BARLETTA (anc. Barduli), episcopal see, Apulia, Italy, on the east-south-east coast, Province of Bari, 341m. W.N.W. of Bari by rail. Pop. (1931) town 48,273, commune 48,335. It has a Romanesque cathedral begun about 115o, a Gothic church of S. Sepolcro (13th century), a castle (13th century), remodelled in 1532-37, and a 14f t. bronze statue of the emperor Valentinian I. It is a centre of the wine trade. In the neighbourhood (between Andria and Corato), during the siege of Barletta by the French in 1503, a combat took place between 13 picked knights of Italy and France, which resulted in favour of the former; it has been cele brated by Massimo d'Azeglio in his Disfida di Barletta.