Top of the World
The "Cantina della Sfida" is a historic tavern, also known as the house of Poison, where, during a banquet, probably intoxicated by the good Apulian wine, the Frenchman La Motte, with arrogance, would praise his soldiers and despise the Italians, considered incapable. The Spanish knights, on their part, probably equally captured by the fumes of alcohol, provoked the French by comparing their value to that of the Italians.La Motte and his men did not accept the offense of being compared to the Italian "fearless" and launched a challenge, which was accepted by the noble and valiant mercenary captain Ettore Fieramosca da Capua: all that remained was to organize the fight and choose the champions of both sides. The sum of one hundred crowns was established for the ransom of the prisoners and that the challengers would be thirteen horsemen with two hostages on each side, four judges and sixteen horsemen as witnesses. In agreement between the two sides, the battlefield was located in Contrada S.Elia, in the plain between Andria and Corato, a neutral territory belonging to Trani but under Venetian jurisdiction.
On the morning of February 13, 1503, the Thirteen Italians swore to defend their honour and that of Italy and in the afternoon they defeated the arrogant French.
The French, who had not brought with them the ransom, convinced that they would come out victorious from the battlefield, were taken prisoners in Barletta. The people of Barletta welcomed their heroes, celebrated the Thirteen with a procession of Our Lady of the Assumption, since then renamed Our Lady of the Challenge and still preserved today in the Cathedral of Barletta.
Every year the city of Barletta remembers the episode with a series of initiatives that transform the city into a wonderful setting with Spanish banners, shields and torches that illuminate the alleys of the old town.
