Castello a Mare - Palermo

The old fortress is located in the Castellammare Archaeological Park and has been extensively explored since the early 2000s.

A 3D animation of the fort complex can be found here.

This military citadel was built from the 10th century , during the Arab rule.

The citadel had a keep with turrets in the middle. A vast esplanade separated it from the city. The castle was fortified in the Norman era. Two churches adjoined it, one at the Cala, rebuilt by the Normans on a probably older existence (mosque) and dedicated by them to John the Baptist; the other, also from the Norman period, is the church of “S. Pietro la Bagnara”, who looked at the city. Fortifications with drawbridges, ditches, bastions and strongholds were later encouraged by Charles V of Habsburg to defend the primitive keep and tower. On August 29, 1593, numerous people died as a result of the explosion of two powder magazines , including the illustrious poet Antonio Veneziano, who was imprisoned there to serve a sentence for libel.

In the 15th century , under the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic, the new city wall was built, wider than the medieval one, and the mighty cylindrical tower was built at the western corner of the fortress: the "Bastion of Saint Peter" . In addition, an entrance building was added in front of the castle's factories, the so-called Aragonese Gate, which has now been completely restored. Other fortifications were added further into the Bourbon era. Among the most important are the Stronghold of San Giorgio, the Stronghold of San Pasquale and the Bastion of the Prince of Lignè.

In 1860 , the fortress was considered by the population as a symbol of the power of the Bourbons. Garibaldi entered Palermo and ordered its demolition on June 25, which was partially carried out. The rest was then used as military barracks.

Until 1922, the year in which, in order to build the new port equipment with pier, one of the most absurd urban planning disasters of Palermo was decided by the fascist government. The bulldozers of the McArthur Company of London completed the demolition of the Castello a Mare fortress , from which only the "Mastio" and the old entrance door to the fortress were partially saved. In just under a year , eight centuries of city history were razed to the ground ,

We had to wait until 1988, when a major recovery project funded by the European Union started. The Castello a Mare had remained immobile to guard the city as it grew from the 12th century onwards.

Until 1923 , the fortress had a quadrangular wall bordered on two sides by the sea and which contained a huge architectural complex, the result of constant renovations and adaptations to the different needs that arose over time.

Formerly composed of a large Arab-era keep , some Norman parts (such as the Bagnara Chapel ), fifteenth-century bastions and entrance area, a Renaissance palace , a sixteenth-century church (the Madonna di Piedigrotta, built on an ancient Arab mosque) , two low hexagonal towers and many other buildings and factories from more recent times.

Of the old buildings, part of the main tower , the cylindrical tower and the entrance body or "Aragonese door" remain.

Willem Vandenameele