Bari Events

Bari's calendar is dominated by its saint, with a major trade fair and a strong theatre season alongside.

The Festa di San Nicola

From 7 to 9 May, and the single occasion the city organises itself around. A costumed procession re-enacts the arrival of the relics in 1087; the statue of the saint is taken out to sea on a boat and escorted back by a flotilla the following evening; and a vigil is held at the basilica. It draws Orthodox pilgrims from eastern Europe as well as the whole province, and the waterfront is packed for the return.

6 December

The saint's other feast, quieter and more devotional. In Bari this is also the day children traditionally get their presents, from San Nicola rather than from Babbo Natale — the older custom, in the city that holds the bones the whole legend grew out of. The Murattiano is lit through December and the season is taken seriously here for obvious reasons.

Fiera del Levante

The Levant Fair, founded in 1930, runs in September on its own permanent site west of the centre. Conceived as a trade bridge to the eastern Mediterranean, it remains a significant commercial event and is a fixture of the Italian political calendar.

Bif&st

The Bari International Film Festival has run since 2009, built around the reopened Petruzzelli and the cinemas of the Murattiano. It takes place in spring, is competitive, and draws a serious industry attendance — an unusual thing for a southern Italian city to have established from nothing in the last twenty years.

The Petruzzelli season

Opera, ballet and concerts from autumn through spring in the rebuilt theatre.

Summer on the seafront

Concerts and open-air events along the lungomare through July and August.