Castello di Copertino

Copertino Castle rises above the town in the Salento plain. Its Renaissance bastions surround an older Angevin keep, while chapels and halls preserve the residential history of the Castriota, Squarciafico and Pignatelli families.

Why it matters

The castle is one of Copertino's defining monuments and an example of the transformation of medieval fortifications in the age of artillery. Four angular bastions project from the walls, while a moat cut into the rock and numerous gun-loops strengthened the defences. Inside, military architecture shares space with Renaissance and Baroque residential features.

What to notice

The entrance portal is a richly ornamented Catalan-Durazzo composition, with niches, medallions and military trophies. A relief nearby shows Alexander the Great carried by griffins. The central keep incorporates a thirteenth-century tower and preserves coats of arms dated 1407 for the marriage of Ladislao di Durazzo and Maria d'Enghien. The Cappella di San Marco contains frescoes by Gianserio Strafella above sarcophagi carved by Lupo Antonio Russo. The older Cappella della Maddalena preserves a fifteenth-century fresco cycle. In the south-west bastion, restoration in 2019 uncovered a spiral staircase with a helical vault of the vis de Saint-Gilles type.

Context and history

The earliest fortification on the site was a thirteenth-century tower, later enlarged under Angevin rule. The present fortress was rebuilt for Alfonso Castriota in the sixteenth century, with Evangelista Menga's design generally associated with the work. The date is not entirely settled: tradition places the rebuilding around 1540, while an inscription on the east curtain bears the date MD. The Squarciafico family later added a residence and the chapel of San Marco, and the Pignatelli added a portico in the seventeenth century. The castle's underground chambers later served as wine stores; production continued until the 1950s. It is now a state museum.