In Melfi's castle, in 1231, Frederick II promulgated the Constitutiones Augustales: the Middle Ages' first great organic code of laws, written here at the foot of Mount Vulture. The Norman-Swabian fortress, among the South's most important, houses the archaeological museum with the Roman sarcophagus of Rapolla, a second-century masterpiece.
Melfi was a Norman capital before Palermo: five papal councils met within these walls. Today the town lives between imperial memory and Aglianico del Vulture vineyards; in October, the varola festival celebrates the dormant volcano's chestnuts.
Near Melfi
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
