The hub of the city, the ancient Cathedral Square coincides with the Roman-era city forum, where pilgrims and merchants from all parts of the known world met on their journeys to the East. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the inhabitants of Bitonto moved to the countryside, organizing themselves into a closed-loop economy. Between the early and late Middle Ages, then, when the cities resumed trade, the settlement was enclosed in an enclosure with the Cathedral as its center of gravity, a guide for the reorganization of the city. The construction between the 13th and 14th centuries of the church and convent of San Domenico was followed in 1414 by that of the small church of Santa Maria della Misericordia (demolished with the 1905 restoration). In 1601 an entire block rose in front of the Cathedral, on which mills, i.e., warehouses, would be built, later sold in 1697 to the Alitti family. The final milestone was the construction in 1731 of the Glory (or Spire) of the Immaculate Conception, a votive offering for the reduced damage from an earthquake.
