I've always loved the idea of traveling but the financial reality in my life makes that pretty much impossible. There is one place (if I only ever got to pick one) that I would love to go and that is Italy. I took an art appreciation class in college and the paintings and architecture call to me.
I was doing some googling last week and found some interesting information on one of the worst drugs that I am taking - Adriamycin: The Red Devil. Adriamycin was originally isolated from bacteria found in soil samples taken from Castel del Monte, a 13th century Italian castle.
I'm copy-pasting here because I don't have much energy but I wanted you to see what I saw...totally fascinating...
Castel del Monte (Italian: Castle of the Mount) is a 13th century castle situated in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II some time between 1240 and 1250; it has been despoiled of its interior marbles and furnishings in subsequent centuries. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and might in fact never have been intended as a defensive fortress.
Castel del Monte is situated on a small hill close to the monastery of Santa Maria del Monte, at an altitude of 540 m. It lies in the comune of Andria, occupying the site of an earlier fortress of which no structural remains exist.
It was completed in 1240 and was used primarily as a hunting lodge by Frederick until his death in 1250. It was later turned into a prison, used as a refuge during a plague, and finally fell into disrepair. It originally had marble walls and columns, but all were stripped by vandals.
The fortress is an octagonal prism with an octagonal bastion at each corner. Each floor has 8 rooms and an eight-sided courtyard occupies its centre.[1] The octagon is thought to be an intermediate symbol between a square (representing the earth) and a circle (representing the sky). Frederick II may have been inspired to build to this shape by either the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which he had seen while on Crusade, or by the Palace Chapel of Aachen Cathedral.
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 government, which began the process of restoration in 1928.
Central to the plot of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose is an old fortress known as the 'Aedificium'. This was almost certainly inspired by Castel del Monte.[2][3]
Castel del Monte was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, who described it as "a unique masterpiece of medieval military architecture".[4]
Castel del Monte is depicted on the reverse of the Italian-issue 1 Euro cent coin.
I just thought all of this was totally amazing and even if I never get to go to Italy...a little bit of Italy has come to me ;)
The Red Devil
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Posted by Jenn at 10:55 AM
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