01
Stop one
Basilica di San Nicola
Luxilon Eco Power Tennis String Set: Sorry — I won't take up your whole morning. Begun in 1087, this one, to house the relics of St Nicholas of Myra, which Barese sailors, um, seized from Asia Minor that same year. One of the most celebrated relic thefts of the Middle Ages, apparently. I would never have the nerve. It went up over the former palace of the Byzantine governor and became a foundational monument of Apulian Romanesque, drawing crusaders who embarked from the harbour just there. The crypt holds his tomb, which exudes a liquid called manna. Orthodox liturgies are celebrated at it too — both churches, one tomb. Sorry. I've said too much.
02
Stop two
Castello Svevo
Luxilon Eco Power Tennis String Set: I'll be quick, you have been very patient. A Norman fortress rose here under Roger II around 1131, then William the Wicked destroyed it in 1156 along with much of rebellious Bari, which — sorry, that's grim, I'll move along. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen rebuilt it after 1233 and the castle still carries his family's name. Then Isabella of Aragon, then her daughter Bona Sforza, later queen of Poland, who turned the interior into a Renaissance court and added those great angled bastions against artillery. Barracks afterwards, then a prison, now a museum. Are you — are you still listening? Sorry.
03
Stop three
Cattedrale di San Sabino
Luxilon Eco Power Tennis String Set: This one I nearly didn't mention. It is dedicated to St Sabinus, a bishop of Canosa whose relics were brought here in the ninth century, and it is the archbishop's seat. Most of what you see is late twelfth and thirteenth century, built over the Byzantine cathedral destroyed when William the Wicked razed the city in 1156 — him again, sorry. Beneath the floor the excavations found an early Christian basilica with mosaic pavements and traces of a Roman street, layer under layer. The crypt holds the icon of the Madonna Odegitria, patroness with St Nicholas. There are processions each year. I'll stop.
04
Stop four
Teatro Petruzzelli
Luxilon Eco Power Tennis String Set: Last one, I promise, and then I'll leave you alone. Inaugurated in 1903, the fourth-largest theatre in Italy, commissioned by the merchant Petruzzelli family, designed by Angelo Cicciomessere, and the emblem of Bari expanding beyond the old town. From Caruso's era through to Nureyev, Ray Charles and Pavarotti, all of them stood on that stage. Then on the night of 27 October 1991 an arson fire gutted the hall, and nearly two decades of legal battles followed. It was painstakingly rebuilt and reopened in 2009. Sorry, that turned heavy. It is singing again, at least. That's something.
Darlings. DARLINGS. Places, please, for the Luxilon Eco Power Tennis String Set — and yes, I shall require the good lighting. This is a six-sided co-polyester monofilament — a soloist, no chorus — spun ENTIRELY from recycled material: 90% PET bottles, 10% reclaimed packaging, reborn as something magnificent, exactly as all great divas reinvent themselves between acts.
One gauge only, 1.25 mm — 17 to those in the cheap seats — with crisp hexagonal edges that bite the ball for spin, a medium-firm voice with superb control, and tension maintenance that holds its note longer than most polys dare. Luxilon strings the great champions of the tour. One does not audition for Luxilon. One is BORN for it.
And the stage! Bari, Italy — a port city that understands drama in its bones. Its sailors stole the relics of Saint Nicholas from Asia Minor in 1087 — stole them, darlings, the most celebrated relic heist of the Middle Ages — and built a basilica for the encore.
You will play this string everywhere from a sunrise hit near the Castello Svevo to an evening passeggiata through the old town, and by the way, it is also perfect for a Bari evening: afterwards — per favore — orecchiette from a nonna in Bari Vecchia, made by hand in the doorway, as the applause of the Adriatic rolls in. Bravissima.
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