Isnello
Isnello lies on the crest of an impressive rock
about 2,133' above sea level. The site was possibly begun in
the eighth century by the Byzantines, but is only mentioned
for the first time as a hamlet, when it was included in the diocese
of Troina in 1082. Like many other places in this district
the Rocca Asini hamlet was made a part of the diocese of Cefalu at its foundation in
1131. Similarly, in the Book of Roger of 1154 it was noted
that al-Himar
or Rocca Asini
was ‘a hamlet on the top of a mountain'.
Even so, it is nearly a hundred years later in 1250 when an
actual castle of Isnello
is first
mentioned. After the defeat of King
Manfred
in 1266 the castle passed, with all the other royal
domains, to the Angevins, although it has been claimed that Henry
Ventimiglia was its lord and was dispossessed at this point. On 2
January 1271 King Charles (d.1285)
invested his second cousin, Simon Montfort, with the land of
Isnello. Two months later on 23 March Simon murdered his
cousin, Henry Almain, in Viterbo church to the horror of all
Christendom. Within a few months Simon died at a castle near
Siena in Tuscany. It would seem unlikely that he ever managed
to see Isnello. Instead Asinelli
castrum was taken from Nicolas Geraci and given to William
Melun [Medulionis/Meledunis]
an advisor to King Charles.
With the Sicilian Vespers, Asinello passed
to Nicholas Abbate who was still holding it in 1296. By 1300 it
seems to have passed to Henry Ventimiglia who was also lord
of Geraci Siculo,
although in the late 1320s he was recorded as still holding the fee in
the list of feudal dues. Another fee was held in the hamlet of Asinello in Cefalu lordship by John Calvellis. On 27 November 1398, the castle was
seized from the Ventimiglias when King Martin (d.1409)
granted the land of Isnello with its castle to the Catalan, Arnald
Santacolomba. As late as 1558 Isnello was listed as a
fortified centre.
Description
Due to its narrow design it has long been thought, without evidence,
that the castle was Byzantine or Arab. Standing on a
precipitous boss of rock it consists of two rectangular rubble built
blocks. The square tower to the east would appear to be a
keep. Three storeys of this survive with a Romanesque arch
overlooking the town and at least the shadow of a two floored
service building can be made out on the downhill side. To the
west the narrow bailey ran along the ridge top. The church
has painted apses and from its site on the Piazza Mazzini a small trail
leads up to the castle.
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