In the lands of Federico II: Castel del Monte

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This morning I accompanied my son to the land of Frederick II of Svevia and his beloved castle called Castel del Monte. The name was chosen for its position on a hill in the Apulian territory from which you have a 360 degree visibility over the whole region to the sea.

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The construction is strategic because centuries ago there was no enemy detection equipment, such as radar, but enemies were sighted from places like this. The sooner they were sighted, the faster the defense of the walls could be organized.

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The castle, built entirely of stone, has an octagonal or crown shape. Eight large side towers protect the corners of the castle from enemy attacks, normally being considered as weak points of the building. To reach the entrance it is necessary to follow a path that can be traveled on foot through the surrounding forest or following a shorter and less steep road, an asphalted road.

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The last stretch can only be covered on foot or by bike and this is the most beautiful journey because from here it is possible to enjoy the wonderful panoramic view of the surrounding area. Here the silence is interrupted only by the birds and the winds flowing through the branches and leaves of the trees. We sat down for a while on the lawn just before the entrance, enjoying the beautiful sun and the mild temperature.

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Admission to the castle is subject to a fee, but in this pandemic period only online reservations are accepted, reducing the number of visitors, forced to enter in small groups to respect safety distances.
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Just before the last stretch, there is a small bar and restaurant where you can enjoy a coffee or a meal under the walls of the majestic white castle. It is frightening how huge and enchanting it is seen from below and who knows how many battles, stories and eras it has seen pass at its feet. I took a lot of photos to try to capture all the details and the beauty of this masterpiece and I hope it can partially convey the beautiful emotions it transmitted to me.

Regards



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5 comments
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Hey @claudio83 !

It would be awesome if you post your castle visit or travel related stories in Haveyoubeenhere community next time. We're trying to help grow a diverse set of niche communities so readers can get a better community trending page as mentioned in our recent announcement post. For a list of the communities we're curating right now, please check recent ocd community incubation post. You are welcome to cross-post your posts from that community onto OCD with the peakd.com feature to get more visibility and engagement from the OCD subscribers.

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What an imposing looking castle...It sure looks like you had a nice day to visit, vivid blues skies and all. Thanks for sharing this with us and for supporting the hive community with such good posts. :)

Also, you might like to check out the Engage the weekend Community - A community dedicated to the weekend! It's a community you can post about anything weekend-related; What you do, or did, on your weekend, what you would like to do and so on. I curate in there all weekend so I hope you'll drop in sometime.

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