Ruvo di Puglia, whose name derives from Rhyps which was later transformed into Rubis and then Ruvo is surrounded by the bucolic scenery of the Alta Murgia Park, between olive groves, forests and karst valleys. The settlement was a "Peuceta" Center, which reached its maximum development between the V and III century b.C., when it became a Roman municipium, but was destroyed in V sec. A.D. by the Goths. Rebuilt and fortified by the Normans, it became part of the County of Conversano. Ruvo followed, finally, the fate of the Kingdom of Naples, suffering the domination of the Angevin and Aragons.
The Romanesque Cathedral, built between the XII and XIII century, is characterized by extremely slanted sloped roof that give a strong height impression to the whole structure. The central portal is adorned with decorative plants, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic. On the façade opens a mullioned window and a large rose window and its probable origins are of the Renaissance period. The interior is divided into three naves with pillars of different architectonic styles.
Not to miss: the extremely interesting "Jatta National Archaeological Museum", with its seat in a building in neoclassical style, where valuable exhibits from the times of the most famous Greek and Apulian vase painters to today are exposed. In the first room are preserved figures in terracotta and Daunian Messapian vases and jars with wonderful decorations painted on a black-paint background . In the second room it is possible to admire the large crater shape vase depicting the myth of the death of Niobids, artwork of the painter of Baltimore. The third room is known as "the room of rhità", a display of mugs with plastic decorations in the most various shapes, a pride of the museum in number and variety. In the last room is placed the most important vase of the collection: a large Attic crater vase with red-figures, masterpiece of the artist Talos, which dates back to the V century b.C.