The historic tavern, called the “House of Poison”, is the building known today as the “Challenge Tavern.” It was here that, according to tradition, a banquet was prepared, according to knightly tradition, in honour of the French who had been beaten during a battle with the Spanish.

The Frenchman, La Motte, is said to have insolently and arrogantly praised his soldiers and disparaged the Italians, describing them as incapable and traitors.
Inebriated by the generous Puglian wine, by the smoke from the oil lanterns and the odours of the roasted meat, the French knights, among whom the proud La Motta stood out, held prisoner chose to sit with the influential Spanish, including Captain don Diego di Mendoza.
It was he who provoked the adversaries by comparing their valour to that of his allies, the Italians.

La Motte and his men could not accept what, to them, was an insult: being compared to the "cowardly" Italians. All that remained was to organise the battle and choose the champions on each side.

The Tavern of Barletta, in the building that, according to sources, was the seat of the Grand Captain of the Spanish troops in Italy, don Consalvo Fernandez da Cordova, is still today a suggestive place in which the visitor, with a bit of imagination and knowledge of the historical events, can relive the moment when the insult was made.