GUIDED TOURS ALTAMURA ITALY – PREHISTORY AND FREDERICK II DOMINATION- FOCACCIA AND RED WINE TASTING
TOUR DURATION: HALF DAY TOUR
GUIDED TOURS ALTAMURA DESCRIPTION
Altamura is located in the area of the National Park of the Alta Murgia close to the Basilicata border: here the olive and fruit trees gradually disappear, leaving the place to the austere contrast between the blue sky and the barren stone. We will meet at one of the old city center’s gates: Porta Matera, part of the ancient walls. The old urban feature is peculiar for the so-called “claustri”, narrow streets opening into small courtyards; we are in the heart of the city center and right in the middle of the main street we will come across the monumental Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption, commissioned by the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia at the beginning of the 13th century. This city tour would not be complete if we could not know and taste some of the bakery products; the city indeed has been awarded for its DPO crisp bread, known globally as the Altamura’s bread with a brown, crunchy crust and soft inside. But here you can also find the typical focaccia barese prepared with fresh tomatoes and baked in the several traditional wood-burning ovens giving even more charm to the old town… and what a fragrance! That’s why will stop in one of these old fashioned places for a small tasting of focaccia and red wine. In order to have a more accurate knowledge of the huge value of this territory, our visit will end with the Archaeological Museum where it will be possible to observe a reconstruction of the Altamura Man, a Neanderthal man who lived here about 150,000 years ago; also very interesting will be the sections consecrated to the archaic, classic, hellenistic and late antiquity periods.
