This fascinating castle built by Frederick II is a masterpiece of medieval architecture, a symbol of Puglia, and, since 1996, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the most mysterious places in Italy. Built around 1240 by Frederick II, soon after his return from the 6th Crusade of 1229, when, after the excommunication of Pope Gregory IX, only Andria, among many cities in Puglia, swore him obedience and fidelity. The mysterious octagonal layout of the manor, used perhaps as an astronomical observatory or imposing hunting manor, differs significantly in the structure from all the other castles of Puglia. The castle sits on top of a secluded hill overlooking the Murgia valley on one side and offers stunning views of the Adriatic Sea on the other. It is characterized by an unusual shape with an octagonal plan and towers also octagonal at every corner. The fortress might have originally been used as an astronomical observatory or as an imposing hunting lodge. Its mysterious octagonal base sets it significantly apart from all the other castles in Puglia.

The original urban core, developed from the natural caves carved into the rock was later modeled in increasingly complex structures within two large natural amphitheaters: the Caveoso Sasso and the Barisano Sasso. In 1993, UNESCO declared the Stones of Matera a World Heritage Site. Matera has a fascinating and complex history: border towns, contrasts, competition, and fusion of landscapes, civilizations, cultures, and differences. From the rock civilization to those of Byzantine and Eastern origin, to the advent of the Normans, the systematic attempt to reduce the rock city to the rules of the culture of the European city: from the Romanesque to the Renaissance, to the Baroque, the last eight centuries of construction and finishing of the city have attempted to shape, overcome the natural resistances of the existing rock habitat, determining architecture and urban accommodations of particular quality and originality.

Alberobello's characteristic historic center is filled with trulli, traditional drystone huts whitened with quicklime, and capped by conical bare-stone roofs. It was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1996. It is a maze of winding alleys, with more than 1000 trulli, the Monti Ward, with the characteristic alleys, where more than a thousand trulli are concentrated, the oldest in the city, along with the Hague Small Ward, where Casa Pezzolla stands out, a complex of 15 trulli communicating today used as a Museum of the Territory and the Sovereign Trullo, the only example of two-story trullo. Crosses, pierced hearts, and zodiac signs decorate the roofs, maintaining the air of mystery that surrounds the trulli.

The Basilica of San Michele, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the symbol of Monte Sant’Angelo. The Sanctuary of San Michele is a precious evidence of Lombard art in Italy. It is the Sanctuary of St. Michael Arcangelo, a minor basilica that contains true architectural and artistic treasures of the Italian Middle Ages, but also valuable testimonies of the Renaissance in southern Italy. A sacred and evocative place, the mighty castle is revealed. It has an ultra-millennial history, from Bear I Bishop of Benevento, who erected it in 837, to the Normans who built the Square Tower and rebuilt that of the Giants, where the knot of Solomon or the lotus flower is visible. Symbols that bring the mind back to the Templars. A rock-hewn staircase takes down to the Sacra Grotta (Holy Cave), the mystic place where the Archangel made its appearance and an important pilgrims’ destination.