Castel del Monte

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Castel del Monte (Italian for "Castle of the Mount") is a 13th century castle situated in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II some time between 1240 and 1250, though it was probably never fully completed; in particular the interior fittings do not seem to have been finished. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and may in fact never have been intended as a defensive fortress.

[edit] Location

Castel del Monte is situated on a small hill close to the monastery of Santa Maria del Monte, at an altitude of 540 m. It lies in the comune of Andria, occupying the site of an earlier fortress of which no structural remains exist.

It was completed in 1240 and was used primarily as a hunting lodge by Frederick until his death in 1250. It was later turned into a prison, used for refuge during a plague, and finally fell into disrepair. It originally had marble walls and columns, but all were stripped by vandals.

[edit] Description

The fortress is an octagonal prism with an octagonal bastion at each corner. Each wall has 8 rooms and an eight-sided courtyard occupies its centre. The octagon is thought to be an intermediate symbol between a square (representing the earth) and a circle (representing the sky). Frederick II may have been inspired to build to this shape by either the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which he had seen whilst on Crusade, or by the Palace Chapel of Aachen Cathedral.

The main wall is 25 m high and the eight bastions each 26 m. The sides of the main octagon are 16.5 m long and those of the octagonal towers each 3.1 m. The castle has a diameter of 56 m. Its main entrance faces due east.

[edit] In the modern era

After having been abandoned for a considerable length of time, the castle was purchased in 1876 for the sum of 25,000 lire by the Italian government, which began the process of restoration in 1928.