The Challenge of Barletta

The day an Italian red wine proved too good for the French to resist

A poster advertising the annual
commemoration of the Challenge

A group of 13 Italian cavaliers won a duel, which has since gone down in history, against 13 French mounted soldiers, on this day in 1503 near Trani in the region of Puglia.

The celebrated contest has become known as the Challenge of Barletta (Disfida di Barletta), taking its name from a town in the area that later commemorated the victory with a monument. 

It is considered one of the earliest displays of Italian national pride, if not the first of its kind, even though it was fought while a war was going on between French and Spanish troops, who were battling to win control of the south of Italy.

The Challenge was provoked by a group of French soldiers who had been taken as prisoners of war by the Spanish. They had been invited to a banquet in Barletta at a local osteria, along with some of the Italian knights who were fighting on behalf of the Spanish.

A wine cellar in Barletta has now been named La Cantina della Sfida and it houses a museum commemorating the duel. However, it is not certain whether this was the original setting for the banquet where the French cavaliers issued the challenge.

A French knight, Charles de Torgues - also known as Guy de la Motte - had drunk too much of the local red wine, Rosso Barletta, and made disparaging remarks about the courage of Italian soldiers in general, provoking an argument among the guests.

To solve the dispute, the French challenged the Italians to a mounted tournament between 13 French and 13 Italian cavaliers. The rules were imposed by the French, who mistakenly thought the Italians would refuse the challenge because they would be superstitious about the number 13.

A monument in Barletta keeps the
memory alive after 500 years

However, the Italians, captained by Ettore Fieramosca, accepted the challenge. The fighting, using swords and axes, wielded by cavaliers on horseback, ended when all the French cavaliers had been either captured or wounded. The Italians therefore won the tournament and the French had to surrender their weapons and horses to them. They also had to pay the Italians a ransom for their knights, because of the rules they had set for the challenge themselves, in advance.

It is said that there were long celebrations in Barletta following the victory by the Italian knights and now every year on February 13 the event is commemorated in the city.

Barletta has become known as Citta della Disfida - City of the Challenge. The writer Massimo d’Azeglio, who went on to become prime minister of Piedmont following in the footsteps of Cavour, wrote a novel about the event in 1833, Ettore Fieramosca, or La disfida di Barletta. 

A humorous version of the tournament was featured in the 1976 film Il Soldato del Ventura. 

And Mussolini once referred to the event to try to stimulate national feeling in the 20th century. He ignored the fact that in 1503 Italy did not exist as a unified country. He also overlooked the detail that at the time of their duel with the French, the Italian cavaliers were using their expertise to fight on behalf of the Spanish, who then went on to rule the south of Italy for two centuries. 

Some of the exhibits on display in the
museum in the Cantina della Disfida

Travel tip:

Barletta is a city and comune in Puglia on the Adriatic coast. It is the capoluogo, along with Andria and Trani, of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. The area of Barletta also includes part of the battlefield of Cannae, an important archaeological site because of the major battle fought there in 216 BC between the Carthaginians and the Romans, which was won for the Carthaginians by their General, Hannibal. Barletta is also home to the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue of a Roman emperor standing about four metres, or 13 feet, tall. The Colossus, which is known to local people as Eraclo, is the biggest surviving statue from the late Roman empire.

Trani's white stone cathedral
is one of the city's attractions

Travel tip:

The celebrated duel between the French and the Italians took place in countryside near Trani, on the plains between Corato and Andria. Trani is a beautiful seaport on the Adriatic  coast to the north west of Bari. Trani still has its 13th century fort, which has now been restored and has been opened to the public as a museum and performance venue. Trani’s white stone cathedral, which was consecrated in the 12th century, is dedicated to Saint Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek traveller, who died in Trani in 1094 while making a pilgrimage to Rome. Trani also produces its own prestigious wine, Moscato di Trani DOC, a golden dessert wine made from grapes grown in the area. 

Also on this day:

1539: The death of Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua

1571: The death of sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini

1816: Fire damages the Teatro San Carlo in Naples

1912: The birth of poet Antonia Pozzi

1960: The birth of football referee Pierluigi Collina

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