The Calatubo Castle (Latin: ''castrum Calathatubi'';
[ Italian: ''Castello di Calatubo'') is a fortress located near the town of ]Alcamo
Alcamo (; ) is the fourth-largest town and communes of Italy, commune of the Province of Trapani, Sicily, with a population of 44.925 inhabitants. It is on the borderline with the Metropolitan City of Palermo at a distance of about 50 kilometr ...
, Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, southern 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 ...
.
The site has remains of a settlement of the Elymians
The Elymians () were an ancient tribe, tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity.
Origins
According to Thucydides, the Elymians were refugees coming from the destroyed Troy. Instead for ...
and a necropolis.
Being next to A29 motorway, it has fallen into disrepair and is therefore closed to visitors, although the Town Council of Alcamo has often expressed the desire to recover it.
History
The origins of the castle date back to the Norman period around 1093, the year in which Roger I of Sicily
Roger I (; ; ; Norse: ''Rogeirr''; 1031 – 22 June 1101), nicknamed "Roger Bosso" and "Grand Count Roger", was a Norman nobleman who became the first Grand Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101.
As a member of the House of Hauteville, he parti ...
defined the boundaries of the diocese of Mazara[ that included "Calatubo with all its dependencies".][ ''Pippo Lo Cascio, Comunicazioni e trasmissioni. La lunga storia della comunicazione umana dai fari al telegrafo'', Rubbettino Editore, 2002, , p. 159.]
In ancient times, around the castle there was the village of Calatubo, which based its business on the extraction of stones for water and wind mills[Paolo Malanima, ''Pre-Modern European Economy: One Thousand Years (10th-19th Centuries)'', BRILL, 2009, , p. 75.] from the quarries around the creek Finocchio,[ as mentioned by the Arab geographer ]Muhammad al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in C ...
in '' The Book of Roger'', written in 1154.[
The village of Calatubo was abandoned after the conquest by Frederick II and the castle lost its original function as a military fortress, turning into a farm.][ During this period, the castle joined warehouses, stables and other structures used for the administration of the agricultural fief of Calatubo.][
Since the Middle Ages, because of its visibility, the Calatubo Castle had an important strategic role: it was part of a line of towers and forts along the coast from ]Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
to Trapani
Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, 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 important fishing port and the mai ...
; this defensive line was used to transmit light signals in case of Saracens
file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens
''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...
' attack. In particular, the castle of Calatubo guaranteed the flow of information that took place between the outposts of Carini, Partinico
Partinico ( Sicilian: ''Partinicu'', Ancient Greek: ''Parthenikòn'', Παρθενικόν) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. It is from Palermo and from Trapani.
Main sights
*Church of ''San ...
and Castellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo (; ; or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely tak ...
.[
At the end of the nineteenth century in the second courtyard some warehouses were set up for the production of the wine "Calatubo".
The castle remained in good condition until the 1968 Belice earthquake. The use of the structure as a sheepfold and illegal excavations, which had as their targets the finds of the necropolis of the seventh century BC pertaining to the castle,][ have further ruined the castle.
In 2007 it was bought for 60 thousand euros by the municipality of Alcamo and over the past few years (2003-2014) has been reported several times as part of the cultural initiative ''"I Luoghi del Cuore"'' sponsored by the ''Italian Environmental Fund'' (FAI), which has as its objective the protection and enhancement of the artistic and cultural heritage of Italy.
]
Description
The Calatubo Castle is actually an architectural complex, consisting of the structure of the original castle that has undergone several changes over the centuries. This complex is large 150×35 meter
The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
s and stands on a limestone rock that lies at an altitude of about 152 m above sea level[iCastelli.it, "Castello Di Calatubo"]
and that dominate with its height the surrounding area.[ From the position of castle you can clearly see Mount Bonifato and the ]Gulf of Castellammare
The gulf of Castellammare is a large and deep natural inlet going from Capo Rama (near Terrasini, in the province of Palermo) and Capo San Vito near San Vito Lo Capo, in the province of Trapani. It is located on the western coast of Sicily and ...
.[
The castle is inaccessible on three sides due to the steep walls of rock on which it is built. The only practicable access is located in the west,][ Rosa Di Liberto, Il castello di Calatubo. Genesi e caratteri di un inedito impianto fortificato siciliano fra l'XI ed il XII secolo in '' Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Moyen Âge, vol. 110, nº 2, 1998, pp. 607-663, DOI:10.3406/mefr.1998.3650] which leads to the first line of defense of the castle via a ramp with large steps.[ From the first line of defense, which includes among other things a well, a church hall and other premises, you can arrive at a court which communicates with the second circle of walls through a portal,][ up to the third circle of walls, which comprises an oblong tower.][ Finally the core of the castle, located in the southern part of the fortress, is rectangular with an area of 7×21.50 m.][
]
Popular culture
A popular belief tells about tunnels that linked the Calatubo Castle with the Castle of the Counts of Modica and the tower of Ventimiglia on the Mount Bonifato.La Republica.it, "Calatubo le rovine dell'Islam "
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See also
* Alcamo
Alcamo (; ) is the fourth-largest town and communes of Italy, commune of the Province of Trapani, Sicily, with a population of 44.925 inhabitants. It is on the borderline with the Metropolitan City of Palermo at a distance of about 50 kilometr ...
* Castle of Alcamo
* Castle of Ventimiglia
Notes
{{reflist
Castles in Alcamo