Squillace Castle, Squillace, Italy

Squillace Castle was built on the ruins of a monastery when the Normans conquered Squillace in 1044. Throughout the years it was conquered and ruled by various families – one of which being the Borgia family. The Borgia family was an Italian-Spanish noble family that become prominent during the Italian Renaissance. Between 1494 and 1735, Squillace was governed by the Borgia Princes.

In 1793, an earthquake severely damaged parts of the castle but that didn’t stop King Giuseppe Bonaparte (Napoleon’s older brother – the King of Naples and Sicily, and later King of Spain), from turning the castle into a prison which remained this way until 1978.

At this point, the castle began its restoration and the results can be seen today. It doesn’t have the appearance of its original structure but there is an interesting mesh of architectural structures giving the castle its unique look. The exterior of the castle is made up of two towers – one of which is cylindrical while they other is polygonal. The main entrance has the Borgia family coat of arms proudly displayed and around the piazza there are still remnants of the outer walls.

During renovations in 1994, two mysterious and infamous guests were discovered. Two skeletons were unearthed in the polygonal tower wrapped in a tender eternal embrace. They date back to anywhere between 1200 and 1300 AD.

What intrigued researchers the most was not only their position but the fact that the skeletons didn’t appear to be local people. There is still much debate on who these “two lovers” are and what led to their sad fate – perhaps we will never know.

In the meantime, you can visit the small museum and see these mysterious guests on display with other artifacts that were found during the excavation.

References:

mybellavita.com

Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.

Lucas P (3 years ago)
Relatively small but it's well worth a visit, especially for those interested in medieval Europe. The view of Squillace and other nearby comunes are quite nice.

Stanley McCaslin (3 years ago)
Strenuous, hot walk around town. The hilltop Norman ruin was well worth the climb, as was the local restaurant, La Taverna di Pepe. We could have skipped the church and terra cotta workshop.

Giandomenico Stumpo (6 years ago)
Awesome castle

Darren Blanks (6 years ago)
Good historic castle from Italy's past but could have been tidier as lots of rubbish and messy inside the castle grounds.

Squillace Castle

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Church of St Donatus