| The Massafra Castle is located in the historic center of Massafra, the resort overlooks the ravine Pizzo and San Marco. Its structure and architectural motifs are similar to other castles in Puglia, with four towers arranged wishbone and linked by boundary walls. The oldest towers are circular while the tower is octagonal in the southeast.
The first definite news of the castle date back to 970.[1] In 1081 a diploma of the castle is owned by Richard Senescalco. With the Angevin domination, the castle took on the appearance of a fortress with crenellated ramparts and towers. Underwent further transformations under the Aragonese and the eighteenth century, the Imperial family rebuilt the octagonal tower and the facade towards the ravine, by the architect Mauro Manieri Lecce. The castle was then in possession of several owners and was eventually purchased by the city.
The main entrance is through a large portal from which you enter the atrium, with a central shaft and a ramp leading to the drawbridge, which are still visible the pulleys. By a grand staircase leads to rooms of the mansion. Premises are kept for different uses: stables, barns, armory, prison (corresponding to the towers via The Earth and the octagonal tower), warehouses, and neviere pecerie (where it is kept for the pitch torches). There was also a chapel dedicated to San Lorenzo. According to popular tradition, there are secret passages and a tunnel connecting the castle to the sea.
In recent years several restorations were made to the structure. In 1965 the tower was repaired in the south-west, which had collapsed and in 1975 was that the railing collapsed. Around 2000 the east tower was consolidated and restructured the square in front of the Castle. |