Bari Tips and Tricks by Robert Feldt

Food

Rank numbers below go from 1 being best and then down from there. Several entries can have the same rank (and are thus roughly equally good) :).

  • Gelato / Ice Cream

1. Outside of Bari, Filippo recommends Bar Turismo in Polignano Mare. Very old school and natural and has to be tried. We tried it and we would rank it as the best gelato we’ve had in Italy (ever). Focus on nuts, vanilla, and chocolate.

1. Gelato Gentile, Piazza Federico II di Svevia 33, Bari, BA 70122
– Best gelato in Bari Old Town. Not so sweet, perfect.

1. Gelato Piccini, Via Piccini
– Also very good, almost better than Gentile but depends on flavor. Said to be best for fruit flavors but we fancied the nut and coffee ones even more.

4. Martinucci on Piazza Mercantile is a chain and have too many flavors which indicates they have a base + essence rather than making things from scratch. You can almost feel the taste of chemicals. Still we found this one better than many others out on town.

  • Bakery and Foccacia

1. Il Focacciaro
– Often long queues but it is worth it.
– They also have mini-panzerotti but not as good as the focaccia.

2. Santa Rita, Str. dei Dottula, 8, 70122, Bari, Italy
– Basic but high quality bread, croissant, & foccacia bakery
– You have to go forward and really ask for what you want, queue “system” can be chaotic 😉

2. Panificio Fiore, Bari Vecchia
– Filippo says it’s one of the best but we managed to miss buying there despite living close to it… 😉

  • Bakery (but no Focaccia)

1. Caffe Vergnano (close to Univ campus)
– Not a bakery per se but best coffee and cornetto.
– Very nice cornetto with creme.

2. Panificio Adriatico, east of train station
– Very fresh/warm cornetto in the morning (around 9)

3. Jerome coffee barsB – This is a chain and not so authentic but cornetto and coffee of high quality.

  • Pizza

1. Lievito Pizza E Dintorni, Via Gaetano Salvemini 14/D, 70125, Bari, Italy
– Quite far from Old Town, closer to Politechnico campus.
– Very nice crust and you can select standard, multiceriali and Neapoletana. The latter is thick and the best imho (RF).

2. Pizzeria Enzo e Ciro, Via Matteo Renato Imbriani, 79, 70121 Bari BA
– Only pizza and antipasti but very good.
– We had pizza porcini e bufala, pizza ortolana and both very good. Grilled porcini and stracchiatella cheese for antipasti also very good. House red wine was ok.

3. Pizzeria da Donato, Via F.Lattanzio, 59, 70126 Bari BA
– Best according to Filippo.
– Close to where Filippo lives. Supposed to be better than Enzo e Ciro.
– We tried it and weren’t too impressed. Ok but nothing special.

3. Bari-Napoli
– They have both the thin, Bari style pizzas and the thicker Neapolitan ones. RF liked the latter more but had to take some of it for take-away since a bit “heavy”.
– They also make their own chips which are recommended as a starter.

Further away from old town. Based on TripAdvisor in September 2019:
1. Lady Mastro, Via G. Posca 23/25 | Zona poggiofranco, 70124, Bari, Italy
– Quite far from Old Town
– Not tried yet.

2. Il Grottino, Via Francesco Rismondi 3, 70123, Bari, Italy
– Also quite far from Old Town
– Not tried yet.

  • Panzerotti

1. Cibo, Piazza Mercantile
– So good and so many flavors.
– We got tired of panzerotti after a few weeks though so maybe take it slow… 😉

2. Pizzeria Di Cosimo, Bari Vecchia
– The classic one but few flavors.
– Try the “baked in oven” ones.
– Very simple, you eat outside with hands, even the pizza.
– Worth a visit just because of the ambience in the square outside.

  • Restaurants

Only listing a handful of the best below; list very incomplete…

1. Il Canto dei Bischeri, Via Nicolo’ Putignani 93, 70125, Bari
– Wonderful food and lots of wine to choose from, also on glass.
– Owner Massimo is great and greets everyone and pour some wine for himself in a glass on each table. Every now and then he sits down and talks with you and sips his wine. 🙂

2. Giampaolo
– Both very good fish, octopus, pizza, and spaghetti.
– Fish on Monday and Tuesday was not as good, better go later in the week.

2. Tana del Polpo, Bari Vecchia
– Very nice and authentic food in a unique (at home) atmosphere.
– Can take quite some time to get a table, prepare to wait 10-20 minutes outside on the street.

3. La Vineria, close the the lungomare / sea
– Very nice entrecote and some nice wine to choose from.

4. Est, close to campus
– Very nice combined enoteca and high-end lunch place.
– Takes a bit longer time and is pricier though.

5. Piccinni 28, via Piccini
– Very nice pizza both classics (not expensive) and the innovative ones (expensive).
– Have very nice wine on glass, go for the pricier end of their wine by glass list and be amazed. 🙂

6. La Battigia, close to EnoMezcla
– Was very good at fish but now renovated and more posh and possibly pricy?
– We were not so impressed and it was a bit pricey. Service not good.

  • Other

1. Caffe Vergnano, Via Giovanni Amendola 128 B | Di Fronte Ingresso Facoltà Di Agraria, 70126, Bari, Italy
– Good lunch and coffee. Haven’t tred for dinner.

  • Bars / Wine Bars

1. La Ciclatera, Corte Colagualano 36, 70122, Bari, Italy
– Very cosy. Has quite some wine on glass.

2. EnoMezcla, Lungomare
– They have a lot of options, also on glass. Atmosphere nothing special though so go there with company and for the wine… 🙂

3. Opus Pistorum
– Supposed to have the best Cocktails but we wern’t too impressed. Ambiance is nice though.

  • Groceries

Coop right outside old town, Via Niccolo’ Piccinni, 155, Bari, BT 70122
– Basic grocery shop fairly close to Old Town, close to Hotel Palace and Hotel Boston.
– Has manual cheese&salami&bread sold by weight

Rosso Tonno on corso Emanuele.
– Has more exclusive non-italian choices and high quality but is pricier. We mostly ended up going here. 😉

Beaches

– Pane e Pomodoro is close to old town. Most easily accessible from city center.