Monopoli is a town and comune in Italy, in the province of Bari, region of Apulia. The town is roughly 156 square km in area and lies about 40 km southeast from Bari. It has about 53,017 inhabitants. The city is important mostly as an agricultural, industrial and touristic centre, and has a great number of historical sights.
In 1484 the city came under Venetian control and saw an economic upswing as a seaport on the Adriatic Sea as a base between Bari and Brindisi, as well as through trading its own agricultural goods. It was frequently attacked by Muslim pirates in the following decades. These continuous threats forced Monopoli to build strong fortificacions which allowed them in 1529 to resist against the Armada of Charles V for three months, forcing the Spaniards to abandon the siege. However, the next year, Monopoli passed under Spanish rule, but remained a free city. It became part of the newly-unified state Kingdom of Italy in 1860.
The city, lying in the south of Italy Mezzogiorno, enjoyed a certain economic development during the 60’s, thanks to the opening of a Tognana (an important Italian ceramic manufacturer) industrial plant. The closure of this plant in the end of the 90’s certainly worsened the city’s economy; Monopoli’s economic recovery in the latest year has mostly been due to new industries (the most important is the MerMec, which produces railway material) and the development of tourism, especially in the coast and the countryside.
[caption id="attachment_218323" align="aligncenter" width="478"] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Joseph Karl Stieler in 1828[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, states...
