The bordering municipalities are Bari, Bitetto, Palo del Colle, Altamura, Toritto, Ruvo di Puglia, Terlizzi, and Giovinazzo.

The city was founded by the Peucetii, and its inhabitants referred to by the Greek settlers of the region as Butontinoi, an ethnonym of uncertain derivation.

Similarities of coinage suggest that Bitonto was under the hegemony of Spartan Tarentum, but bearing the numismatic legend BITONTINON.

The foundations of a Paleochristian basilica came to light in excavations beneath the cathedral's crypt, but no written evidence survives of an established diocese in the Early Middle Ages.

On September 6, 1928 the village of the Holy Spirit, the only access to the coast and the subject of border disputes between the two cities since the Thirteenth century, it passed to the municipality of Bari.

The main landmarks include: Bitonto is well known for its production of extra virgin olive oil, which is exported to America and elsewhere in Europe.