UNESCO SITES - A modo mio

Three out of the 50 italian sites that UNESCO included in the World Heritage Within are within 100 km of Monopoli: Alberobello’s Trulli (1996); Castel del Monte (1996); The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of  Matera (1993).

THE TRULLI OF ALBEROBELLO
"I Trulli" are buildings in whitish limestone ashlars, originally built in the dry stone method, with no mortar to paste the individual ashlars together. This construction technique has its roots at the origins of Alberobello (in the XVI Cen.), when the feudatories, the Counts of Conversano, granted the local people the right to build their dwellings, provided that they would be easy to demolish in case supervisors from the Kindgdom of Naples were to visit the area.
The roofs of the "Trulli" are cone-shaped, covered with the local "chiancarelle", ashlars made by local stones that are only few centimetres thick. Isolated Trulli can be found in the region South-East from Bari, but Alberobello’s unicity lies in its agglomeration, especially in Rione Monti and Rione Aia Piccola.

Da Monopoli: Str. Prov.le Monopoli - Alberobello (parkway)
Distanza totale: 20 Km circa
Link utili: www.tuttoalberobello.it -  whc.unesco.org

CASTEL DEL MONTE
A unique masterpiece of Medieval architecture, built around 1240 under the reign of Frederick II.
Universally renown for its octagonal shape, the castle has a tower for each edge, and each tower is of octagonal shape.
Such usage of the octagon has lent the building a symbolic connotation, captivating the interest of a great number of scholars.
Visiting Castel Del Monte, alongside a cultural and historical path, offers the emotion of a journey on the borders between Astrology and Astronomy.

Da Monopoli: S.S.16 northbound until Trani; Andria exit, S.S.170 until Castel del Monte
Distanza totale: 120 Km circa
Link: www.casteldelmonte.beniculturali.it - whc.unesco.org

THE SASSI AND THE PARK OF THE RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES OF MATERA
"I Sassi" (The Stones) are the ancient part of Matera, an entire city dug into calcareous rock (the "tufo"), alongside a large karst canyon called "Gravina". Continuously inhabited since the Neolithic, along the centuries they have slit into two "Rioni": the "Sasso Barisano" and the "Sasso Caveoso", divided by Civita hill, on which is located a cathedral from the XIII Century. As for the dwellings, the holy sites were dug into stones giving shape to what are nowadays known as Rupestrian Churches, often decorated with fine fresco paintings; an extraordinary example is the Crypt of the original Sin, the ‘Sistine Chapel’ of Rupestrian art.

Da Monopoli: S.S. 16 northbound until Bari; then S.S. 96 towards Altamura and S.S. 99 towards Matera
Distanza totale: 100 Km circa
Link: www.criptadelpeccatooriginale.it -  whc.unesco.org