Description
The Castello Alfonsino, also called the Castello Rosso or Castello di Mare, is the fortress on the island of Sant'Andrea, at the entrance to Brindisi's harbor. The name Castello Rosso, "Red Castle," comes from the vermilion color of its carparo blocks: it was built as an outpost to defend the harbor, and it's surrounded by the sea.
The oldest part, from the 15th century, follows the irregular shape of the rock. Inside is a hall with a washbasin in a stone frame dated 1527; outside, two bastions, a round one facing inland and a triangular one facing the open sea.
The most curious detail is the small inner harbor, reached through an arch in the walls. On one side stands the Aragonese castle with its portal; on the other the Forte a Mare, with a portal decorated with coats of arms and the date 1609.
The castle owes its name to Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Calabria. In 1481 his father, Ferdinand I, King of Naples, decided to build a tower to guard the harbor, and it was Alfonso who carried it out. Before that, the island had a Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Andrew, abandoned in the late Middle Ages: a few capitals survive, kept at the Ribezzo Archaeological Museum.
The Forte a Mare took 46 years of work, from 1558 to 1604, under Philip II of Spain: walls and bastions enclosed much of the island, and a cut in the rock served as a moat.
In 1529 sixteen Venetian galleys tried to attack it and were caught off guard by the newly installed artillery. In 1799 the French besieged the counter-revolutionary Francesco Boccheciampe here.
Later the island was long a quarantine station and then an Italian Navy base, until a storm surge badly damaged the walls in 1984.
After a long restoration, the complex has been open for visits and cultural events since 2021. The island is joined to the shore by a breakwater, and two more breakwaters narrow the harbor mouth to 250 meters.
The oldest part, from the 15th century, follows the irregular shape of the rock. Inside is a hall with a washbasin in a stone frame dated 1527; outside, two bastions, a round one facing inland and a triangular one facing the open sea.
The most curious detail is the small inner harbor, reached through an arch in the walls. On one side stands the Aragonese castle with its portal; on the other the Forte a Mare, with a portal decorated with coats of arms and the date 1609.
The castle owes its name to Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Calabria. In 1481 his father, Ferdinand I, King of Naples, decided to build a tower to guard the harbor, and it was Alfonso who carried it out. Before that, the island had a Benedictine abbey dedicated to Saint Andrew, abandoned in the late Middle Ages: a few capitals survive, kept at the Ribezzo Archaeological Museum.
The Forte a Mare took 46 years of work, from 1558 to 1604, under Philip II of Spain: walls and bastions enclosed much of the island, and a cut in the rock served as a moat.
In 1529 sixteen Venetian galleys tried to attack it and were caught off guard by the newly installed artillery. In 1799 the French besieged the counter-revolutionary Francesco Boccheciampe here.
Later the island was long a quarantine station and then an Italian Navy base, until a storm surge badly damaged the walls in 1984.
After a long restoration, the complex has been open for visits and cultural events since 2021. The island is joined to the shore by a breakwater, and two more breakwaters narrow the harbor mouth to 250 meters.