HERACLIUS (Eraclio), the gentle giant

Heraclius'story introduces the illustrated history of our city, hoping that our guys will be attracted by the colorful representation as well as by the simple and flowing narration.
Though Barletta's history is full of famous characters, we started from Heraclius because we think that ‘Arè’ - as Barletta's inhabitants familiarly call our Colossus - is the best known and loved.
A story suspended between history and legend, as the title suggests, since, though the historical identity of the statue has been not ascertained yet (we know, however, that it represents a Byzantine emperor), its legend is nice and involving; indeed, it tells the tale of a gentle giant, who, fearing his town to be invaded, invented that he had been driven out of it because he was the smallest among the inhabitants…