9Visit the Castel del Monte

This architectural curiosity stands on a hilltop 20km south of Andria. Its geometric layout is quite unlike most Italian castles: it’s perfectly octagonal, and lacks defensive features such as a moat, drawbridge or arrow slits.

Its location is also a conundrum, since it does not seem to have been built for any strategic purpose — there are no important towns or crossroads near by. It was most likely built as a hunting lodge or folly by Frederick II, but some scholars claim the castle may be an architectural symbol of Frederick’s religious devotion; during the middle ages, the octagon was seen as a sacred shape, combining the circle (symbolising the divine or infinite) and the square (symbolising the human, or finite world).

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