Domenico Santoro (died after 1688) was a local historian and physician closely related to the city of

Altamura Altamura (, ; nap, label= Barese, Ialtamùre) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilic ...

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

. He's known mostly for his essay on the history of the that town: "Description of the city of Altamura" ( it, Descrizione della città di Altamura, 1688). In his work, the author provides information on the history and the life of Altamura, perhaps drawing from documents now lost. The work has also been copied by priest D. Vitangelo Frizzale. One limit of his work is the absence of critical analysis of the sources, and the commingling of history and legend, as Ottavio Serena later pointed out.

Life

There is very little on his life. Local historian Tommaso Berloco claimed that he may have been a jurist and that he belonged to a noble family living in Altamura, which originated in

Caserta Caserta () is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Camp ...

. storie-inedite, p. 7 According to more recent research, it was a physician (then called ''dottor fisico''). His only work - ''Descrizione della città di Altamura'' (1688) - provided plenty of information about the history of the city of Altamura. A street in Altamura has been named after him.

Cesare Orlandi Cesare Orlandi (Città della Pieve, 26 luglio 1734 – Perugia, 20 dicembre 1779) was an Italian writer and historian. He was a nobleman of Fermo, Atri and Città della Pieve, and he's known only for his work ''Delle città d'Italia e sue isole a ...

, in his work ''Delle Città d'Italia'' (

1770 Events January– March * January 1 – The foundation of Fort George, Bombay is laid by Colonel Keating, principal engineer, on the site of the former Dongri Fort. * February 1 – Thomas Jefferson's home at Shadwell, Virgi ...

) mentions Giovanni Donato, which was also a jurist from Altamura and he was more famous than him. storie-inedite, p. 8 Local historian Tommaso Berloco suggested that Orlandi mentioned Donato in order to thank him for the source, and he suggested that Giovanni Donato may have used pseudonym "Domenico Santoro". Another hypothesis is that Giovanni Donato was a relative of Domenico Santoro's. The original edition of his work, as well as the following, went lost. The manuscript which survived dates back to the 19th century or the early years of the 20th century. Even though the manuscript is a faithful reproduction of his original work, it contains a few copying mstakes and parts added by other writers.

Life

Works

References

Bibliography

See also