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Alessandro Gandolfi

Gabriele Tarantino, who manages the Lo Cuocio farm stay, rides a horse in Gravina in Puglia near Alta Murgia national park.

Storyteller Donato Laborante sits inside the crypt housing the Byzantine frescoes dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel in Altamura’s Masseria Jesce. Built along the ancient Roman Appian Way, the building was previously a monastery and a farm.

Castel del Monte, a 13th-century geometric fortress built by King Frederick II, overlooks the small town of Andria in the Puglia region of Italy. Built in an octagonal shape, with each of the eight corners sporting an octagonal tower, the castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996.

When bauxite extraction ended in 1978, the Bauxite Cave of Spinazzola became an illegal dumping ground for industrial textile scraps. After years of locally organized cleanup, the abandoned quarry opened this summer to the public.

Visitors walk through the recently opened Pontrelli quarry in Altamura, Italy. The site features the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in Europe.

James Bond fans may recognize Gravina in Puglia, a charming riverside town built on the edge of a ravine in the heart of Italy’s Alta Murgia national park, from 007’s leap in No Time to Die. The region’s bid to draw in more visitors includes attracting film productions and restoring abandoned archaeology sites.

Ogimi’s high concentration of centenarians is remarkable even in Japan, where more than 70,000 residents are 100 years old or over.

Residents of sub-tropical Ogimi take advantage of the area’s stunning natural landscape, which includes hiking trails leading to Hiji Falls in the Yanbaru forest.

Like many older locals in Ogimi, Misako Miyagi enjoys an active life.

During the Ungami Festival, women wade into Shioya Bay to welcome the men of the village back from sea.