Name any town in southern Italy to ten Italian-Americans and most of them will cry out with fervor, “That’s where my parents/wife/aunt/uncle/cousin came from!” After Naples and Palermo, the city many Italian-Americans will name Bari, located on the Adriatic Sea in the heel of Puglia.

As one of the many southern cities whence emigrated hundreds of thousands of poverty stricken Italians looking for the streets of gold in America, Bari was a major conduit for those who lived on Italy’s east coast.