TRANI, a seaport and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, on the Adriatic, in the province of Bari, and 26 m. by rail W.N.W. of that town, 23 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1931), 30,551. The cathedral (dedicated to St. Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek who died in 1094 and was canonized by Urban II.) on an open site near the sea, was consecrated, before its completion, in it is a basilica with three apses, a large crypt and a lofty tower, the latter erected in 1230-39 by the architect whose name appears on the ambo in the cathedral of Bitonto, Nicolaus Sacerdos. It has an arch under it, being supported partly on the side wall of the church, and partly on a massive pillar. The arches of the Romanesque facade are beautifully ornamented ; the bronze doors, executed by Barisanus of Trani in 1175, rank among the best of their period in southern Italy. The capitals of the pillars in the crypt are fine examples of the Romanesque. The interior
of the cathedral has been barbarously modernized, but the crypt is fine. Near the harbour is the Gothic palace of the doges of Venice, which is now used as a seminary. S. Giacomo and S. Francesco also have Romanesque facades and the latter and S. Andrea have domes. The fine castle was begun by Frederick II. (1233) and enlarged in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Palazzo Caccetta (1458) is a fine Gothic building. Trani produces wine (Moscato di Trani). Trani is the Turenum of the itineraries. It first became a flourishing place under the Normans and during the crusades, but attained the acme of its prosperity as a seat of trade with the East under the Angevin princes. Its code of maritime law (the ordinamenta maris) is the first of mediaeval codes (1063).