Altopiano delle Murge - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The Alta Murgia National Park, abbreviated to PnAM, is a national park established in 2004 located in Puglia, in the provinces of Bari and Barletta-Andria-Trani. The administrative headquarters of the Park are in Gravina in Puglia, in Via Firenze n. 10. The park has an extension of 68,033 hectares. It extends in the highest part of the north-west Murge plateau. It coincides with a part of the largest special protection area established to protect the steppe to grasses, the habitat of the lesser

Castel del Monte, located in the municipality of Andria, rises on a rocky hill dominating the surrounding countryside of the Murgia region in southern Italy near the Adriatic Sea. A unique piece of medieval architecture, it was completed in 1240. Because of its relatively small size, it was once considered to be no more than a "hunting lodge", but scholars now believe it originally had a curtain wall and did serve as a citadel.

Built-in the Norman period, it is located on a peak about 15 km from Genzano di Lucania. The castle dominates a vast valley which was an important hinge between the territories of the Bradano dominated by the Byzantines and the northern territories of Basilicata dominated by the Lombards and Normans. Conceived by the Normans as a defensive system, it was the scene of a battle between Normans and Byzantines in which the latter were defeated.

Palombaro Lungo is the largest underground water cistern in the city of Matera and is located under the pavement of Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where rainwater and spring waters from the hills of La Nera, Lapillo and Macamarda converge. Together with other underground cisterns it forms the famous underground Matera; the cistern is part of a water collection system that extends along the entire length of the stones of Matera and was necessary for the supply of its inhabitants.

Piazza Vittorio Veneto is one of the historic and arcaded squares of Turin, located in the eastern part of the city center, between the end of Via Po and the left bank of the Po river. In fact, the square ends with the historic Vittorio Emanuele I bridge, which connects the square itself, together with the two lateral riversides and the so-called Murazzi del Po, to the right bank of the river.

The Cathedral of the Madonna Della Bruna and Sant’Eustachio is the Cathedral of Matera, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the city, and to the Christian martyr Saint Eustace. The church is located on the highest point of the old city, between the two Sassi, the ancient districts of Matera. Formerly the seat of the Bishops, later Archbishops, of Matera, it is now the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Matera-Irsina.