Castello Normanno-Svevo di Nicastro

Above the oldest quarter of Nicastro, on a hill between two streams, rise the remains of the fortress that watched the whole Sant'Eufemia plain: a Byzantine site fortified by the Normans, enlarged by Frederick II, and broken by the earthquake of 1638.

Why it matters

The Castello Normanno-Svevo is the identity symbol of Nicastro, the historic core of Lamezia Terme. It crowns the San Teodoro quarter at the top of the old town, a natural lookout perched over rocky slopes and closed between two watercourses, from which it controlled the plain all the way to the gulf. The fortress is associated with Frederick II, who enlarged it and imprisoned his son Henry VII there. The lanes of the medieval quarter still climb towards its towers.

What to notice

The ruin's present shape is a summary of its long military life. From the Angevin and viceregal remodelling come the four cylindrical towers, the tall pentagonal keep, the bastions and a buttress with a blind loggia. The pentagonal keep itself goes back to Frederick II and is still visible today. The rock spur falls away steeply between two streams, forming a natural defensive position. Below, the ancient Giudecca quarter runs up towards the castle remains, and at its entrance stands the bronze statue of Frederick II with his falcon, by the Lamezia sculptor Maurizio Carnevali — a modern marker of the fortress's Swabian chapter. The hill commands views across the plain towards the Riviera dei Tramonti and the sea.

Context and history

The castle's origins are uncertain. A Byzantine castrum may have preceded the Norman fortification of the site in the second half of the eleventh century. What is certain is the Swabian augmentation: Frederick II enlarged the fortress, raising the pentagonal keep and the curtain wall. Here the emperor locked up his rebellious son, Henry VII, who passed roughly two years as prisoner under the castellan Martino d'Ippolito. Henry VII died in 1242 while in captivity; accounts differ on the circumstances of his death. Later rulers adapted the castle to firearms in the Angevin and viceregal epochs. The earthquake of 1638 — the same disaster that levelled the Benedictine abbey on the plain — damaged it so heavily that its military life ended.