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:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1470
Category: Castles and fortifications in Italy

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Anna Wiśniewska-Rybska (16 months 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 (2 years ago)
Classical quiet mountain city, unpretentious residents, long history. vacation spot.
Christian Imperadore (2 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 (3 years ago)
A nice castle and a church.
Matteo Gamen (5 years ago)
I like the inside of the castle
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Clementinum

The Clementinum is a historic complex of buildings in Prague. Until recently the complex hosted the National, University and Technical libraries, the City Library also being located nearby on Mariánské Náměstí. The Technical library and the Municipal library have moved to the Prague National Technical Library at Technická 6 since 2009. It is currently in use as the National Library of the Czech Republic.

Its history dates from the existence of a chapel dedicated to Saint Clement in the 11th century. A Dominican monastery was founded in the medieval period, which was transformed in 1556 to a Jesuit college. In 1622 the Jesuits transferred the library of Charles University to the Klementinum, and the college was merged with the University in 1654. The Jesuits remained until 1773, when the Klementinum was established as an observatory, library, and university by the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.