Puglia hotels collection

Castel del Monte is an octagon flanked by octagonal towers, with neither kitchens nor moat, and no one quite knows what Frederick II intended it for. The castle overlooks the Murge, a limestone plateau where dry-stone walls mark out the wheat. In Lecce, the stone leaves the quarry soft enough to be carved like wood, then hardens in the air and takes on the colour of honey; the Baroque façades are covered in garlands and chimeras. In Otranto, a single mosaic tree runs the length of the cathedral floor, borne by two elephants.