Mystery castle of the south

The great Emperor Frederick II, known as Stupor Mundi – Wonder of the World, had Castel del Monte built for him in the mid-13th century. The extraordinary fortress sits on a gentle, green hill (not a mountain, as the name suggests) in the National Park of Alta Murgia, about 20 kilometres from Andria in Puglia.

No one is really sure what the function of this building was meant to be. It is thought that the fortress might have originally been used as an astronomical observatory or as an imposing hunting lodge. Its mysterious octagonal base sets it significantly apart from all the other castles in Puglia.

Some say there are mathematical connections as it is built to conform to the mystical 'golden mean'.

It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Castel del Monte is so much more than a powerful number-freak’s folly. From a distance it stands as a white block, hardly castle-material. In fact, when seen in the distance the eight featureless 24-metre high octagonal towers suggest a more prosaic explanation – wheat silos, for instance.

Some think the king planned it simply as a lodge, built as a base for grand and gluttonous feasts after hunting forays in the then heavily forested region. Its unusual shape, and the number eight prevailing inside the castle with eight rooms on each of the two storeys is still a puzzle. Controversy continues over the possibility of a mystical or obscure mathematical reason for its precise plan. Maybe astronomy played a part.

Castel del Monte is protected by splendid mythological creatures which adorn the keystones in the inside halls and the coral crushed-stone doorframes.

Certainly the stars were not in the right alignment for a couple of people connected with its building program. One legend suggests that a courtier dispatched by the king to check on the building’s progress became sidetracked on the way, to the extent that he fell in love and postponed his mission. He covered his mistake by sending back a message to Frederick that the castle was a disaster, ‘a total failure’, and blamed the architect. On hearing this malicious tale the hapless, yet innocent designer knowing that his days would be numbered once the king heard it, immediately threw himself from one of the castle towers.

To see for himself how bad it actually was, the king took the courtier with him to the Castel del Monte building site. Instead he found a triumph of architecture. Suitably livid, he ordered a fitting fate for the courtier, who shortly plummeted to his own death, from a tower.

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