{"id":6915,"date":"2017-08-18T09:05:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T07:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.netthe-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/"},"modified":"2017-08-18T09:05:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T07:05:31","slug":"the-mysterious-castel-del-monte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/","title":{"rendered":"The mysterious Castel del Monte"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you talk about Castel<\/strong> del Monte the “magic number” is 8<\/strong>, yes because its structure revolves all around this number.<\/p>\n

Not only its shape is octagonal<\/strong>, but also all the other parts of the structure, it is a castle studied in detail\u00a0 on the octagon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The octagonal courtyard gathers eight halls (ground floor and first floor) and eight are the towers obviously octagonal too.<\/p>\n

This charming castle is located in Puglia<\/strong>, in the town of Andria<\/strong> in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. In 1936 it joined the list of Italian national monuments<\/strong>, while in 1996 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Background<\/h4>\n

Castel del Monte<\/strong> was built by Emperor Frederick II<\/strong>, in the thirteenth century. It is uncertain who was the architect, but it seems it was built on the ruins of a former fortress that was earlier Lombard and then Norman.<\/p>\n

It is very likely that the castle was not finished yet\u00a0 when Frederick II died in 1250.<\/p>\n

From the seventeenth century it began a period of neglect<\/strong> in which all the wall decorations of marble and the furniture were removed, furthermore the castle was used as a prison, a shelter for shepherds, bandits and political refugees.<\/p>\n

Finally in 1876 Castel del Monte was bought by the Italian government<\/strong>, in 1879 the restoration works began. There were further restorations in 1928, and between 1975 and 1981.<\/p>\n

In 1996 as already mentioned above it was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, precisely because of the symbolic significance<\/strong> Frederick II imbued it with, the mathematical and astronomical precision<\/strong> of the disposition and for its exactly regular shape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But also because of the uniqueness of the architecture that is a harmonious ensemble of elements from classical antiquity, Islamic world and North European Cistercian Gothic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A very special castle: hypotheses about its function<\/h4>\n

\"castel-del-monte-dall-alto\"Castel del Monte<\/strong> is still nowadays a building full of mysteries, in fact its precise function is still unknown, here are some possibilities:<\/p>\n

Although it is commonly defined as “Castle”<\/strong> it does not really present those elements that are typical of a veritable fortress, in fact it has no typically military elements<\/strong> such as moats and it’s not placed in a strategic position.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other elements reveal that the idea of fortress is discarded.<\/h4>\n

For example: the spiral stairs in the towers are placed counterclockwise and in the case of enemy assault the soldiers would have to take up arms with the left hand; the embrasures are too tight.<\/p>\n

The idea of a hunting lodge<\/strong>; there are however neither stables nor typical rooms that the hunting lodges have.<\/p>\n

Because of the symbolism the castle is soaked with, it was thought to be a kind of temple<\/strong>, or temple of knowledge<\/strong>, where to dedicate to study of sciences<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It is also believed to be a kind of “path” perhaps tied to astronomical criteria<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An additional hypothesis is that of the “wellness centre”<\/strong> for the regeneration and care of the body, on the model of the Arabic hammam.<\/p>\n

Finally, the shape which revolves around the octagon suggests that it was built to quote the shape of the crown<\/strong>. And so Castel del Monte would be essentially a monument of the imperial power of Frederick II<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you talk about Castel del Monte the “magic number” is 8, yes because its structure revolves all around this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[572],"tags":[],"comfort":[],"localita":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe mysterious Castel del Monte - Guide Gratis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The mysterious Castel del Monte - Guide Gratis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you talk about Castel del Monte the “magic number” is 8, yes because its structure revolves all around this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guide Gratis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-18T07:05:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/castel-del-monte.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wow_admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/\",\"name\":\"Guide Gratis\",\"description\":\"Guide to the best of Italy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/castel-del-monte.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/castel-del-monte.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guidegratis.net\/en\/the-mysterious-castel-del-monte\/\",\"name\":\"The mysterious Castel del Monte - 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