The crypt was the first part to be completed: a rectangular hall of about 31 by 15 metres, with cross vaults on 26 columns of various marbles. Here lies the saint's tomb, consecrated in 1089; the bones, about 65% of the skeleton, are at floor level. The silver altar donated in 1319 by the Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin was recast in Baroque times by Neapolitan artists and, during the 1950s restoration, moved to the right transept of the upper church.

In the upper church, also look for the 16th-century mausoleum of Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland and Duchess of Bari, and the 14th-century Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni di Taranto in the chapel of St Martin.

Sources: Basilica di San Nicola - Architettura · Basilica di San Nicola - Dalla residenza del Catepano alla Basilica nicolaiana · Italia.it - Cattedrale di San Nicola · Basilica di San Nicola - La Prima Crociata e il concilio di Bari · Basilica di San Nicola - La tomba del santo

The two feasts: 6 December and May

Bari celebrates St Nicholas twice a year. The papal bulls issued after the translation already distinguish the feast of 6 December, the saint's liturgical day, from that of 9 May, anniversary of the relics' arrival. From the first years after 1087 the anniversary was marked with fairs, pilgrimages, solemn Masses, processions and parades on land and sea, becoming the city's own feast.

In the 20th century the civic events of the Maggio di Bari, launched in 1952, were separated from the religious ones, and the 1950s were the golden age of the Historical Parade. The 2026 Sagra di San Nicola programme published by the basilica shows the rhythm of the feast: on 7 May the procession with the saint's painting and the departure of the Historical Parade; on 8 May the dawn Mass, the procession with the statue to the pier, the blessing of the sea and the procession at sea; on 9 May the solemn concelebration with the drawing of the Holy Manna.

The cycle is preceded by a novena and the exposition of the saint's statue, and on 9 May the basilica also welcomes Orthodox pilgrims.

Sources: Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: il XX secolo · Basilica di San Nicola - Feste di San Nicola: i primi tempi · Basilica di San Nicola - Sagra di San Nicola 2026

Getting there and visiting

The basilica is in Bari's Old City, the medieval quarter between the old and the new port. According to the basilica, it is about a five-minute walk from the seaport and about a quarter of an hour from the railway station.

The visit covers the upper church and the crypt with the saint's tomb. Pilgrim reception is handled by the basilica itself: guided visits and celebrations for groups are booked through the official website of the Pontifical Basilica of St Nicholas (www.basilicasannicola.it), which also offers a 360-degree virtual tour. The same walk can take in the Norman-Swabian Castle and the seafront.

Sources: Basilica di San Nicola - Architettura · Basilica Pontificia San Nicola - Home · Italia.it - Bari: guida, storia e curiosità · Basilica di San Nicola - Prenotazioni visite guidate

Walks that reach it

The place

Bari

The old town as a first encounter with Puglia.

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Photo: Berthold Werner / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.