Largo Albicocca is a small square in Bari Vecchia, the old town of Bari, known to locals as the Piazza degli Innamorati, the lovers' square. By day it is a quiet courtyard where residents hang out their washing and children kick a ball between two old olive trees. In the evening, under strings of lights, it fills with people eating fried street food at outdoor tables.
Largo Albicocca at a glance
- Where: in the south-western part of Bari Vecchia, a few minutes' walk from both the cathedral and the Norman-Swabian Castle. You reach it on foot through the lanes of the old town.
- Origins: one of the small open spaces in the old town's maze of lanes, with no single founding date. Its name means 'apricot square'.
- What it is today: a public square, open at all hours, with planted beds, two olive trees and a few places to eat around its edges.
- Time needed: 10 minutes to look around, an hour or more if you stop to eat.
Apricots, lovers and an old town revived
Bari Vecchia sits on a small peninsula between the city's old and new harbours. Its tight network of lanes, arches and courtyards grew up around two great churches: the cathedral of San Sabino and the Basilica of San Nicola, built after sailors from Bari brought the relics of St Nicholas from Myra in 1087. Squares like Largo Albicocca are small openings in this maze, where houses face each other across a shared space and much of daily life happens just outside the front door.
According to local tradition, the square takes its name from an apricot tree that once grew in the middle, and the young couples of Bari gave each other its fruit as a token of love. That is where the nickname Piazza degli Innamorati comes from. The tree is long gone. After a redevelopment, the square was laid out as a small urban garden with rows of lights overhead and two centuries-old olive trees, and today the restaurants and food counters around it set out tables in the evening.
What to look for
- The two olive trees in the middle of the square, centuries old and much older than the garden around them.
- The lights strung above the square: they are what makes the place in the evening, so come back after dark if you passed by during the day.
- Everyday life: washing on lines and racks, chairs outside the front doors and children playing. The square is also the residents' front yard.
- The houses around the edge, with weathered façades and an outdoor staircase that makes one of the most photographed corners of the old town.
- The street food of Bari: sgagliozze (slices of fried polenta, lightly salted), popizze (small balls of fried dough) and panzerotti (fried turnovers filled with tomato and mozzarella).
Bari Vecchia's other lovers' legend
Largo Albicocca is not the only place in the old town with a love story attached. A local legend tells that the Arco della Meraviglia, a small arch joining two buildings elsewhere in Bari Vecchia, appeared overnight so that two young lovers, living opposite each other and kept apart by their families, could meet. It is a Romeo and Juliet story with a happy ending, and like the apricot tree, it belongs to legend rather than history.
Tips for your visit
- Come twice if you can: in the morning to see the square as a neighbourhood courtyard, and after dark to see it lit up. Summer evenings are the busiest.
- People live here. Keep your voice down late at night and don't photograph open doorways or residents without asking.
- Order something fried to eat on the spot: sgagliozze or popizze are the classic choice and cost little.
- The lanes are narrow and twisting, and phone GPS can be unreliable between the tall houses. Follow the signs to the cathedral, and from there it is a short walk.
Nearby
- Cattedrale di San Sabino: Bari's Romanesque cathedral, a few minutes' walk away, where on 21 June the sun projects the rose window onto the floor.
- Norman-Swabian Castle: the moated fortress on the edge of the old town, rebuilt under Emperor Frederick II in the 13th century and now a museum.
- Strada Arco Basso: the lane near the castle where local women make orecchiette pasta by hand at tables outside their doors.
- Basilica di San Nicola: the great pilgrimage church built for the relics of St Nicholas, on the northern side of the old town.
See Bari with World City Trail
Our Bari scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 2 hours, with about 35 minutes of walking. It leads you through the lanes of Bari Vecchia and to the Basilica di San Nicola.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Bari.
Play the Bari scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Bari →
Play the outdoor escape game in Bari →
Facts checked in October 2026.