Nicola van Westerhout

Of Flemish origin, the family van Westerhout settled in Apulia in the seventeenth century, first in Bari and then in Monopoli.

Nicola van Westerhout, grandfather of Niccolò, moved to Mola di Bari, where the composer himself and his father, Onofrio Augustine, were both born.

At the age of 13, van Westerhout composed an opera on the subject of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, showing remarkable musical talent.

[citation needed] In Mola di Bari, the composer had been commemorated with the naming of a street and the municipal theater and the placing of a plaque at the site of the birthplace.

Furthermore, in the central Piazza XX Settembre, a bronze statue by Molese sculptor Bruno Calvani, representing the protagonist of the Doña Flor, was placed.