Centuripe Castle

Centuripe - Corradino

The town successfully held off Robert Guiscard (d.1085) and Count Roger Hauteville (d.1101) in 1061, but the castle doesn't seem to have been involved in this. It consists of a second century AD mausoleum. This was converted into a rectangular tower keep, apparently by Corrado Capece as a Swabian fortress - hence its name, Castello di Corradino. With the Muslim revolt after the death of the Emperor Henry VI in 1196, Centuripe became a centre of their resistence. The foundation of the castle as a Swabian fortress therefore probably marks the crushing of this revolt in the 1220s when the Emperor Frederick is said to have destroyed the city. Before 1330 it was held by Matthew Sclafani. He was killed before 1347 in the baronial wars.

Description
The mausoleum cum castle are set on yet another rocky outcrop. This one commands the Catania plain. The tower has no bailey and still stands some 25' high. It has a twin course sloping plinth at the base and a pilaster buttress over its first floor string course which contains Roman brick work. The lower rubble build also contains many tiles in its fabric.

Why not join me at other Sicilian castles? Information on this and other tours can be found at Scholarly Sojourns.

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