Index:

 Introduction 

Castle of Aci: The Castle of Aci is one of most evocative in absolute. Majestic, erge on a full of rocks height showing the black lava stone with which it has been constructed. Restored from the Normans, it became property of all the feudal lord who dominated in the city of Acicastello . Not little times, in the course of its long history, the castle was attacked and stormed: in 1325 it was burnt from the count of Canosa, and in the 1357 Luigi, king of Naples, made to smash in its doors where the population of Aci had been sheltered.

The castle, also had accommodated the reliquish of Sant' Agate, female saint of the city of Catania, in the travel of return of its empty from Turkey. It did not lack being used after jail during the borbonic age. Today, of property of the common, it often accommodates of the art extensions.

For how much it concerns its structure, exceeded the income meets a scale that leads in a first atmosphere, and continuing on the left, is possible to observe some local small places setting, than currently  are uses  as  knows them espositive for a small museum, that collects archaeological reperts going back from the prehistorycal age until the medieval age. Small nail head, is called  also  “bizantina” for the presence of the little rests of probably frescoes of Norman age, from the bizantine features.

From the nail head it is approached to a small courtyard used after botanical garden. To the advanced plan salting from the scales the possible rests are noticed also first tower. The tower although partially is collapsed, it dominates on the remaining parts of the fortress, and conserve only a part of the merlature. Index

(Thanks to Big Dave 1968)

Castle of Adrano: The castle was built up in the 1070 from the Ruggiero count, which later on donated the Adalasia grandaughter who became a sister, founding the convent of S. Lucia. The Aragonese time, the castle reached Peter Luca Pellegrino, then the Sclafani family, for concession of Federico II.

From Matteo Sclafani, first count of Adernò in 1300, for interlace of relationships, passed to the Moncada in 1500 and to the Peralta then. Succeed the Alvarez di Toledo count of Adernò and in 1797 Moncada returned to the family, to which the castle belonged until 1920. Although the castle in its inside has not maintained  the optimal conditions, outside is introduced nearly in its original shape, with its walls long 34 meters, from the base to the merlons.

It has a quadrilateral plant and a width of 20 meters for every side, while to the base of the bastion it has one width of 33.70 meters for every side. Inside we can find the nail head still intact, with traces of the ancient frescoes, and the beautiful little columns embedded in the wall and with the capitelli that they serve to support the time to cross.

Today, the Common of Adrano has yielded the use of the castle to Supervising BB. CC. AA. of Siracusa in order to assign it to archaeological museum. They have been carries out the restoration jobs and the castle accommodates since October 1959 the Archaeological Museum Etneo with the Pinacoteca, the Gallery of Contemporary Art, the Museum of the Handicraft and the Popular Traditions and the Historical Archives.Index

(Thanks to Zerena) 

Castle of Maniace: (Maniace) To the origins, the castle was rising of country house founded from famous general bizantino George Maniace from which taken name all the borgata one in 1038. The dwelling odierna was built up on what it remained of the ancient Benedictine Abbey of Maniace, intentional from Queen Margherita. English admiral Lord Orazio Nelson received in the 1799 earth and the ducato of Bronte, from Ferdinand I, king of the two Sicily, like sign of gratefulness in order to have helped it. After the death of Nelson happened  during the battle of Trafalgar, the feud reached then the Guglielmo brother and the eredi of these.

During the Italian revolution,  the announcement of the Victoria franc-Italian in the north, attended from the revolution, the ducea donated to Nelson from the Borbone, with the fall of these, came given back to the community, but the castle fortunately was saved from the pillage from general Bixio who had been person in charge to suffocate the revolts in Sicily.

The castle is famous for its greatest park that extends outside and inside for approximately four hectares and accommodates nostrum and exotic plants. In the inside there are numerous garden very  cured and are conserved personal things of the admiral. Much ancient are the two small towers and a lot of interesting turns out to the small church with the portal still intact in Arab-normans style. Index

Castello Ursino - Catania : The Ursino castle was constructed for Federico II of Svevia between 1230 and 1250. On the origins of the name, Ursino exactly, is various hypotheses. One of these attributes it to the Orsini family, which would have been received in the castle when it came expelled from Rome for its Ghibelline ideas.

The castle has seen carrying out itself of various historical events, from the revolution of the Vespri, during which the angioini barricaded of Catania besiege by the people, to the peace between Queen Giovanna of the resisting Naples and Giovanni duca of Atene signed in 1347; from the epidemic of 1355 that caused serious mournings to the castle, to when viceré settled down because Catania became a province of the states of Aragon.

It was the eruption of the Etna of 1669, to change the topography of the castle. Before this was found located on a full of rocks cape that dominated the beach, after was found encircled completely from lava that of it removed the sea. The earthquakes of 1613 and the 1818 damaged its structure, a lot that in the 1831 Ferdinand di Borbone made it to cancel from the list of the castles more important than Sicily. In the 1931 they only began the restoration jobs that carried it nearly to the original splendor.

Today, the castle accommodates the Civic Museum. With 8043 pieces between archaeological reperts, epigrafi, coins, sculptures, paintings are conserved, sarcofaghi fittili Greeks, Roman, mosaics. For how much it concerns the external structure, the castle, constructed in lava stone, is introduced with four sides of 50 meters approximately, and every angle is equipped of one circular tower of a height of 10 meters. It walls are thick 2,50 meters. Index