Adelfia


Adelfia is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. The town is a combination of two smaller towns, being Montrone and Canneto.

History

The urban center is constituted by two former villages that were separated for a long time. Canneto was founded by the Normans of Robert Guiscard between 1080 and 1090, on the place of an ancient center, documented from ceramics and more recent graves from the 4th century. Montrone was founded in 980 by Greek refugees. Both had been subdued to varied feudal lords until 1806 when feudalism was abolished in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The two centers were united in 1927 under the artificial name of Adelfia, from the Greek term adelphòs, meaning brotherhood.
Between the 19th and the 20th century, they suffered a considerable emigration towards the United States. The city life is today mainly connected to that of the nearby Bari.
Adelfia has a strong Christian Catholic tradition, therefore the Adelfiesi still celebrate in different moments of the year the two Saint Patrons: San Trifone and San Vittoriano. The local fair, the Mass, and fireworks competition typical of these festivities bring together the citizens with thousands of pilgrims coming from all over the world. The celebrations happen respectively in November and July each year.