The Castle of Acquafredda () is a medieval castle in
Siliqua
The siliqua (. siliquas or siliquae) is the modern namegiven without any ancient evidence to confirm the designationto small, thin, Roman silver coins produced in the 4th century and later. When the coins were in circulation, the Latin word wa ...
,
province of South Sardinia
The province of South Sardinia (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy, instituted on 4 February 2016. It includes the suppressed provinces of Province of Carbonia-Iglesias, Carbonia-Iglesias and ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
History
It is fairly widespread opinion that the castle was built by order of Count
Ugolino della Gherardesca
Ugolino della Gherardesca (March 1289), Count of Donoratico, was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander. He was frequently accused of treason and features prominently in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''.
Biography
In the 13th century, the ...
, who actually became the owner of the fort in 1258. The castle however dates back to an earlier period as it is already mentioned in a
papal bull
A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it.
History
Papal ...
of 1215. After the death Count Ugolino, the castle passed to
Pisa
Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
and then, in 1324, to the
Aragonese. Abandoned since 1410 it later passed to various Sardinian feudal lords until it was ransomed by the
king of Sardinia
Sardinia is traditionally known to have been initially ruled by the Nuragic civilization, which was followed by Greek colonization, conquest by the Carthagians, Carthaginians, and occupied by the Ancient Rome, Romans for around a thousand years, ...
Victor Amadeus III
Victor Amadeus III (Vittorio Amedeo Maria; 26 June 1726 – 16 October 1796) was King of Sardinia and ruler of the Savoyard states from 20 February 1773 to his death in 1796. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous ...
in 1785.
Recently, the excavations near the castle site have yielded the remains, buried in the bare earth, of three man aged 34-45.
[{{Cite web , url=http://veprints.unica.it/167/1/Camboni2.pdf , title=Rendiconti Seminario Facoltà Scienze Università Cagliari • Vol. 75, Fasc. 1-2 (2005) - Davide Camboni , Gli scheletri del Castello di Acquafredda , access-date=2016-10-22 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226074831/http://veprints.unica.it/167/1/Camboni2.pdf , archive-date=2015-12-26 , url-status=dead ]
Notes
Castles in Sardinia