Bitonto
| Bitonto | ||
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| Comune | ||
| Comune di Bitonto | ||
View of the historical center
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 Bitonto
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| Coordinates: 41°07′N 16°41′E / 41.117°N 16.683°E | ||
| Country | Italy | |
| Region |
 Apulia
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| Province / Metropolitan city | Bari (BA) | |
| Frazioni | Mariotto, Palombaio | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Michele Abbaticchio | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 172.9 km2 (66.8 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 118 m (387 ft) | |
| Population (31 December 2007) | ||
| • Total | 56,302 | |
| • Density | 330/km2 (840/sq mi) | |
| Demonym(s) | Bitontini | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| Postal code | 70032 | |
| Dialing code | 080 | |
| Patron saint | Immaculate Conception | |
| Saint day | May 26 | |
| Website | Official website | |
Bitonto ([biˈtonto]) is a city and comune in the province of Bari (Apulia region), Italy. It is nicknamed the "City of Olives", due to the numerous olive groves surrounding the city.
Bitonto lies approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) to the west of the city of Bari, near the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The communes next to Bitonto are: Bari, Bitetto, Palo del Colle, Altamura, Toritto, Ruvo di Puglia, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo.
The city was founded by the Peucetii, and its inhabitants referred to by the Greek settlers of the region as Butontinoi, an ethnonym of uncertain derivation. According to one tradition, the city was named after Botone, an Illyrian king. Its first city wall can be dated to the fifth to fourth centuries BC; traces remain in the foundations of the Norman walling.
Similarities of coinage suggest that Bitonto was under the hegemony of Spartan Tarentum, but bearing the numismatic legend BITONTINON. Later, having been a Roman ally in the Samnite Wars, the civitas Butuntinenses became a Roman municipium, preserving its former laws and self-government and venerating its divine protectress, whom the Romans identified by interpretatio romana as Minerva; the site sacred to her is occupied by the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli. As a city of the Late Roman Empire, Bitonto figures in the Liber Colonis of Frontinus, in the Antonine Itinerary and other Imperial itineraries, and the Tabula Peutingeriana, a post where fresh horses were to be had for travellers on the via Traiana for Brundisium.
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Wikipedia