I had the pleasure of going to Bari on my trip to Italy in January 2025, where I got to explore the country by rail over two weeks. I went in the off-season and you could definitely tell; Bari is popping in the summer and is a hot tourist destination.
Thankfully, I had most of the city to myself.
Things To Do in Bari
I allocated a good chunk of my day to the Castello Svevo di Bari, but was actually in and out in less than 90 minutes. It’s a smaller castle with less exhibits displayed out, especially in the offseason when things were under renovation. What was there was super cool: they have a nice sculpture collection of weird looking sculptures, and some of the lower levels bring you into the archeological sites where they’re still doing work on part of the castle. It’s kind of neat!
Places to Eat
I had a lot of great food in Bari. I’d recommend trying seafood (it’s on the ocean) and their signature pasta from the region, spaghetti all’assassina. Here are some of the restaurants I went to:
Piccinni 28
This ties for the best meal I had while in Italy, and definitely the best pasta dish. Spaghetti all’assassina is the ‘trademark’ pasta of the Bari region; instead of being cooked in a pan in boiling water, the pasta is cooked directly in the tomato sauce. Optionally finished with a generous helping of burrata cheese (I’d highly recommend, but delicious even without.) Piccinni 28 did such a great job that I bailed on another reservation just for the opportunity to try this dish again.
Ristorante La Pesciera
I had two courses at this seafood restaurant: the seafood tempura and the braised tuna. The tuna was much more impressive than the tempura seafood; the batter was a little off and made the entire dish seem dry. The tuna made up for it, and it’s a relatively easy reservation in the off-season.
L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele
This is a solid pizza spot, among what I’m sure are many in the area. I believed it to be a reasonable price (as an American!) Pair with a Fanta.
