From the volume “History of the City of Bitonto” by Prof. Enrico Teodoro De Simoneprinted in Naples in 1877, we read:
From the western side you entered Bitonto through the gate that led to Ruvo, which was therefore called Robustina. Now a few years ago it was demolished, and where it once stood, Mr. Agostino Stellacci had a house built, inserting a plaque into the external wall of the house, which was at the top of the door itself.
In the middle of this plaque there is a cross, with on the right the coat of arms of the Angevins, and on the left the olive tree, coat of arms of Bitonto, and below this verse: Ad pacem promptum designated Butuntum olive. It won’t go long and this tombstone will also be forgotten; It therefore does not seem to me to be out of order to transcribe here an inscription that someone else had dictated, so that it could be placed under that tombstone.
If it was a mistake to neglect it, I want to insert it here; and so, with reverence, the passer-by, rereading this inscription, will stop in front of this plaque, which dates back to the time in which Bitonto was surrounded by walls:
BECAUSE THE MEMORY OF THE DOOR REFUSES
POSTED BY OUR FATHERS ON THE VIA TRAIANA
AND MARKED BY THE SYMBOL OF PEACE
FOR IGNAVIA DO NOT PERISH
AGOSTINO STELLACCI BUILDING
IT REMOVES THE OVERLAPPING TITLE FROM OBLIGION
AND THIS STONE CONSECRATES
MDCCCLXXIV. (1874)
Since the publication of Dr. Vito Acquafredda titled “Bitonto Through the Centuries” let’s read:
TO Porta Robustina, on the wall of the Stellacci house, overlooking Via Palombaio, you can see a red-brown tombstone, rectangular in shape, m long. 1.10, m wide. 0.40. It had to be brought there, from the original place it occupied – the wall adjacent to the Porta Robustina – at the time of the demolition of this gate. It is divided into three panels: in the central one you can see a foliated cross; in the left it Bitontino coat of arms – an olive tree – ; in the right a shield with three lilies, loaded with a lambello with four pendants. Along the lower side, across the entire width of the plaque, the motto is engraved: “ Ad pacem promtum designated oliva Botontum” (L’Olivo designates Bitonto ready for peace). And the motto needs no explanation.
Today, on the site where the ancient Porta Robustina once stood, an epigraph remains which reads as follows:
TIME ERASED EVEN THE VESTIGES OF THE GATE CALLED ROBUSTINA WHICH THE REMAINING AGE ERECTED ON THE VIA TRAIANA.
SO THAT THE MEMORY IS NOT LOST OR THE RESPECT FOR THE VENERAD CITY TRADITIONS IS NOT LOST
THE MAYOR CAV. PASQUALE CIOFFRESE
HE JEALOUSLY POINTS IT OUT TO POSTERITY AND MARKS ITS PLACE AND YEAR
MDCCCXCVIII (1898)
Here is a pencil sketch, made by my dear friend Antonio Rossielloof a glimpse of the historic center of Bitonto relating to a hypothetical location, between the surrounding walls, of the demolished Porta Robustina.
What happened to the original epigraph placed there in 1874?
www.portabaresana.it
