RUVO DI PUGLIA

Latin Rubi, town, Bari provincia, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Murge plateau, west of Bari city. Ancient Rubi was the centre of the Peucettii, an ancient Apulian tribe. It then became a flourishing Greek town that was famous in the 5th3rd century BC for its potteries, which were imitations of imported Corinthian and Attic black- and red-figure ware, but with a marked local character. A large collection of these is preserved in the Jatta Museum in the town. A belt of modern dwellings surrounds the medieval centre of Ruvo, which is dominated by the 13th-century Romanesque cathedral, with a beautiful rose window and a freestanding campanile that was reconstructed in the 18th century. Ruvo is a centre for the processing of local agricultural products, wine, and olive oil. Pop. (1989 est.) mun., 24,280.