Ruvo is a town of 25,000 inhabitants little known to most but which certainly deserves a visit especially for the two jewels it hides: the National Archaeological Museum Jatta and the Romanesque Cathedral.
The Jatta palace dates back to 1840 and inside it is preserved the only specimen in Italy of the nineteenth-century private collection that has remained unchanged from the original museological concept. The exhibits preserved in the museum were collected by the archaeologist Giovanni Jatta in the early nineteenth century, later it was enriched by the homonymous grandson and was sold to the state in the twentieth century. The exhibition itinerary is organized in 4 rooms: the first contains terracotta pots with geometric decorations dating back to the Peucetan age of the seventh and sixth centuries BC. The second room contains about 700 vases of Greek or local production. The third room containing over four hundred pieces and several craters positioned on a column. In the fourth and last room you can admire more than 270 artifacts and the Talos vase, one of the most important ceramic masterpieces. On the vase is painted the episode narrated by Apollonius Rodio in the Argonautics about the killing of Talos by Medea, sustained dying by the arms of Castor and Pollux.
Heart of the historic center of Ruvo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is an important treasure chest of art with precious historical finds.
It is the bell tower to announce the majestic lines of the Co-Cathedral of Ruvo di Puglia dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, the main religious monument in the city. Built between the 12th and 13th centuries, the church blends the Swabian-Gothic style with elements of Apulian Romanesque style from the gabled façade, enhanced by the mullioned window and the large Renaissance rose window. Here there are three portals framed by three fake arches supported by columns, decorated with plant decorations, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs.
The Latin cross interior, divided into three naves, is a small treasure chest of art, with a remarkable sculptural repertoire and the precious treasure of the cathedral, with silver artifacts such as the statue of San Rocco, a monstrance and sacred vestments. Returned to light only in the first decades of the twentieth century following the restoration, the cathedral's hypogeum preserves an important archaeological heritage, including tombs, pavements and mosaics from the Peuceta, Roman and early Middle Ages.
Leaving the Cathedral, you come across the clock tower built in 1604 with the remains of the castle with a quadrangular plan consisting of two buildings in the center of which stands the still existing tower. Initially this fortress consisted only of the tower, dating back to the 10th or 11th century, from which it was possible to control the four access gates to the city
