Bernalda Castle, Bernalda, Italy

Bernalda Castle was probably built originally by the Normans in the 11th century and restored by the Aragonese during their domination, when it was enlarged, fortified and protected with a moat and a drawbridge. The current castle was built by Bernardino de Bernardo, secretary of King Alfonso II, around 1470.

Today Bernalda castle presents a quadrangular plan with angular towers, with a markedly late-fifteenth century mark, although it can be considered as the result of different architectural stratifications. The observation of one of the cylindrical towers, which is equipped with a high trunk-conical base, could in fact suggest an Angevin building intervention. In any case, the castle's closing walls seem to follow the nature of the terrain, and are mainly perpendicular. The continuous restorations must have reduced the width of the entire structure, which at the time of reconstruction could be configured with at least four other towers. Those residuals are however made up of a basement, used mostly as storage, followed by a ground floor with defensive preparations also oriented towards the inside of the enclosure, and two upper floors open on the courtyard, except for the tower of the southern summit .

The castle of Bernalda has fourteen wells, to draw water in case of siege.

References:

castellinelmondo.altervista.org

User Reviews

Anna Wiśniewska-Rybska (2 years ago)
The castle looks beautiful from afar. Unfortunately, although the renovation according to the map ended in March, the interiors are still unavailable. Maybe next time it will work!?

YONG WANG (3 years ago)
Classical quiet mountain city, unpretentious residents, long history. vacation spot.

Christian Imperadore (3 years ago)
just one of the italian little castles, there were some guys that helped the visitors to visit explaining some stuff about the castle's history. you can see the entire castle in 15 minutes

baris merickan (4 years ago)
A nice castle and a church.

Matteo Gamen (6 years ago)
I like the inside of the castle

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