The history of the South passed through Melfi's castle: the Normans made it their first capital, five popes held councils here, and in 1231 Frederick II promulgated the Constitutiones — the Middle Ages' first great organic code of laws. The ten towers command the extinct Vulture volcano; inside, the archaeological museum of the Melfese culminates in the Roman sarcophagus of Rapolla, a second-century masterpiece.
The Frederician halls and wall-walks tell of a power that spoke to Europe from here.
Our tip: combine castle and museum in the morning, then descend for a glass of Aglianico del Vulture in a wine shop: the volcano you saw from the towers is the same one that signs the wine.