Aragonese Castle (Ischia)
The Castello Aragonese is a fortress located on a small rock island made of trachyte on the east side of the island of Ischia . It is connected to the old town of Borgo di Celsa by a brick bridge, 200 meters long , which today belongs to the municipality of Ischia with the Castello as the district of Ponte .
geography
The rocky island was created around 300,000 years ago as a dome (see lava dome ) during a volcanic eruption . It reaches a height of 113 meters above sea level. d. M. and covers an area of around 56,000 m² .
history
Origins
The first fortification was built in 474 BC. BC, which was named after its builder as Castrum Gironis . The tyrant Hieron I of Syracuse helped the inhabitants of Cumaes against the Etruscans with his own fleet and contributed significantly to their defeat at the Battle of Cumae in the waters off Lacco Ameno on Ischia. After that, the Cumans decided to give their ally the entire island in return.
The fortress was then conquered by the Parthen Operas, who finally took control of the island in 315 BC. BC lost to the Romans , who founded the colony Aenaria there. The castle was used as a defensive structure, residential buildings and some towers to monitor the sea were added. In the following centuries, the original fortress of Hieron was fundamentally converted in order to offer the resident population protection against the Goths , Vandals , Arabs , Normans , Staufers and finally the troops of the House of Anjou who were conquering the area . After the eruption of Monte Trippodi in 1301, the population increased due to the move of residents from the destroyed city of Geronda to the island, which increasingly gave the place the character of a small town.
Early modern age
The Aragonese finally gave the castle its present form: a square walled core, which is crowned by four towers. Starting from the keep of the early Anjou rule, Alfonso I of Naples and Sicily had a building built in Naples based on the model of Maschio Angioino . He also had the island connected to Ischia by a first wooden bridge, which was later replaced by a stone bridge, while until the middle of the 15th century the only access to the castle itself was through an external staircase, which today is still on the one in the direction Vivara on the side some remains can be seen. In addition, some massive fortification walls and fortifications were built to accommodate the civilian population of Ischia, including the so-called piombatoi (singular piombatoio , a kind of defensive keep ), which were supposed to ward off pirate attacks.
Inside the building were the royal living quarters as well as rooms for the court, the military and the servants. A casemate was built at the foot of the castle to serve as quarters for the garrison that served the drawbridge. The island and castle experienced their heyday at the end of the 16th century: During this time, the fortress housed families, a Clarissa monastery , a Basilian abbey, a bishopric and the residence of the prince with his garrison in 1892 . Among the thirteen churches was a cathedral where the wedding between Fernando Francesco d'Avalos , Margrave of Pescara and condottiere of the imperial troops of Charles V and the poet Vittoria Colonna took place on December 27, 1509 . Vittoria Colonna's stay between 1501 and 1536 attracted numerous Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo Buonarroti , Ludovico Ariosto , Jacopo Sannazaro , Giovanni Pontano , Bernardo Tasso , Annibale Caro and Pietro Aretino .
18th century until today
In the second half of the 18th century, under the impression of decreasing pirate attacks, more and more of the inhabitants left the island to pursue agriculture and fishing in suitable places on Ischia. In 1809 British troops under French command besieged the castle and almost completely destroyed it by cannon fire. King Ferdinand I of Sicily resettled the remaining 30 inhabitants in 1823 and converted the castle into a prison for those sentenced for life; the chambers were used as quarters for the guards. From 1851 the castle became the political prison of the Bourbon rule for the supporters of the Risorgimento , among others Carlo Poerio , Luigi Settembrini , Michele Pironti and Pasquale Battistessa were imprisoned here. In 1860, with the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi in Naples , Ischia became part of the Kingdom of Italy and the prison was dissolved.
On June 8, 1912, the government released the state property for auction, and it has been privately owned since then. To this day, management and maintenance are also in private hands.
Sights and events
- Chiesa dell'Immacolata (18th century), the dome of which dominates the castle and offers a magnificent view of the Ponte opposite.
- Convento delle Clarisse with an underground crypt (16th century) in which the naturally mummified corpses of the nuns were buried sitting upright on stone benches.
- Cattedrale dell'Assunta (14th century) with crypt with frescoes from the school of Giotto di Bondone .
- Church of San Pietro a Pantaniello (16th century), the design of which was attributed to the important Renaissance architect Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola .
- Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (16th century)
- Political prisoners' dungeon (18th century)
- Abbey of the Basiliani di Grecia
Since the 1970s, the castle has served as an exhibition space for important art shows, including works by Giorgio Morandi , Giacomo Manzù , Filippo De Pisis , Giorgio De Chirico , Pablo Picasso , Salvador Dalí and Aligi Sassu . It is also the venue for the Festival di Musica Arti e Spettacolo (“Festival of Music, Art and Theater”).
literature
- Giuseppe D'Ascia: Storia d'Ischia , Edizioni Errecci, Naples 1864
- Onofrio Buonocore: Storia di uno Scoglio , Rispoli Edizioni, Naples 1949
- Ilia Delizia: Il Castello d'Ischia , in: Napoli Nobilissima , Volume XXVIII, Issues I-IV, January – December 1989, Arte Tipografica, Naples
- AA.VV .: Ischia e le isole flegree in Guide De Agostini , De Agostini, Novara 1991
- Patrizia Di Meglio: Ischia: natura, cultura e storia , Imagaenaria, Ischia 1997
- Silvia La Padula: Il Castello Aragonese d'Ischia , Imagaenaria, Ischia 1997
- Giorgio Buchner , Alfred Rittmann : Origine e passato dell'isola d'Ischia . With an introduction by Amedeo Maiuri . Imagaenaria, Ischia, 2000
Web links
- Castello Aragonese (ital.)
- Il Castello d'Aragona (ital.)
- Photo gallery of the Castello
- detailed description of the story (ital.)
- various articles about the Castello on isoladischia.net (ital.)
Coordinates: 40 ° 43 ′ 52 " N , 13 ° 57 ′ 55" E