Palazzo Simi

Since 1999 Bari's Archaeological Operations Centre has been housed in Palazzo Simi, and until the new archaeological museum opens its doors in Santa Scolastica, the small archaeological exhibition here provides a reasonable idea of the city's history.

The palace itself is something of museum piece given there are remains of a 9th to 10th century church you can visit in the basement. The three apses are clearly distinguished, as are the remains of the altar and some fragments of fresco depicting the Fathers of the Church. Arranged over the ground floor it takes you through the early days of the city's foundation, from a model of what the initial settlement would have looked like, to fragments of prehistoric pottery and some rare Italo-Mycenaean ceramics, which show the extent of Bari's trading network in the eastern Mediterranean.