Alta Murgia National Park - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The Altopiano delle Murge is a rectangular karst topographic plateau in southern Italy. Most of it is within Apulia and corresponds to the sub-region known as Murgia or Le Murge. The plateau is mainly located in the metropolitan city of Bari and the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, but extends into the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto to the south, and in Matera in Basilicata to the west. The name is believed to come from Latinmurex, which means "sharpened stone".

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.

The Ofanto, known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a 170-kilometer river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta. The river's source is on the Irpinia Plateau, at 715 meters above sea level, near Nusco and Torella dei Lombardi, in the province of Avellino. From there it runs southeast near Lioni before flowing into Lago di Conza, an artificial lake.

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.