Castel del Monte, Apulia

Coordinates: 41°05′05″N 16°16′15″E / 41.0847535°N 16.2709346°E / 41.0847535; 16.2709346
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other uses, see Castel del Monte (disambiguation).
Castel del Monte
Andria
Castel del Monte
Map
Castel del Monte is located in Apulia
Castel del Monte
Castel del Monte
Castel del Monte is located in Italy
Castel del Monte
Castel del Monte
Coordinates41°05′05″N 16°16′15″E / 41.0847535°N 16.2709346°E / 41.0847535; 16.2709346
Site history
Built1240–1250

Castel del Monte (

Constance of Sicily. In the 18th century, the castle's interior marbles and remaining furnishings were removed. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and some considered it never to have been intended as a defensive fortress.[1] However, archaeological work has suggested that it originally had a curtain wall.[2]

The castle is famous for its bold octagonal plan, and classicizing details of the architecture. In 1996, Castel del Monte was named a

Enciclopedia Italiana as "the most fascinating castle built by Frederick II",[4] it also appears on the Italian version of the one cent Euro coin.[5]

Location

Castel del Monte seen from above

Castel del Monte is situated on a small hill close to the

Andria, province of Barletta-Andria-Trani
, occupying the site of an earlier fortress of which no structural remains exist.

A document dating to 1240, in which

Capitanata to finish some works in the castle.[4] It was never finished and there is no proof that he used it as a hunting lodge as commonly thought.[4]
It was later turned into a prison, used as a refuge during a plague, and finally fell into disrepair. It originally had marble walls and columns, but all were stripped by vandals or reused in constructions nearby.

Description

Octagonal plan of the castle.

Because of its relatively small size, it was once considered to be no more than a "

hunting lodge", but scholars now believe it originally had a curtain wall and did serve as a citadel.[2] Frederick II was responsible for the construction of many castles in Apulia, but Castel del Monte's geometric design was unique.[1] The fortress is an octagonal prism with an octagonal tower at each corner. The towers were originally some 5 m (16 ft) higher than now, and they should perhaps include a third floor.[4]

Both floors have eight rooms, and an eight-sided courtyard occupies the castle's centre.

Greco-Roman architecture.[1]

Capital with faun head

The octagonal plan is unusual in castle design. Historians have debated the purpose of the building and it has been suggested that it was intended as a hunting lodge.[8] Another theory is that the octagon is an intermediate symbol between a square (representing the earth) and a circle (representing the sky). Frederick II may have been inspired to build to this shape by either the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which he had seen during the Sixth Crusade, or by the Palatine Chapel of Aachen Cathedral.

Occasionally used as a hunting lodge under

Manfred of Sicily, the castle become a state prison under the latter's victor, Charles I of Anjou: here Manfred's sons Henry, Azzo and Enzo were kept as prisoner after 1266, as well as other Hohenstaufen supporters.[4]

The main wall is 25 m (82 ft) high and the eight bastions each 26 m (85 ft). The sides of the main octagon are 16.5 m (54 ft) long and those of the octagonal towers each 3.1 m (10 ft). The castle has a diameter of 56 m (184 ft). Its main entrance faces east.

Modern era

Rear and side view

In the 18th century, the castle's marbles and other ornamentation were looted. Members of the

palace in Caserta.[1] What remains now includes fragments of a knight and a reused Roman relief, while in the Provincial Gallery of Bari there is a head fragment and a cloaked, headless bust, sometimes interpreted as Frederick II.[4] After having been abandoned for a considerable length of time, the castle was purchased in 1876 for the sum of 25,000 lire by the Italian State, which began the process of restoration in 1928.[9]

During the

15th Army Air Force headquartered a secret navigational aid station called Big Fence
at the Castel.

In the 1950s, soil around the castle was discovered to contain a bright red compound produced by a strain of the bacterium Streptomyces peucetius. Scientists named the drug daunorubicin and further development identified a related compound doxorubicin that finds use as a chemotherapeutic agent used to treat cancer.[10]

Central to the plot of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose is an old fortress known as the 'Aedificium'. This was almost certainly inspired by Castel del Monte.[11][12] It was also the set for the film Tale of Tales.

Castel del Monte is depicted on the reverse of the Italian version of the one cent Euro coin.

The castle has been often mistakenly linked to the

Templars.[13][14][15]

Castel del Monte DOC wine

Vineyards, with the castle in the distance

Around the castle is the

grape varieties filling out the rest. The whites are composed mainly of Pampanuto
(65–100%) with other local white grape varieties filling out the rest.

Red and rose grapes are limited to a

aged at least two years with one of those years in oak/wood and must have a minimum alcohol level of 12.5%.[16]

Gallery

  • Entrance
    Entrance
  • Stairs inside the castle
    Stairs inside the castle
  • Courtyard
    Courtyard
  • View from the courtyard
    View from the courtyard
  • Throne room
    Throne room
  • Fireplace remains
    Fireplace remains
  • Tower ceiling
    Tower ceiling
360° panorama of Castel del Monte's courtyard

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Castex 2008, p. 21
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-600-01635-9
  3. ^ 398rev list entry; World Heritage Committee, Report of the 20th Session, Merida 1996
  4. ^
    Enciclopedia Italiana
    . Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Images of Euro Coins - 1 cent". Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  6. ^ Castex 2008, p. 20
  7. ^ Tuulse 2002, pp. 60–61
  8. ^ Castex 2008, p. 22
  9. ^ "Castel del Monte, Castelli della Puglia, provincia di Barletta Andria Trani, pag. 1".
  10. doi:10.5301/tj.5000507
  11. ^ Haft & White 1999, p. 154
  12. ^ Castel del Monte, in-italia.com, archived from the original on 12 June 2009, retrieved 29 September 2008
  13. ^ "Morto il medioevalista Raffaele Licinio".
  14. ^ "Prontuario contro gli stereotipi e le interpretazioni fanta-esoteriche su Castello del Monte (article published on stupormundi.it)".
  15. ^ "Morto il prof. Raffaele Licinio, esperto di Castel del Monte e del medioevo". 4 February 2018.
  16. ISBN 1-55297-720-X
  17. ^ Valdameri, Carlo (2015). "Le torri poligonali" [The polygonal towers] (PDF). Ariminum. November–December 2015 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 16–17. Retrieved 16 February 2024.

Sources

Further reading

External links

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