Mussomeli Castle
The Castello Mussomeli is a medieval rock castle in Sicily near Mussomeli .
Building history
With the expulsion of the Anjou after the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, two power blocs formed in Sicily. The Latins , supported by King Louis of Naples , were led by the Palizzi and Chiaramonte families , while the Alagona, Moncada , Ventimiglia and Peralta families were supported by the Catalan house of Aragon . These battles between the noble families led to the construction of numerous heavily fortified castles all over Sicily in the 14th century.
One of the most impressive fortresses from this period is the Castello Mussomeli, which was built by Manfredi III. Chiaramonte was built in 1370 near the town of Mussomeli after the area had passed to him from the possession of the Genoese general Corrado I Doria . After the public execution of Andrea Chiaramonte in Palermo in 1392, King Martin I transferred the Chiaramonte possessions, including the Mussomeli Castle, to Guglielmo Raimondo Moncada . In 1397 Moncada was accused of rebellion against the king, and the castle went to the Aragonese, who sold it in 1407. After further changes of ownership, the Castello finally came to Don Cesare Lanza , Baron von Trabia e Castania, who was first awarded the title Count of Mussomeli in 1563. The castle remained in the possession of the Lanza family until the 20th century.
Building description
The castle, 778 meters above sea level, on the top of a limestone rock, is about two kilometers from Mussomeli. It lies at a height of about 80 meters and is surrounded by a double wall. It has a polygonal floor plan. The interior, with its large halls, is accessed through a gothic portal with a zigzag pattern. The widely spread Gothic ribs of the Sala dei baroni most likely had a painted wooden coffered ceiling . In the Sala del camino, the ribs of the cross vault rest on octagonal columns with leaf capitals . The castle served as a prison until the 16th century, and was soon abandoned. After a restoration of the complex by the architect Ernesto Armò, the castle was visited by the Hohenzollern emperor Wilhelm II .
literature
- Alba Drago Beltrandi: Castelli di Sicilia. Fotografi di Fosco Maraini. “Silvana” Editoriale d'arte. Milan 1956, pp. 121-122, 189.
- Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Enzo Sellerio : Castelli e monasteri siciliani . Palermo 1968, pp. 33-48.
- Giovanni Crisostomo Nucera, Giuseppe Gaeta: Il castello di Mussomeli . In: Luigi Santagati (ed.): Castelli e casali della provincia di Caltanissetta . Paruzzo, Caltanissetta, undated, pp. 87–125 with numerous illustrations and plans.
- Daniela Vullo: Mussomeli . In: Ferdinando Maurici (ed.): Castelli medievali di Sicilia. Guida agli itinerari castellani dell'isola . Regione Siciliana, Assessorato dei beni culturali ambientali e della pubblica istruzione, Palermo 2001, p. 147–149 (Italian, extensive bibliography, plans and illustrations).
Web links
- Information about the castle (Italian)
- Publications on the castle of Mussomeli in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii
Coordinates: 37 ° 34 ′ 39 ″ N , 13 ° 46 ′ 18 ″ E