Château normand de Catanzaro

CHÂTEAU NORMAND DE CATANZARO

Norman castle of Catanzaro

Very little remains of the mighty Norman fortress, which was built as a defensive structure by Robert Guiscard - around 1060 - perhaps the remains of a Byzantine fortress.

The castle consisted of a curtain wall defended by towers and battlements. A tower, probably acting as the keep, looking at the city.

Symbol of feudal power, the castle was partially destroyed in the fifteenth century, under the Aragonese, and turned into a quarry for building materials. His materials were used - in particular - to beautify the Cathedral and the Church of the Observance, and the construction of the Church of St. John.

In 1589, the Congregation of Holy Cross Bianchi, who already took care of care of the sick, asked if he could achieve in a pavilion for use as a hospital: the request was granted in 1596 by the Viceroy Don Henry Gusmann, and still the the main building of the complex coincides with the Hospice of the Whites. In 1663 the Fathers Teresiani they built their convent.

The area was home then, the hospital, the jails of the audience, the offices of the Army Corps of Engineers. In more recent times, until 1970, he hosted the city jails.

Of the original group of Norman times, stands the beautiful square tower with battlements that once welcomed the public clock. In a niche of the wall perimeter overlooking the Piazza Matteotti, is the monumental and artistic fountain of "The Quarryman" valuable work in bronze and granite sculpture constructed in the mid twentieth century by the sculptor Joseph Calabrese Rite.

Fonte:sito regionale turismo