The Epitaph of Altamura ( it, Epitaffio di Altamura) is a monument located in

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 ...

, Southern Italy. According to historian

Ottavio Serena Ottavio Serena (18 August 1837 – 7 January 1914) was an Italian politician, judge, prefect and historian. He is known in his hometown Altamura for his works about local history, such as the Altamuran Revolution (1799). His contribution and the ...

, it was erected right after the visit in city, on 8 April 1807, of Joseph Bonaparte (the elder brother of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

), who had just become king of Naples. Berloco p. 263 According to more recent hypotheses, this monument was instead built in the year 1797, right after the visit of the kings Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina of Austria in the city of

. The commemorative monument is located in ''largo Epitaffio'' (Epitaph square). Although traditionally named epitaph, it is not a funerary inscription but instead a commemorative monument.

Ottavio Serena's hypothesis

According to

, Joseph Bonaparte was coming from the city of Taranto. He was returning to Naples, from where he had departed on 21 March of the same year. The representatives of the city of Altamura and a multitude of people went to meet and warmly welcomed Joseph Bonaparte, who stopped to greet the people in the square that was named ''largo Epitaffio''. Joseph Bonaparte stayed in Altamura in the palace of count Viti, he received the hereditary title "Prince of Altamura" and then left. On 9 April the king was in Venosa, and on 12 April he was already back in Naples. Berloco p. 264

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, Lib. 6, p. 333

Michele Marvulli's hypothesis

According to more recent studies by the scholar Michele Marvulli (1996), this monument dates back to the year 1797, when the kings of the

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 ...

Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina of Austria visited the city of Altamura, as testified by a few sources. In support of this,

Vitangelo Bisceglia Vitangelo Bisceglia (30 November 1749 – 14 October 1822) was an Italian botanist, agronomist and professor. He taught inside the University of Altamura. Because of his being a polymath, he's been described as "an encyclopedic spirit, the honor ...

's chronicles (unknown to

) state that in 1799 the "royal army" placed two years earlier on the occasion of the visit of the kings was destroyed in the San Martino district (i.e. the area where the monument is located): Another point in support of this is that in Michele Rotunno's chronicle (relating to the events of 1799 to

) the monument is cited in order to indicate the direction in which the fugitives were headed in the year 1799.

Serena Serena most commonly refers to: * Serena Williams (born 1981), professional tennis player Serena may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Serena (genre), 13th-century Occitan poetic genre * ''Serena'' (1962 film), a British crime t ...

Description

The monument originally contained an inscription, an imperial eagle symbol and a coat of arms. The inscription and the coat of arms were both erased following the restoration and the return of the Bourbons to Naples. The inscription is not readable anymore and the coat of arms is partly unrecognizable. Berloco p. 264 - ''La colonna e l'aquila si vedono anche oggi'' (Ottavio Serena)

References

Sources

* * * * {{Cite book, title=Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Roi Joseph publiès, annotès et mis en ordre par A. Du Casse Aide De Camp de S. A. I. le prince Jérôme Napoléon , author=A. Du Casse , volume = third tome , page=333 , edition=2 , year=1854 , location=Paris , publisher=Perrotin, Libraire-editeur , language=French , ref=DuCasse , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihgW5C1p-zwC&q=M%C3%A9moires+et+correspondance+politique+et+militaire+du+Roi+Joseph+publi%C3%A8s+tome+troisieme&pg=PP9 Monuments and memorials in Italy Altamura