Castel del Monte

Castel del Monte is one of symbols of Puglia and one of most famous monument from the times of the Swabian Emperor Frederick II. It is located near Andria, alone on a hill in the Apulian Murgia.

Built in the first half of the XIII century on an unusual octagonal plan, with height equally octagonal towers marking the vertices of a polygon. This criteria applied to its volume and desing perfecly synthesize the Emperor's artistic heritage. The structure recalls the Classical but also Romanesque and Gothic styles. The principal influences are those of the Arab and Cistercian cultures, both dear to the emperor.

The castle was no built for defence but as the Emperor's monument to to himself, to his temporal power. So it rises up as a symbol of his wordly aspirations.

The portal in corallite stone, recalling the triumphal arches of Roman times, leads into the first room which like all the other rooms in the castle are trapezoidal and surmounted by a crossed vault. A second room opens out onto an octogonal courtyard with three finely decorated doorways.

In the upper rooms, all the same shape and size, the coloured marble columns, the doorways and windows openings, decorated with corallite stone, the fireplace and keystones, also carved with anthropomorphic figures, are all admirable in their workmanship.