long live the emperor!

I would like to get in touch with (would be) Federico fans, to exchange views and information. Who's interested?

Yes, let us talk a bit about this awesome and enigmatic man. I’m not a fan, in cruelty he was just a man of his times. But as a great multicultural in a religious monoculture he is very interesting and worthwhile.

(… As I write this, I am a bit distracted by the beautiful song Hijo de la Luna sung by the great Montserrat Caballé. I take a small pause… And wasn’t Frederick himself a true Hijo de la Luna? )

It is long ago that I first met him in a course medieval history. I will not say I ran to the bookshop, but I bought immediately two books about him. The first one in a genre that is now known as “faction”: Man uit Apulië by Horst Stern. The other one the biography by David Abulafia: Frederick II: a medieval emperor.

I met him again years later in Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor, who devotes half of a chapter, with the sinister title “the Nazi twins”, to the famous German Frederick-scholar Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz (a joy to read, that book!).

In 2005 I took a trip to the beauties of Sicily and that is the last time I met him.
The American-Sicilian Mary Taylor Simeti
wrote a lovely travel book about his mother Constance, offspring of the Norman kings of Sicily and married to the Hohenstaufen Emperor Henry VI: Travels with a medieval Queen. With a friend Simeti retraces in that book the way from Germany across the Alps to Sicily that the pregnant Constanza took in 1194. On that journey at the age of forty she gave birth to her first and only child:

“The chronicles tell us that is was (in Jesi, a small place) in this piazza and in such a tent – some say in the presence of fifteen bishops, while others claim the entire population of Jesi as witness – that on the twenty-sixth of December, the feast day of Saint Stephen, the Holy Roman Empress, Constance of Hauteville, gave birth to a male child. His given names were Frederick Roger; posterity remembers him as the Emperor Frederick II, Stupor Mundi, the Wonder of the World.”

Thanks for reacting: it's wonderful to know that Federico still manages to fascinate people. I agree with him being multicultural (and above all: multilingual - he spoke no less than seven languages!) and as for cruelty: yes, I suppose he could be stern at times. Although it would seem that most acts of cruelty that were handed down can be traced to his enemies (Gregory IX and Innocentius IV to name but a few): the tear-jerking story of the orphans that were raised without communication just to find out what would be their innate language (would that be Hebrew? Would it be the language spoken in paradise?) ... that story was most probably inventend by Salimbene di Parma, who did everything to discredit Frederick.
I don't know about Frederick being a Hijo de la Luna - but he certainly was a man of music & culture & literature! Thank you for mentioning Cantor & Simeti: I will put them on my list "must buy"! The Jesi scene indeed makes great reading. Here too, we see the creepy franciscan monk Salimbene di Parma in a dark corner of Jesi main piazza: he gave birth to the gossip that Frederick was in fact the son of a butcher (or a baker)!
A lovely little booklet to read is Begegnung in Bari by Cyran, Eberhard, which is also available in Dutch! (for details, you might have a look at my Frederick library)

Thank you for Eberhard Cyran.

About this Salimbene person, in which I am very interested:

He cannot have been present at that Jesi piazza when Constanza gave birth in 1194, because he lived from 1221-1288. But I think you spoke metaphorically: of course their was, besides joy and amazement, jealousy and bad feelings on that piazza, as always is, things a later slanderer might have used.
Looking for him on the internet I find (on a site with Franciscan sources) this:

“The Chronicle of Friar Salimbene di Parma, c. 1261
Certainly the most colorful and secular of all the early sources: a look at the Order from a friar who lied, wandered and gossiped his way from monastery to monastery of the Order, throughout Europe.” With this chronicle full-text in Portuguese: http://www.procasp.org.br/capitulo.php?cCapitulo=37 Alas! Not in English.

Abulafia has him four times in the index. However, those places don’t give much about Salimbene the man.
Stern has him, in his “faction-book”, where Frederick himself speaks out harshly about Salimbene, but those things we will not trust.

Looking in libraries I found two books:

The Chronicle by Salimbene de Adam by Joseph Baird e.a. eds. (1986)

From St. Francis to Dante: translations of the Chronicle of the Franciscan Salimbene 1221-1288 by George Gordon Coulton transl. (1907).

I also found that the Coulton-edition is reprinted: http://www.vanstockum.nl/product/9162875/From-St.-Francis-To-Dante%3A-Translatio...
Rather expensive, but as I am a fan of Procopius, Liutprand and other scoundrels that make such pleasant reading and in their nasty ways enlighten our knowledge of their times, I consider to buy it.

What do you know about Salimbene?
Did you read this Chronicle? How do you consider it?

Thank you for your suggestiions; I will make good use of them! My Portuguese is unfortunately not good enough (in fact: non-existent) to make much sense of the Portuguese site. But I will certainly go after Coulton's edition of Salimbene's chronicles. No, I haven't read his chronicles yet. I have considered introducing him as a side character in a novel that I am presently writing about Frederick. Perhaps he would make a nice, sneaky, unreliable, treacherous enemy of Frederick....I have made some loose notes about him. If you like, I could send them by mail. My mail is gregordijkhuis@kpnplanet.nl : if you like, you could drop a note so that I have your address.
I immediately looked up the new Coulton edition: you're right: more than €40... is a bit costly...but certainly enticing!
You might like die frauen kaiser friedrichs II; nice edition!

Hoi Gregor,

Zoals met alles, is hier ook weer het probleem: tijd. Een groot deel van mijn vrije tijd zet ik in op lezen. Mijn belangstelling is breed, qua geschiedenis momenteel erg gericht op het Midden-Oosten en Griekenland.
Italië ligt een wel beetje aan de zijlijn.
Ik heb me bij dit onderwerp gevoegd omdat ik een paar malen intens genoten heb van boeken/artikelen over deze fascinerende Federico. Hij is zeker een historische roman waard. Geweldig dat je daar mee bezig bent!
Een snelle strooptocht over het internet leerde me dat er in Duitsland behoorlijk wat romans over hem verschenen zijn. In het Engelse taalveld minder en ik geloof in Nederland zelfs niets. Dit betekent voor jou: gat in de markt.
Op dit fantastische Librarything geeft onze collega margad haar eigen site over historische romans, de moeite van het raadplegen zeer waard, moet je zelf maar even opzoeken, zij zit bij een groep historical fiction.
En ken je deze: http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org ?

Dat was het chapiter historische roman. Voor wat betreft de geschiedenis: Kantorowics heb je al.
Op de Duitse Amazon vond ik nog dit: http://www.amazon.de/Kaiser-Friedrich-II-Pers%C3%B6nlichkeit-Mittelalters/dp/349... De Quellen!

Het boek van Salimbene di Parma lijkt me ook zeer nuttig (en zo leuk dat ik het toch maar besteld heb). Ik ben wel nieuwsgierig naar je aantekeningen, maar stuur ze me maar niet: ga er boven op zitten, het is je kapitaal.

Als jij af en toe, in het Engels of Nederlands iets over Federico meldt op deze draad, dan maak je me blij. Ook hoop ik dat nog wat meer mensen zich bij ons voegen.
Zelf zal ik me, op veel bescheidener schaal, ook weer wat met hem gaan bezighouden, en daar verslag van doen. O.a. het verhaal van zijn kruistocht intrigeert me, het was meen ik één van de meest bloedeloze kruistochten die gehouden zijn, wellicht omdat hij niet van harte ging, hij had de ware kruisvaardersgeest niet. Ook even nakijken of en wat Anna Comnena over hem geschreven heeft.
Maar eerst moet ik mijn Midden-Oostencyclus afronden.

Oef! Anna Komnena leefde van 1083-1153...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Komnene

Re. the sources on Frederick II, the later published supplementary volume of Kantorowicz is quite interesting. There were already a lot of contemporary critics of his biography when the book came out and he later published this 2nd volume to show that he his text was based on the sources. This supplemenetary is not available in print, as far as I can see, but you can get out-of-print copies, for example on AbeBooks:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Kantorowicz&bi=0&bx=off...

I'm currently reading the recent biography on the French king St. Louis written by Jacques LeGoff. It's quite interesting to compare the two rulers ... what's similar, what's different...

Dag Marieke,

Leuk dat je van een afstandje blijft meedenken en meezoeken naar draadjes en gegevens over Frederik. Ik ga meteen snuffelen op de sites die je noemt (wat ben je daar ontzettend handig in!). Het "Quellenboek" met verslagen van tijdgenoten heb ik: een schat aan bruikbaar materiaal!
Frederiks kruistocht was een beauty. Aanvankelijk zou hij gegaan zijn in 1227 maar nog voor vertrek werd hij ziek - en moest de trip afbreken. Dat kwam hem ogenblikkelijk op een excommunicatie te staan (de eerste van de drie!) van Gregorius IX. Toen hij uiteindelijk in 1229 toch ging, deed hij dat dus niet met de steun van de Kerk, die het ook al niks vond dat Frederik onderhandelde met de Sultan in plaats van flink bloed te vergieten. Uiteindelijk sloot Frederik (zonder te vechten!!) een contract met Sultan Al Malik, waarbij de Franken (zoals christenen werden genoemd) voor een periode van 10 jaar (de maximale duur van een verdrag dat een moslim mag sluiten met een niet-moslium) het gezag over de heilige steden terugkregen. een fantastisch resultaat - maar het werd hem dooor de Kerk niet in dank afgenomen. Bij terugkomst waren Pauselijke troepen (de "sleutelsoldaten") zijn Koninkrijk binnengevallen. So much for erkentelkijkheid en waardering voor services rendered. Geen wonder dat Frederik weinig meer ophad met prelaten!

Hello Udo, yes Kantorowicz is certainly (and has always been) under debate. His positive approach to Frederick (he's a real fan!) is perhaps a bit biased... no wonder that he was quite popular at the time of the Third Reich - even though he was of Jewish descent!

I had been a Frederick II "fan" for some time when I bought Mann aus Apulien at the same time I bought what became my favorite bio of him, Friedrich der Staufer; die Biographie. I fear I did not particularly like the Stern book. I wish I could suggest the Horst bio to more friends, but I don't think it's been translated into English. I found it a nice middle ground between Kantorowicz's rather romanticized Frederick II and Abulafia's, which I feel buys in to too much papal propaganda. There's also a rather interesting novel by Cecelia Holland, Antichrist, which just came up in Touchstones when I was trying to get the Kantorowicz title up.

Udo and others interested in sources: If you can find it(I got it three times via Inter-Library Loan), there's Heinisch, Klaus M. Kaiser Friedrich II. in Briefen und Berichten seiner Zeit, 1968. Or the one that does the same thing that I WAS eventually able to track down: Van Eickels, Klaus - Tanja Brüsch, Friedrich II. Leben und Persönlichkeit in Quellen des Mittelalters, 2000. Even second-hand, such books can get expensive because of the postage from Germany to the US, though!

Does Touchstones have something against out of print books? It won't load the Heinisch.

> 13

The Heinisch won't touchstone because, it seems, no one has listed the book on LibraryThing. Touchstones work through a search of books catalogued on the site.

Aha! I haven't loaded Heinisch because I don't own the book. I only have two listed that I don't actually own.

Dear all,
I just joined this group and had a look at the site "stupormundi".
What I miss for the moment is information on the interaction during Frederick II's reign between Christians and Muslims.
Does anyone have some ideas, tips, links,...?

Do you read German? The best Fred II sources I've found only exist in German, I fear. There's information on Christians and Muslims in the Klaus van Eickels book. I don't remember offhand which English bio offers more.

Although his approach is western and his point of view rather German, Wolfgang Stuerner (Friedrich II) is high quality!

Een aanrader: de grote Staufer expositie in Mannheim

I was just reading about the Staufer Ausstellung and wishing I could go 8-( What I was reading, however, was actually a book review of sorts and wondering whether I really wanted to pay something like $100 for 2 volumes. . .

No, you don't. You can have it for approximately $60 (€45,=) if you become a member of the excellent German book society WBG (Wissenschaftlicge Buch Gesellschaft) . If you consider membership (easy, cheap, very reasonable conditions) let me introduce you, and we'd both profit

I know what heavy books cost to send from Germany to the US. When I look at prices, I automatically add a large amount for postage. When I actually made it to the Otto Ausstellung in Magdeburg a few years ago and bought the two volumes there, I went straight to the post and mailed them home. Ouch! I've also ordered out of print books that came from Germany and though the prices weren't bad, the postage WAS!

Alas; in that case your only hope remaining is to emigrate to Europe!

Unusual books find their way to me even over here in the hinterland, though 8-). When I was in Kalamazoo,Michigan at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in early May, a friend asked whether I'd noticed the Fred II book at one of the exhibiter's tables. I investigated. That copy had been sold( when there's only one copy there, it can be claimed and paid for, but not picked up until the last day), but they could ship me one from their warehouse. When it arrived, I opened it up and realized it was in German. Obviously my German reading skills are still in excellent order, because I hadn't noticed that. It was a Fred II book with great illustrations and I didn't have it already. It's a collection of essays, of which I've only read one so far. it's really heavy!

By whom was it? Was it published on occasion of the Frederick exhibition of 2008 in Oldenburg? If you wish to try your hand with the Dutch language (why not, if you also speak German) you might have a look at my Frederick-website: www.stupormundi.net
Have a nice weekend!

I've been so busy with other things that I hadn't looked closely, meaning I leaped into the middle without looking at the beginning 8-) Yes, it comes from Oldenburg, and I presume that means the exhibition you mention.
As for reading Dutch, no, that's hard work, whereas reading German is almost second nature, even after many years of not reading a great deal of it. My study of other(older) languages is too many decades in the past(1970's), and that was when I actually learned to read a little Dutch as well. All I use nowadays is a little Mittelhochdeutsch because I sing in it. Modern German never gets rusty because I keep finding books I want to read that are in German.

P.S. I just realized I hadn't added it to my Librarything list and did so, including the cover, which I scanned for the occasion 8-)

Now this is interesting! I visited the Oldenburg museum myself and carried home with me the same, heavy book. One year later, there was an Otto IV exhibition in Brunswick. And although form a Staufer point of View, I regard Otto as "the enemy", I spent a few (glorious) days there. With the same result: 5 tons of Otto literature.

I once visited the exhibition of an earlier Otto in Magdeburg and mailed the books home. It was rather expensive, but I was traveling with a small backpack and they were HEAVY!

The same thing happened to me when I visited the Staufer exposition in Mannheim last October. But the books were well worth carrying!

I discovered this thread by chance and gladly join it as an old fan of our Frederick, who always fascinated me since my adolescence - and now I'm 80+. This fascination became overbearing some 35 years ago, when I undertook week-long "On the tracks of F" - trips of Apulia and Sicily. In Apulia I was thunderstruck by Castel del Monte, of which the "metaphysical" imge is still very much alive for me. Generally speaking, in Apulia in my opinion there were more impressive traces of F., despite the tomb being in Palermo Cathedral.
I list below the relevant books I read and own. They happen to be all in Italian, although I read also English and French, but - alas - no German or Dutch.
1. Federico II, l'unico genio fra i sovrani tedeschi - Italian 1981 translation of the German 1977 Friedrich der Staufer, Eine Biographie, by Eberhard HORST.
2. Federico II di Svevia, the Italian 1978 translation of the English 1957 Frederick of Hohenstaufen by Georgina MASSON. Old, but easily readable.
3. Federico II, Immagine e potere, a cura di Maria Stella MARIANI e Raffaella CASSANO. Catalogue of the exhibition in Bari February - April 1995.
4. Federico e la Sicilia - dalla terra alla corona - archeologia, architettura a cura di Carmele Angela DI STEFANO e Antonio CADEI. Catalogue of the exhibition in Palermo December 1994 - May 1995.
5. Idem - arti figurative e suntuarie - a cura di Maria ANDALORO - 2nd part above catalogue .

6. Il figlio di Costanza - Federico I, by Costantino di SANNICANDRO, a short fanta-history modern novel, which casts doubts even on the identity of the MOTHER of Federico. (Shadows of Salimbene?). The redeeming feature is a great interest for Castel del Monte, which I believe is one of the most suggestive monuments of its era's Western architecture.
7. A couple of books about the above Castel del Monte.

Long live our Emperor's Universal Spirit - which we badly need also today.

I love F. II, despite the fact that his granddad, the Barbarossa, was a great enemy of us, Milanese citizens. And I try not to think about his father....

.

I DIDN'T REGISTER YET THE ABOVE BOOKS IN MY LT CATALOGUE.

Some of my Fred II books are in German, as are a couple about the Staufer with chapters about him. And I have a lovely one in English about Castel del Monte, but haven't visited it 8-( Mine are all listed in my LibraryThing catalog.

I am very happy with your reading suggestions!

I confess that one of the main scopes of this note is to keep "alive" our conversation.
A lady, interested in our Emperor, but not yet a member of our group, told me on LT about a well-written book, which might be interesting for some of us:
Josef MUEHLBERGER: Lebenweg und Schiksale der staufischer Frauen
The above lady read time ago the Italian translation, by BIBBO and SOCCIO, published by Adda in Bari back in 1979.
Long live the Emperor! - and his many ladies, too.

Thank you, nisgolsand!
I'll be member of this group, but my english is so bad :(

I suggest only Italian readers also:

La sposa normanna _ Carla Maria Russo, ed. PIEMME

http://www.qlibri.it/narrativa-italiana/romanzi-storici/la-sposa-normanna/

ISBN 978-88-384-7546-7

a biografical history of Costanza d'Altavilla and her son.

Our Emperor manged to do good things, even when he was wrong.
Starting from the time of the Barbarossa, the small town of Urbino was a faithful ally of the Staufers, bitterly suffering at the hands of their enemies.
Instead of increasing the town's liberties, our Frederick II "donated" it in 1213 to a Buonconte, Count of Montefeltro. The inhabitants kept him at bay till 1234, but finally had to accept the count as their lord. The Montefeltro family had many ups and downs during the following two centuries, but around 144o expressed one of the most outstanding of the outstanding Renaissance princes: Frederick Ii (nomen omen?), first Count and afterwards Duke of Urbino, who built a fabulous palace and had as courtiers some of the geniuses of his time, artists, literates etc. Even today, after almost seven centuries URBINO's fame is based on the genial MONTEFELTROs' rule. Therefore, our Stupor Mundi, had somehow acted in a positive way.
Obviously, this post is written by a fan and not a scholar of our own Frederick II - Long live the Emperor!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/c0.0.260.260/p403x403/485...

This is Federico II' s sword!

Wonderful!

Spada da cerimonia di Federico II di Svevia

realizzata a Palermo, ante 1220

(Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Schatzkammer, inv. XIII 16)

Lama in acciaio, impugnatura ed elsa in legno rivestito di placche d’oro decorate a smalto e filigrana; il pomo d'argento dorato con l'aquila imperiale e il leone di Boemia è un’aggiunta dell’epoca di Carlo IV (Praga, terzo quarto del XIV secolo).

Fodero di legno con pergamena, involucro di lino con placche d'oro, perle e quattro rubini all’imboccatura. Dette placche sono in parte decorate con boccioli avvolti di filigrana su campi triangolari riempiti da filigrana "a vermicelli", in parte con disegni geometrici in smalto cloisonné (tecnica di lavorazione con la quale la superficie da decorare è divisa in microsettori corrispondenti al disegno – da riempire di pasta vitrea – tramite striscioline metalliche; a vetrificazione avvenuta, le striscioline appaiono come linee che separano i vari colori e “disegnano” la superficie decorata).

La spada fa parte del parato utilizzato nel 1220 per l'incoronazione di Federico II a Roma, e da lui stesso commissionato agli opifici palermitani. Nel Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna sono conservati anche i guanti appartenenti allo stesso corredo, mentre assai simile per stile e tecnica esecutiva risulta la corona proveniente dalla tomba di Costanza d’Aragona, una delle mogli dell’imperatore, oggi conservata nel Tesoro del Duomo di Palermo.

More info on this sword is found here:

http://www.khm.at/sammlungen/weltliche-schatzkammer/ausgesuchte-meisterwerke/

I suppose you all read "The sea of faith", where the author is rather dismisive about Frederick II.

Thanks!

I don't read yet this book!

Now it's in my wishlist ;)

The title suggests I wouldn't love it madly anyway.

It's His birthday and therefore let's say again Long Live the Emperor!
A friend and fellow admirer of STUPOR MUNDI let me have two books which might be of interest forsome of us, band of friends:
- Bianca TRAGNI - Il mitico Federico II di Svevia, Bari, Mario Adda Editori (2010). Te author is obviously a fan, who tells an admiring story. There are, however, a foreword and a posface by a more famous Italian historian, Franco CARDINI, who tries to paint the picture of Frederick as a more "normal" Middle Age soverign, who considered himself as a devout Catholic, despite temporary purely political misunderstandings with a few Popes.
- Jean-Marie MARTIN - Foggia nel medioevo - Bari, Congedo Editore, (1998) a modernly written history of the town of Foggia, one of Frederick's capitals (not very far from fabled Castel del Monte). MARTIN describes at some length the relationship between the town and the Emperor. Unlike the previous volume, this one is very academic, with lots of precise footnotes etc.
I formulate my best Season's Greetings to all the members of our thread / Conversation. Please keep it alive.
Alessandro

I wish all STUPOR MUNDI fans a happy and wonderful 2013!
Gregor

I consider Castel del Monte as our Emperor's most important contemporary live inheritance and therefore I recently added, via Amazon:
- FALLACARA & OCCHINEGRO: CdM - Nuova ipotesi comparata sull'identità del monumento.
- MOLA, Stefania: CdM
- CARDINI, Franco: CdM e l'identità italiana
The first volume contains a modern architectural analysis. Publisher Gangemi. It is in Italian and English.
The second one is a small. detailed and enlarged tourist guide. in the "Puglia" series of publisher Adda.
The third one, is by one of Italy's most important contemporary historians. He doesn't particularly appreciate our Emperor and thinks that his fame was "overblown" by Italian historians of the last 150 years (Italian Unity), "ghibellini" in contrast to the "guelfi" pro Papal States. Publisher il Mulino.
I hope that other members will share eventual additions to their Stupor Mundi library and other news in this connection. We shouldn't let our "talk" piece die or fade away!!!
Alessandro

Recently, I added Lo stupore del mondo by Cinzia Tani, ISBN-13 9788804582748
Mondadori

A historical novel that intended to evoke the FII's period.

Amusement book ;)

Thnaks for your suggestions! I put them all on my "wish list"

Seems attractive; do you know when it was published? It seems I can't order it (yet) with Amazon

It was published in 2009

>44 lavecchiastrega: ff - I'm grateful to lavecchiastrega for introducing me to Cinzia Tani's book and also - specially - to Bianca Tragni's "Tutte le donne dell'imperatore". Whilst also writtem from a feminine viewpoint it's less YA literature and more informative, more "historical". I got it only now, but I intend to enjoy it as my first reading of the coming 2014.
Long live all the members of our group and the memory of our Stupor Mundi 819 years after his birth.

I added this book to my shelf:

http://www.librarything.it/work/14587482/book/104753977

A small and smart dictionary of celebrities and non, who lived in Federico II's age.
Happy new year to all members of Stupor Mundi

I recently acquired from an Austrian publisher a small facsimile of "Das Falkenbuch Friedrichs II", German title of our Emperor's only book "De arte venandi cum avibus". The translation of the text and the comment (by WILLEMSEN) are in German, which I don't know, but it seems that the original of the ms is very close to F. himself and / or his son Manfred. Although a bit small, the illustrations of the birds are really fine. The Latin text is "almost" readable.
"My" edition is a reduced size facsimile (about 20 cm tall) and costs about Euro 100. The same publisher offers also a major, full size, edition at about Euro 3000.
I beg our common friend lavecchiastrega to let me know if some Italian translation of the De avibus is currently available.
Vivat Stupor Mundi!

There are:

http://www.anobii.com/books/De_arte_venandi_cum_avibus/9788842059769/01fb0096985...

http://www.firenzelibri.net/catalogo-libri-Federico-II-di-Svevia-De-arte-venandi...

Please: rispondi alle mie mail :)

If you prefer, in french, there is this:

http://www.libreriadellaspada.com/federico_ii_de_arte_venandi_cum_avibus_lart_de...

>51 lavecchiastrega: - Thank you - I just ordered the book from firenzelibri.

Castel del Monte always fascinated me since - almost 30 years ago - I first visited it and I own and read quite a few books about it, but I only now met the following remark on "its numbers":
Our wonder's numbers: 1 castle / 2 Entrance gates and floors / 3 towers with stairwells, as well as gates and windows opening into the central courtyard / 5 hearths, pensile reservoirs, small rooms inside the towers / 8 sides, towers, halls etc / 13 monophores looking towards the central courtyard / 21 "modiglioni" over the lower front / 34 quatrefoils in the "modiglioni".
Summing up: 1 / 2 / 3 / 5 / 8 / 13 / 21 / 34 - part of the Fibonacci series, a most important one in mathematics and nature. Our Federico was a friend and protector of this great mathematician.
I'm aware that you can play ad infinitum with numbers, but the above game is quite nice and I believe it's worthwhile to share it.
I read the above in an article in "Sette" a mass circulation Milan weekly. The same tells also that in Lucera they will have from the 16th to the 20th of September next a "Festival della Letteratura Mediterranea" inspired by the spirit of our intercultural Puer Apuliae.
Long live the Emperor!

One of the outstanding personalities around our Emperor was Pier delle Vigna/e, who inspired Dante's immortal verses in Inferno, Canto XIII (Suicides). For those of our group who are really interested, there is a new book: L'Epistolario di Pier della Vigna, Rubbettino Editore, 1160 pagine, Euro 59. Latin and Italian texts. It contains letters and other papers by Piero, the first Minister of Federick, who in 1349 arrested and tortured him as a traitor.
A bit Henry VI horrible style, but who was right?
Long live the Emperor!

A Happy New Year to all those who cherish His memory.
Long live the Emperor!