The focaccia barese farcita is what happens when Bari decides its tall, oil-soaked round is a bread rather than a finished dish. The base is the same: semolina and riced potato worked into wheat flour, pressed into a tin, dimpled, topped with collapsed cherry tomatoes and whole olives, drenched in olive oil and oregano, and baked until the rim is deep gold. The difference is the knife. Here the round is split horizontally through its middle and filled, turning a thing eaten plain in the street into a closed sandwich substantial enough to be a meal. Mortadella is the common fill, sometimes a local capocollo or a few slices of provolone, sometimes nothing more than rocket and a wedge of fresh tomato to lean into the bread's own seasoning.
As a sandwich it works because the bread was already doing most of the job. The potato-rich crumb is built to absorb without collapsing, so even with a filling adding its own moisture the underside stays intact in the hand. The oil and salt baked into the focaccia mean the fill can be restrained: a farcita does not need a sauce, because the oregano and the jammy tomato in the crumb already supply the high notes, and a heavy hand with the meat only buries what makes the base worth eating. The split exposes the soft interior to the filling so the two press together rather than sliding apart, and because the round holds warmth at its center, a farcita assembled while the bread is still faintly warm has the mortadella going soft against the crumb, which is the version worth seeking.
The named directions stay close to the Puglian larder. A version with stracciata or fresh fior di latte leans creamy and wants eating within the hour. One built on grilled zucchine and melanzane turns it into a vegetable sandwich that still tastes of the oiled bread. The plain unfilled round, the focaccia barese, is the parent and its own subject, and the smaller town variants around Bari press the potato harder or lighter for a denser or sandier crumb. Those deserve their own articles rather than being crowded in here.