"Every earthly sweetness is exceeded by the friendliness of its land’. This is how the Emperor Frederich II of Swabia defined the Puglia, the prefered land of his entire reign which he also called ‘the pupil of our eyes’. Even today, the Puglia is a fertile region able to produce oil, wines and every type of vegetable of the highest quality. Such abundance cannot be found in any other region in the south of Italy. Frederich II, named ‘stupor mundi’ for the admiration he aroused, was a unique figure of cosmopolitan king. Of Germanic descent, he was actually related to the famous Barbarossa, son of a Norman princess, born in Jesi in the Marche and crowned Emperor at Acquisgrana and then king at Jerusalem. He was impassioned by the Islamic language and culture during his crusade in the Holy Land and became friend of the Sultan of Egypt, son of Saladin. When asked about his fatherland, he did not hesitate to name Puglia where he felt at home. His sepulchre lays in the Cathedral at Palermo. He ordered buildings such as Castle of the Mount (Castel del Monte) to be built in Puglia. The castle is a geometric jewel of white stone which dominates, from the heights, the panorama of the table-land and the Gargan. My homage to the Puglia starts here, with a tribute to the great Frederich, a man of power who, even in the times of the crusades, knew how to be a bridge between the Orient and the West.