Castello Alfonsino-Aragonese

On the islet of Sant'Andrea guarding Brindisi's outer port stands the red-walled Castello Alfonsino, later joined to Philip II's vast Forte a Mare. The island fortress has served as a monastery site, royal defence, prison, lighthouse and military installation.

Why it matters

The Benedictine abbey on the islet, recorded in 1059, gave Sant'Andrea its name before fortification absorbed the church and cloister. The Aragonese royal house commissioned the castle, known as Castello di Mare in contrast to the Swabian Castello di Terra across the water. From 1558, the neighbouring Forte a Mare expanded the defences of the harbour entrance. Carparo stone gives the complex its distinctive red colour and the local name Castel Rosso.

What to notice

The complex brings together two structures: the compact Aragonese castle and the enormous horn-shaped outwork, or opera a corno, added under Philip II. A deep moat separates the parts; a bridge and drawbridge linked them by the late sixteenth century. The Forte a Mare includes rounded and angular towers and a canal cut through the rock. The fortress's colour shifts with the light across the carparo blocks.

Context and history

The island, once called Bara, became the site of a Benedictine monastery through a grant by Archbishop Eustasio in 1059. The Aragonese fortress replaced the abbey, and work on the Forte a Mare began in 1558, continuing for about forty-six years. A 1583 inscription by castellan Lorenzo Cariglio records the unified command of the complex. A French assault came during the revolutionary wars of 1799. In later centuries the fortress served as a lazaret, lighthouse and, during the First World War, a mine depot. The Navy transferred it to the State in 1984. Restoration funded through the PON Cultura e Sviluppo programme led to its reopening in December 2024.