Castelbuono ( Sicilian: ''Castiddubbuonu'') is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Metropolitan City of Palermo The Metropolitan City of Palermo ( it, Città metropolitana di Palermo; scn, Cità metrupulitana di Palermu) is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. It replaced the Province of Palermo and comprises the city ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

(southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

). Fountain of Venere Ciprea. It is known for its castle from which its name derives, and around which the city developed in the 14th century.

History

Construction of the Castle began in 1316, by order of Count Francesco I of

Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; lij, label= Intemelio, Ventemiglia , lij, label= Genoese, Vintimiggia; french: Vintimille ; oc, label= Provençal, Ventemilha ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located southwest of ...

, over the ruins of the ancient

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

town of Ypsigro, high on the San Pietro hill. Hence its original name, ''Castello del buon aere'' ("Castle of good air"), from which the name Castelbuono is derived - literally meaning "good castle". Numerous drastic alterations were made in the 17th century for reasons of accommodation, when a number of Ventimiglia families moved here from Palermo - the castle never served any really strategic purpose, owing to its geographic position down valley. The construction presents Arab-Norman and Swabian features: the cube shape recalls Arabic architecture; the square towers, although incorporated into those of the façade, reflect Norman architectural style, as also the battlements; and the round tower recalls aspects of Swabian architecture. The city is home to one of Europe's oldest

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ...

competitions: the

Giro Podistico Internazionale Castelbuono The Giro di Castelbuono (officially Giro Podistico Internazionale Castelbuono) is an annual road running competition over 10 kilometres which takes place in Castelbuono, on the island of Sicily, Italy. First held in 1912, the competition, whi ...

was first held in the city in 1912 and is held annually.Castellini, Ottavio (2007-07-24)
Castelbuono: 95-years-on and still taking the breath away

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

. Retrieved on 2010-08-08.

Main sights

The Castle

The construction of the Castle mixes Arab-Norman features with others typical of the castles built during the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...

rule of southern Italy: the

cube In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. Viewed from a corner it is a hexagon and its net is usually depicted as a cross. The cube is the only ...

shape recalls

Arabic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...

; the square towers, although incorporated into those of the façade, reflect Norman architectural style, as also the battlements; and the round tower recalls aspects of Frederick II's times architecture. The structure is on three floors, the first floor for the servants, with the essential services, the second for the nobility, with the sumptuous Cappella Palatina, and the third for the court and for guests. The Cappella Palatina ("Palace Chapel") was built in 1683 by the brothers Giuseppe and

Giacomo Serpotta Giacomo Serpotta (10 March 1656 – 27 February 1732) was an Italian sculptor, active in a Rococo style and mainly working in stucco. Biography Serpotta was born and died in Palermo; and may have never left Sicily. His skill and facility with st ...

, with a great profusion of precious marble, stuccowork, putti, and friezes that commemorate the most resplendent moments in the history of the House of Ventimiglia. Here is kept the holy

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

of the skull of

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

, in an urn that acts as the pedestal to the sculpted bust of Castelbuono's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

. There are also the traditional underground dungeons and a tunnel that leads to the Church of San Francesco.

Other sights

The church of ''Matrice Vecchia'' was built in the 15th century on the ruins of a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

temple. It has a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

portico added in the 16th century, and a central portal in the Catalan-Gothic style. On the left side is a bell-tower with a Romanesque mullioned window culminating in an octagonal spire covered with majolica tiles. The interior of the church, originally divided into a nave and two aisles, received another aisle at the end of the 16th century. It preserves prized works, most remarkably, above the main altar, a splendid

polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a " triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapt ...

depicting ''The Coronation of the Virgin '', attributed to

Pietro Ruzzolone Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II Ca ...

or possibly Antonello de Saliba. On the bottom right is the unusual figure of a Saint wearing spectacles. On the right is a statue of the ''

Madonna delle Grazie Our Lady of Graces (Italian: ''Madonna delle Grazie'' or ''Nostra Signora delle Grazie'') or Saint Mary of Graces (Italian: ''Santa Maria delle Grazie'') is a devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. Several churches with this ...

'' by

Antonello Gagini Antonello Gagini (1478–1536) was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance, mainly active in Sicily and Calabria. Antonello belonged to a family of sculptors and artisans, originally from Northern Italy, but active throughout Italy, including Ge ...

. Below the nave is a fresco depicting the ''Betrothal of the Virgins'' showing a strong Senese influence in the elegant features and the symmetry of the composition. Some of the columns separating the nave and the aisles are painted with frescoes, including the figure of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Other sights include: *Church of Nativity of Mary (late 16th-early 17th century) *Church of St. Francis, which has maintained a 14th-century *Church of Sant'Antonino Martire, including the original

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

portal *Fountain of Venere Ciprea (15th century), which decorated the entrance to the ancient Ypsigro *Civic Museum of Art, located in the castle *Museum of Nature "Francesco Minà Palumbo"

Twin towns

* Sinaia,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Castles in Italy Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Palermo Populated places established in the 14th century