Aragonese Castle (Taranto)

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Aragonese Castle
The Aragonese Castle from the northeast

The Aragonese Castle from the northeast

Creation time : 15th century
Castle type : Moated castle
Conservation status: restored
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Tarent
Geographical location 40 ° 28 '21.4 "  N , 17 ° 14' 2.6"  E Coordinates: 40 ° 28 '21.4 "  N , 17 ° 14' 2.6"  E
Aragonese Castle (Apulia)
Aragonese Castle

The Castello Aragonese in Taranto , also called Castel Sant'Angelo , in southern Italy , is located on a small island called Isola del Borgo Antico , which is separated from the mainland of Taranto by an approximately 70 meter wide canal. In its more than 1000-year history, it was not only used to defend the city, but was also used as a prison at times.

history

The oldest part of the fortress dates back to 967 when the Byzantines began construction to protect it from the attacks of the Saracens and the Republic of Venice . This first fortification consisted of tall, narrow towers that could be defended with lances, arrows, stones, and boiling oil.

In 1487 Ferdinand I of Aragón commissioned the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini to expand the fortress into the current structure. As a result of the discovery of gunpowder , wide and low towers were required, as well as ramps or slides that made it possible to easily move cannons from one tower to another. The new fortress had seven towers, four of which were connected by curtains to form a square and the other three stood alongside the moat as far as the Mare Piccolo . The fortress was later enlarged by adding it to the Sant'Angelo tower built at the municipality's expense. The round and massive towers of the complex were each 20 meters wide and high. The Castello had two drawbridges as exits: on one side the Ponte del Soccorso (German: auxiliary bridge ), which connects the complex with today's Borgo , a suburb of the new town, on the other side connected the Ponte dell'Avanzata (German: Advance bridge ) the fortress with the Borgo Antico , a suburb of the old town, over an artificial moat.

Moat with Aragonese Castle in 1880

The Aragonese Castle was completed in 1492. Proof of this is a walled-in memorial plaque above the Porta Paterna , on which, together with the Aragonese coat of arms, the year can be seen:

"Ferdinandus Rex Divi Alfonsi Filius Divi Ferdinandi Nepos Aragonius Arcem Ha (n) c Vetustate Collabente (m) Ad Im (pe) tus Tormentorum Substinene (n) dos Quae (Ni) mio Ferutur Spiritu In Ampliorem Firmioremq (ue) Formam Restituit Millesimo CCCCLXXXXII . "

During the Spanish occupation (1502 to the beginning of the 18th century) the fortifications were strengthened by widening the moat and building a fortification with three towers.

During the Habsburg period (early 18th century) the fortress lost its importance and was used as a prison from 1707. Only in the Napoleonic period (1806–1815) did the fortress regain its original function.

In 1883 one of the towers, the so-called Tower Sant'Angelo, was demolished to make way for the navigable canal between the Mare Grande and the Mare Piccolo and today's swing bridge . The Aragonese Castle has been home to the Italian Navy since 1887 .

The first restoration work on the Castello began at the beginning of the 20th century. The last measures took place in the interior until 2005. The aim was to bring the interior back to the state of the Aragonese times. Since the last restoration, the Castello has housed a small naval museum, which focuses on medieval and modern weapon technology and fortress construction.

description

The Torrione della Bandiera

The fortress is a polygonal complex, the southern core of which is an almost rectangular building with corner towers. These towers are named Torrione S. Cristoforo , Torrione S. Lorenzo , Torrione della Bandiera and Torrione dell'Annunziata . Its outer walls are between seven and eight meters thick. The towers are connected to each other by wings , marking the corners of a spacious inner courtyard. A triangular structure called Rivellino is built in front of the southern curtain facing the open sea . To the north of the core facility there is a trapezoidal extension, at the northern end of which the Sant'Angelo tower used to stand.

Inside you can admire the St. Leonardo Chapel , which - after serving first as a guard and then as a stable over the years - was re-consecrated in 1933. Inside the chapel, the coat of arms of King Philip II of Spain and two plates made of Carparo, a typical stone of the region, depicting a holy bishop and a medieval armed warrior. When the crypt was excavated in November 2003, ceramic shards from the 13th and 14th centuries and a coin from 1245 were found under the floor.

literature

  • Giovangualberto Carducci: La ricostruzione del castello di Taranto nella strategia difensiva aragonese (1487–1492) . In: Archivio storico pugliese . No. 48, 1995, pp. 101-178.
  • Direzione Culturale del Fondo per l'ambiente italiano: Castello aragonese, Taranto (PDF; 181 kB) . Information sheet on the occasion of the European Heritage Days . September 2007.
  • Francesco Ricci: Il Castello Aragonese di Taranto. The Aragonese Castle of Taranto . Scorpione, Taranto 2007.
  • Castello Aragonese di Taranto ( Memento of December 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Enclosed in: Note della Marina . No. 44, January / February 2007 (archive version from December 29, 2009).

Web links

Commons : Castello Aragonese (Taranto)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Direzione Culturale del Fondo per l'ambiente italiano: Castello aragonese, Taranto .
  2. ^ Francesco di Giorgio e il Castello di Taranto. (PDF) In: Castelloaragonesetaranto.com. P. 5 , accessed on July 29, 2018 (Italian).
  3. ^ Francesco Di Giorgio Martini: Trattato di architettura civile e militare . Tipografia Chirio e Mina, Turin 1803, p. 136 (Italian, archive.org ).
  4. ^ Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, Vito Sivo: Studi in onore di Giosuè Musca . Edizioni Dedalo, Bari 2000, p. 320 (Italian, online preview in Google Book Search).
  5. King Ferdinand of Aragón, son of the divine Alfonso and grandson of the heavenly Ferdinand, rebuilt this dilapidated castle; he enlarged it and secured it so that it could withstand the force of the bullets - 1492.
  6. ^ Francesca Martorano: L'Architettura Militare tra quattrocento e cinquecento . In: Storia della Calabria - Il Rinascimento . Gangemi Editori, Rome 2003, p. 359, 400 (Italian, unirc.it [PDF; accessed July 29, 2018]).
  7. Castello Aragonese di Taranto - Tra presente e passato. In: Marina.difesa.it. Retrieved July 29, 2018 (Italian).