Castello di Stilo

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The Castello in August 2015

The Castello di Stilo (also: Castello normanno ) is a castle from the Norman era in Stilo in Calabria . It was built by Ruggero I di Sicilia in the 11th century on Monte Consolino .

shape

The castello has a few triangular towers. The towers in the wall are round and have loopholes. One of the towers is called the Altavilla . In the middle of the castle is a chapel with a main altar and four side altars. Rainwater was collected in a cistern under the building using pipes and channels made of earthenware tiles.

history

The first written evidence for the castle can be found on May 7, 1093 in a concession from Ruggero to San Bruno : "elegerunt itaque quondam solitudinis locum inter locum qui dicitur Arena et oppidum quod appelatur Stilum".

In the 13th century the Castello was one of 17 Calabrian forts that of the royal Curie ( Real Curia ) under Charles I were administered. It also served as a prison. It was also repaired several times during the same period, as reported in folio 233 of the Archivio della Regia Zecca from 1281. In the Registro Regio there is an entry on April 14, 1323 by the Duke of Calabria , the son of King Robert. He left the Castello to the "Nobile, Contestabile, Barone di Settingiano" Marco, whose descendants then ruled there for a long time.

In the 16th century the Castello was besieged by the Lord of the Province ( Preside della Provincia ) with 4000 foot soldiers and 2000 horsemen for three months and then left to the Duca D'Arena, as the scholar Vito Capialbi reported.

In 1677, Padre Apollinare Agresta described the area as follows in his work La vita di San Giovanni Theresti (The Life of St. Giovanni Theresti): “The city, although already fortified, is still equipped with defensive structures and has also been made impregnable by the fortress which, fortified with towers, sits enthroned on the top of the mountain and dominates this (city) with its superiority, and it gives security against every enemy, however numerous they may be: in fact, this fortress was stronger than the others in the province, it was in them Days very valuable to the king and enjoyed some privileges, including the fact that many barons and landowners had to make payments. "

The next mention comes from the 17th century, by Giovanni Fiore da Cropani in his work Della Calabria illustrata. In the 18th century in the Kingdom of Naples , the Castello was administered by a castellan who was directly subordinate to the king and who was paid two tarì per day.

The castello fell into disrepair in the 19th century. It has been restored since 2009.

Accesses

Start of the ascent to Castello Normanno next to the Cattolica di Stilo.

The Castello is a good 200 meters above the village and can be reached via two footpaths. One of the entrances to the castle leads past the church of Cattolica di Stilo and first follows the Way of the Cross , at the end of which you can already see the castle, which you reach after a short climb.

An alternative route starts at the Stilo cemetery. The path is initially paved and still passable and winds its way up to the summit. The path narrows towards the end. At a crossroads, take the right path, which gradually widens again to lead to the forecourt of the castle. On the right hand, towards the sea, you can see some old fortifications. In 2015 a small monorail was built on this way.

Legends about the Castello Normanno

The Sarrazen Siege ( L'assedio saraceno )

According to a legend, the Arab caliph Ibrahim ibn Ahmad of Sicily landed in 982 in Calabria, which was then part of the Byzantine Empire , and wanted to conquer the area. He came to the castle, which probably did not exist at that time, where the inhabitants of the region had fled on the orders of the granduca . The place could only be reached by a narrow mule track and the caliph decided to starve the castle out.

When supplies were running low, the granduca had ricotta made from the milk of women who had recently become mothers , which he threw into the caliph's camp. The Arabs believed that the castle had large supplies because they used food as ammunition and that it was impossible to starve them out. The caliph tasted the ricotta, which was unknown to the Arabs at the time, and fell ill with dysentery : the doctors in his entourage tried to cure it with a sauce made from sage , but this made the situation worse. Gabir, the caliph's nephew, therefore ordered the retreat and the castle was released. The place where the ricotta fell was called Vinciguerra , a place name that still exists today.

The goose with the golden eggs ( La gallina dalle uova d'oro )

It is said of Charles I of Anjou that after attempting to escape, he had hundreds of Stilo residents who had revolted and were imprisoned in the castle cut off their hands and feet so that they bleed to death in the castle's terrible dungeons. It was one of the prisons where it would have been pointless to lock the entrance, for it was dug into the rock just below the walls, in a dizzying wall that fell five hundred meters towards the village. You could only be abseiled from above and whoever tried to escape would have fallen to death. Few came out of the dungeon alive. There is a story about a noble woman named Regina who was accused of practicing magic and who owned a golden goose that laid a golden egg every day.

The governor Costa Peloga was a villain and wanted to get the secret out of her, but the lady did not speak. So the ruler had her beaten up and locked up in the castle. However, the lady's nephew, Costa Condomicita, came from Crotone when he heard this and went to the prince's court. In Stilo he presented the governor with rich gifts as if nothing had happened. But he allied himself with thirteen friends, and when he was invited to an opulent feast, the plot ensued: At dawn, the conspirators went to the governor's palace and were admitted. The guards were taken by surprise when they entered with their weapons raised. The governor tried desperately to escape from the window onto a terrace, but was caught and it is said that he was "brought before the people at whose hands he suffered death after suffering the worst disgrace." Costa Condomicita was elected governor and his aunt was immediately released. The chronicle says nothing about whether the lucky goose continued to lay golden eggs.

and display information about the image
Panorama of the Vallata dello Stilaro with the Castello Normanno (2012)

literature

  • Luigi Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio (History of Stilo and its surroundings). Gangemi Editore, Rome 1965, second edition 1987, ISBN 88-7448-185-3

See also

Web links

Commons : Norman castle of Stilo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 52.
  2. ↑ Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 57.
  3. ↑ Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. Pp. 53-54.
  4. ↑ Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 59.
  5. ↑ to Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 52: “La città, oltre d'esser già forte, e munita di difese, e di difenditori, what anche resa inespugnabile dal castello, che torreggiava su la cima di detto monte, che con la sua superiorità la signoreggiava, e teneva sicura da qualunque hoste ben numerosa: anzi per essere questo Castello assai forte sopra tutti gli altri della provincia, era in quei tempi preggiatissimo a 'Re e godeva alcune prerogative e fra l'altre che molti Baroni e feudatari, fossero obligazion alle di lui . ”
  6. ↑ to Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 61: “Qua i muri sono di sole pietre alzate, e queste pietre mezzanamente grand sono della stessa roccia calcarea sulla quale le torri si sollevano. Non hanno volte, o divisioni di piani diversi. Vari buchi interni e laterali vi annunziano la possibilità di formare, nel bisogno, e per comodo di difensori che la custodivano, strati provvisori di legnami: e le saettìere ei gittatoi che si veggono aperti all'altezza corrispondente sopra talita strati avvalorano l'opra talita strati avvalorano l'o . Non porte non finestre ad alcun lato, queste torri restano scoperte ed alla sommità di esse, in giro, si vede qualche merlo in forma di cono della fabbrica stessa dell'edifikio principale. Dal lato di occidente questa ha una sola apertura che comunica col rimanente del monte sino al suo vertice. "
  7. ↑ a b Cunsolo: La storia di Stilo e del suo regio demanio. P. 64.
  8. ^ Giuseppe Fiorenza: La terra senza Dio. Gangemi Editore, Rome 1995.
  9. ^ Stilo, la leggenda della gallina dalle uova d'oro. Pon Sin Mor's blog , accessed June 10, 2019.

Coordinates: 38 ° 28 ′ 50 ″  N , 16 ° 27 ′ 51 ″  E