Brucoli
This was thought to be a fourteenth century fort built to help guard
against Turkish raids on Augusta. However its origin appears to
be in 1467 when Giovanni Cabastida of Barcelona, the governor of the
commercial port had an artillery fort constructed here. Under
Charles V (d.1558) the castle was brought up to date to help deal with
the alliance between the king of Rance and the Muslim pirate Ariadeno
Barbarossa, which was formed in order to raid the Spanish controlled
coasts.
Description
The castle consists of a central
block
surrounded by a rectangular ward with round towers at the corners,
making it somewhat similar to the destroyed castle at Augusta as well
as Ursino and Maniace,
all of which would appear to be older. One corner tower has a
projecting roll moulded string course above a plinth that is similar to
the Swabian ones at Milazzo. The battlements were lost in the nineteenth century.
Why not join me at other Sicilian
castles? Information on this and other tours can be found at Scholarly
Sojourns.
Copyright©2019
Paul Martin Remfry