I castelli sul mare di Puglia visti dall’alto

This contribution, through the analysis of photographs taken from helicopters between 1982 and 2015, intends to investigate the maritime castles of Puglia. By reading the images it is possible to recognize the architectural characteristics, the construction models, the construction phases, the materials used for their constructions, but also the relationship with the context they belong to. Furthermore, from the comparison between the different fortifications, it is possible to highlight typological and morphological similarities and the essential relationship that the artefacts have with the characteristics of the locus to which they belong. The images, compared with other types of investigations and with the data emerging from historical investigations, allow us to highlight the transformations that have occurred over time. The aim of the contribution is to formulate, with the aid of photointerpretation, some methodological observations that can establish reading rules for the Apulian coastal castles. The images were selected through a classification of different points of view (height, frontal view, angle, etc.) in order to synthetically represent the belonging of the objects to possible categories, clearly showing their distribution and mutual relationships.