Description
The Swabian Castle of Brindisi, also called the Castello di Terra, is the great fortress Frederick II had built at the edge of the old town, overlooking the inner harbor. Massive and stern, it tells eight centuries of the city's military history.
The oldest core is a trapezoid courtyard enclosed by high walls with seven towers: the keep, which serves as the entrance, and six others, two round, three square and one pentagonal. All around runs the Aragonese curtain wall, lower and thicker, with round bastions designed for artillery.
Frederick II had it built around 1227, in the years he spent in Brindisi, between his wedding to Isabella of Brienne and his departure on crusade. Roman stones are said to have been used in it, but no excavation has confirmed this.
Charles I of Anjou raised the towers and had a royal palace built inside. Two centuries later Ferdinand I of Naples added the new curtain wall and vaulted over the old moat, creating rooms for the soldiers and, in times of danger, for the townspeople.
In 1496 the city came under the protection of Venice, and a report to the doge described the castle as "beautiful and very strong, dominating the city and the other castles." A few years later, during a siege, its cannons fired on the besiegers who had entered the city, with no regard for the inhabitants.
In the 19th century it became a penal colony and then a prison. It has belonged to the Italian Navy since 1909, and between September 1943 and February 1944, when Brindisi was Italy's provisional capital, it was the residence of King Victor Emmanuel III.
The castle was chosen because it was easy to defend, not for its grandeur: the king's rooms were furnished sparingly, with the bare essentials. On June 13, 2024, its halls hosted the G7 dinner for heads of state and government.
The oldest core is a trapezoid courtyard enclosed by high walls with seven towers: the keep, which serves as the entrance, and six others, two round, three square and one pentagonal. All around runs the Aragonese curtain wall, lower and thicker, with round bastions designed for artillery.
Frederick II had it built around 1227, in the years he spent in Brindisi, between his wedding to Isabella of Brienne and his departure on crusade. Roman stones are said to have been used in it, but no excavation has confirmed this.
Charles I of Anjou raised the towers and had a royal palace built inside. Two centuries later Ferdinand I of Naples added the new curtain wall and vaulted over the old moat, creating rooms for the soldiers and, in times of danger, for the townspeople.
In 1496 the city came under the protection of Venice, and a report to the doge described the castle as "beautiful and very strong, dominating the city and the other castles." A few years later, during a siege, its cannons fired on the besiegers who had entered the city, with no regard for the inhabitants.
In the 19th century it became a penal colony and then a prison. It has belonged to the Italian Navy since 1909, and between September 1943 and February 1944, when Brindisi was Italy's provisional capital, it was the residence of King Victor Emmanuel III.
The castle was chosen because it was easy to defend, not for its grandeur: the king's rooms were furnished sparingly, with the bare essentials. On June 13, 2024, its halls hosted the G7 dinner for heads of state and government.