The Castello di Terra ( en, Land Castle) is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

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

. It was originally built in the late 12th century, and was modified over the years until the 19th century. The castle is now in ruins.

History

The Castello di Terra was built in around 1186, and was expanded in the second half of the 14th century and modified again in the 16th and 17th centuries. The castle was originally located at the mouth of the channel linking the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

to the port. Parts of the castle were converted into

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

in the 19th century. The barracks were demolished in the 1970s and their site is now occupied by a police station. Archaeological excavations and a partial restoration were carried out at the castle in 1992 and 1994.

Layout

The castle originally had a quadrilateral shape, with semi-circular towers along its curtain walls and rectangular towers at the corners. Today, only the northwestern face of the castle is still intact.

References

{{Authority control Terra Terra Trapani Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century