Two days in Castel del Monte, Trani and Matera

Check in at the hotel, accommodation in the rooms and after breakfast departure to Castel del Monte visit the famous Federiciano Castle. About 16 km from Andria, in the wild and sunny setting of Murgia. It was probably built around 1240 by Frederick II of Swabia, immediately after his return from the Sixth Crusade of 1229, when, after the excommunication of Pope Gregory IX, only Andria, among many Apulian cities, swore him obedience and loyalty. It’s a particular building, octagonal plan, with eight octagonal towers. Castel del Monte is an admirable example of Romanesque-Apulian architecture, it is certainly one of the most interesting monuments in the world, so much so that UNESCO has included it among the World Heritage Sites. Castel del Monte is the Palazzo Federiciano par excellence, for the peculiarity of the structure and for the refinement with which it was designed, in order to make it visible from every side it was looked at, especially from afar, always giving the same image. The palace is the example of a real mathematical study, where the number eight is the basis of everything, as a game of symmetries (the number eight is in the Islamic world a magic number). Transfer to Trani and lunch in restaurant. Afternoon visit of Trani. Today overlooking the port tourists can appreciate the parade of beautiful fishing boats on the left, with intense colors and evocative names, and the expanse of pleasure boats on the right, these signals of a sea «inhabited», a working port and equipped, of a city that still looks to the sea without the burden of a supremacy to assert and defend. Castle, Cathedral, Court, but also the twentieth century municipal villa, which instead leads to the civic and bourgeois characters that constitute the cultural root of the modern city, are visible from the sea even better than from the land, almost was still by the sea that you expect visitors, arriving on boats or ships. Return to Matera, free dinner and accommodation

After breakfast, meeting with the guide for the visit of Matera. The visit starts from Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the historic center of the city; continue to Piazza del Sedile, characterized by the presence of Renaissance buildings, and then go into the characteristic streets and staircases of the ancient district to admire the beautiful views. Along the way it is possible to visit the cave-house: house partially dug in the rock and typically furnished (ticket 2€) and the rock church of Santa Lucia alle Malve or Madonna dell'Idris (ticket 3€). We then return to the area of the Piano along the Baroque ridge with a stop at the most important churches: Church of Purgatory and Saint Francis of Assisi. The visit ends in Piazza Vittorio Veneto.

Release of the rental car in Bari and end of services.