The most devout - but not only - should not miss a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia), to visit the places of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the monastery of Capuchin friars of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where Padre Pio died in 1968, and the new church designed
by great architect Renzo Piano, open since 2004.
For a full immersion in history and tradition, Alberobello is a must. The town of the trulli - ancient and peculiar stone houses with a conical roof, built without mortar- is so unique that it has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Besides its trulli, Apulia hosts another UNESCO site in the town of Andria, Castel del Monte, an unrivalled masterpiece of Medieval architecture commissioned by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th Century. It is interesting to know that the number 8 is
the motif of the castle: the sides of the castle are eight, the rooms of the ground floor and the first floor are eight, and the grand octagonal-planned towers are eight-sided as well.
San Domino, San Nicola, Capraia, Cretaccio and Pianosa are the five islands of the Tremiti Archipelago, a tiny paradise where history and nature merge perfectly and offer a wonderful landscape to explore.
