Itsukushima Shinto Shrine

Itsukushima Shrine is known for its beautiful torii gate, that appears to float on the water

The Torii of Itsukushima Shrine

This postcard was sent by Saori

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), best known for its "floating" torii gate.

The shrine has been destroyed several times, but the first shrine buildings were probably erected in the 6th century. The present shrine dates from the mid-16th century, and is believed to follow an earlier design from the 12th century. 

The Torii of Itsukushima Shrine

This postcard was sent by Hiroko

The dramatic gate, or torii, of Itsukushima Shrine is one of Japan's most popular tourist attractions, and the most recognizable and celebrated feature of the Itsukushima shrine. Although a gate has been in place since 1168, the current gate dates back only to 1875. The gate, built of decay-resistant camphor wood, is about 16 metres high. The placement of an additional leg in front of and behind each main pillar identifies the torii as reflecting the style of Ryōbu Shintō (dual Shinto), a medieval school of esoteric Japanese Buddhism associated with the Shingon Sect. - in: wikipedia

The Trulli of Alberobello

Alberobello was a must-see. It's true that it's almost 100% dedicated to tourism, but it's worth the visit. It's a very beautiful place.

Trulli of Alberobello

Alberobello is a small town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It has 10,237 inhabitants (2022) and is famous for its unique trullo buildings.

Miniature replica of Alberobello

This postcard was given to me by a lady at a gift shop where you can see a miniature replica of Alberobello.

Trulli of Alberobello

This postcard was sent by Isabella

The history of the trulli is linked to the Prammatica De Baronibus, an edict of the 15th-century Kingdom of Naples that subjected every new settlement to a tribute. In 1481 the Counts of Conversano D'Acquaviva D'Aragona from 1481, owners of the territory of Alberobello, then imposed on the residents that they built their dwellings dry, without using mortars, so that they could be configured as precarious buildings and easily demolished.

Trulli of Alberobello

This postcard was sent by Pasquale 

Having to use only stones, the peasants found in the round form with self-supporting domed roof the simplest configuration. The roofs were embellished with decorative pinnacles representing the signature of the architect (master trullaro). - in: wikipedia

Via Appia. Regina Viarum

Brindisi was the place I wanted to go mainly to find postcards of the Appian Way. The city is fantastic and full of history, but I was a little disappointed with the postcards I found. Well, at least I found some. Via Appia is the oldest and most important of the great roads built by the Ancient Romans

Brindisi (Roman Pillar in the Letter A)

Brindisi is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an essential role in trade and culture due to its strategic position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city remains a major port for trade with the Balkan Peninsula, Greece and the Middle East.

Under the Romans, Brundisium – a large city in its day with some 100,000 inhabitants – was an active port, the chief point of embarkation for Greece and the East, via Dyrrachium or Corcyra. It was connected with Rome by the Via Appia and the Via Traiana. The termination of the Via Appia, at the water's edge, was formerly flanked by two fine pillars. Only one remains, the second being misappropriated and removed to the neighbouring town of Lecce. - in: wikipedia

Roman Pillars of Brindisi

The Roman Columns rests has always been considered the symbol of Brindisi.
For many years the columns, thought to symbolise the ending of the road, 'Via Appia', was in fact a referral of that time to navigators of the port of Brindisi.

Capital of the Roman Pillar of Brindisi

Of the two twin columns only one is intact, with a sculptured capital, at the top, recently replaced with a copy. Nowadays the original capital is into the museum of Nervegna Building, it's decorated with four anthropomorphic figures, one for each side, depicting Neptune, facing the sea, on the side opposed Jupiter, Mars and Minerva on the other two sides.

The other column, which fell in 1528, only the base and a rock are still in place; the other part was given as a gift to the city of Lecce, to form a part of the column to St. Oronzo. in: https://www.porto.br.it/bpi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2822%3Ale-colonne-romane-&catid=70&Itemid=815&lang=en

The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

The second UNESCO site we visited was Matera. Despite the infernal heat, it was well worth it!

Matera

The Sassi di Matera are ancient cave dwellings in the Italian city of Matera, Basilicata. Situated in the old town, they are composed of the Sasso Caveoso and the later Sasso Barisano.

Matera

Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera" (meaning "stones of Matera"). The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia. Many of them are really little more than caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the developing modern city.

Sasso Caveoso

This postcard was sent by Gosia

Until the late 1980s the Sassi was considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels there. - in: wikipedia

Castel del Monte

Exactly one week ago I was returning from Italy, where I spent my holidays with family and friends and where we visited some UNESCO sites. Castel del Monte was the first.

Castel del Monte

Castel del Monte is a 13th-century citadel and castle situated on a hill in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built during the 1240s by King Frederick II, who had inherited the lands from his mother Constance of Sicily. In the 18th century, the castle's interior marbles and remaining furnishings were removed. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and some considered it never to have been intended as a defensive fortress. However, archaeological work has suggested that it originally had a curtain wall.

Castel del Monte

The castle is famous for its bold octagonal plan, and classicizing details of the architecture. In 1996, Castel del Monte was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which described it as "a unique masterpiece of medieval military architecture". Described by the Enciclopedia Italiana as "the most fascinating castle built by Frederick II", it also appears on the Italian version of the one cent Euro coin.

Castel del Monte

This postcard was sent by Cristina

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. Frederick II was responsible for the construction of many castles in Apulia, but Castel del Monte's geometric design was unique. The fortress is an octagonal prism with an octagonal tower at each corner. The towers were originally some 5 m (16 ft) higher than now, and they should perhaps include a third floor.

Castel del Monte

This postcard was sent by Pasquale

Both floors have eight rooms, and an eight-sided courtyard occupies the castle's centre. Each of the main rooms has vaulted ceilings. Three of the corner towers contain staircases. The castle has two entrances, an unobtrusive service entrance and an ornate main entrance. Frederick II's main entrance featured elements from classical architecture such a pediment supported by rather thin fluted pilasters, and may have been influenced by Frederick II's interest in Greco-Roman architecture.

Castel del Monte

This postcard in the shape of a t-shirt was sent by Pasquale

In the 18th century, the castle's marbles and other ornamentation were looted. Members of the House of Bourbon took the marble columns and window frames and reused them at their palace in Caserta. What remains now includes fragments of a knight and a reused Roman relief, while in the Provincial Gallery of Bari there is a head fragment and a cloaked, headless bust, sometimes interpreted as Frederick II. After having been abandoned for a considerable length of time, the castle was purchased in 1876 for the sum of 25,000 lire by the Italian State, which began the process of restoration in 1928. - in: wikipedia

Royal Capetian Fortresses of Languedoc

I've already been in Carcassonne. The postcards of the other fortresses I found them in one of the many trips I did between Portugal and Switzerland.

Fortresses of Languedoc

The serial property comprises eight fortified sites – Castle and ramparts of Carcassonne and the fortresses of Aguilar, Lastours, Montségur, Peyrepertuse, Puilaurens, Quéribus, and Termes – representing a core part of the Capetian defensive system established in the 13th–14th centuries following the Albigensian Crusade. Built on rugged rocky ridges in strategically significant locations, these fortifications formed the backbone of the newly created seneschalty of Carcassonne, asserting the authority of the seneschal over the former territories of independent feudal lineages. Together, they illustrate the political, military and territorial consolidation of the Capetian Crown in Languedoc through ostentatious architecture adapted to dramatic topography. - in: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1755/

Cité de Carcassonne

The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne, in the Aude department, Occitania region.

The fortified city consists essentially of a concentric design of two outer walls with 52 towers and barbicans to prevent attack by siege engines. The castle itself possesses its own drawbridge and ditch leading to a central keep. The walls consist of towers built over quite a long period. One section is Roman and is notably different from the medieval walls, with the tell-tale red brick layers and the shallow pitch terracotta tile roofs. One of these towers housed the Catholic Inquisition in the 13th century and is still known as "The Inquisition Tower". - in: wikipedia

Châteaux de Lastours

The Châteaux de Lastours are four so-called Cathar castles in the French commune of Lastours in the département of l'Aude. The four castles are on a rocky spur above the village of Lastours, isolated by the deep valleys of the Orbeil and Grésilhou rivers. They were built at an altitude of 300 m along a rock wall just 1,300 ft (400 m) long by 165 ft (50 m) wide. Cabaret, Surdespine and la Tour Régine stand in line, while Quertinheux is built on a separate pinnacle close by. 

In the Middle Ages, the site belonged to the lords of Cabaret, mentioned for the first time in 1067. Their wealth came mainly from the exploitation of iron mines.

The castles at Lastours were a centre of Cathar religious activity during the 13th century. The castle village sheltered numerous 'Perfects' homes and the Cathar bishops went to stay in Cabaret: Arnaud Hot, Pierre Isarn and Guiraud Abith. In 1229, the fortress launched the Cathar resistance in the Languedoc. This period was called the Guerre de Cabaret (War of Cabaret). - in: wikipedia

Château de Montségur

The Château de Montségur is a former fortress near Montségur, a commune in the Ariège department in southern France. Its ruins are the site of a razed stronghold of the Cathars. The present fortress on the site, though described as one of the "Cathar castles," is actually of a later period. 

In about 1204, Raymond de Péreille, one of the two lords of Montségur, the other being his cousin Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, decided to rebuild the castle that had been in ruins for 40 years or more. Refortified, the castle became a center of Cathar activities, and home to Guilhabert de Castres, a Cathar theologian and bishop. In 1233 the site became "the seat and head" (domicilium et caput) of the Cathar church. It has been estimated that the fortified site housed about 500 people when in 1241, Raymond VII besieged Montsegur without success. The murder of representatives of the inquisition by about fifty men from Montsegur and faidits at Avignonet on May 28, 1242, was the trigger for the final military expedition to conquer the castle, the siege of Montségur. - in: wikipedia

Château de Peyrepertuse

Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, in the Aude département, and has been associated with the Counts of Narbonne and Barcelona.

It is located on a limestone ridge at about an altitude of 800 m, on top of a hill which separates Duilhac from the town of Rouffiac-des-Corbières, towering over scrubland and vineyards. A strategic position which enables one at the same time to see far into the valleys that circle it, to control the mountain passes, or to send communication signals to the château de Quéribus a little further south. - in: wikipedia

Château de Quéribus

The Château de Quéribus is a ruined castle in the commune of Cucugnan in the Aude département of France.

Queribus is one of the "Five Sons of Carcassonne", along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puilaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the French border against the Spanish, until the border was moved in 1659. - in: wikipedia

Château de Puilaurens

The Château de Puilaurens is one of the so-called Cathar castles in the commune of Lapradelle-Puilaurens in the Aude département.

The castle is located on Mont Ardu. This name appears for the first time in 958 in a charter where Lothair confirms the donation of Sunifred II, Count of Urgell, lord of Fenouillèdes, at the Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa of the provostship of Puilaurens which is composed of the Boulzane valley or Sainte-Croix valley. - in: wikipedia

The 8 fortresses (in red what I have individually):

• Château et remparts de Carcassonne
• Château d’Aguilar
• Châteaux de Lastours
• Château de Montésgur
• Château de Peyrepertuse
• Château de Quéribus
• Château de Puilaurens
• Château de Termes