Torre castello Barresi Branciforte - 1

Always suggestive

Nice place. Enchanting landscapes of our beautiful Sicily

It is a medieval castle that in its splendor was beautiful and very large, in fact the towers were 4

The Barresi Castle - Branciforte was built at the beginning of the 14th century, probably on an existing structure of Swabian origin. Its construction is attributed to Abbo Barresi (or Abbone de Barresio). The Castle had a square plan (approx. 33 m per side) with an inner courtyard, a cylindrical tower at each corner; perhaps to the west a quadrangular tower was used as a dwelling. With the increase of the population, in 1337 the privilege of encircling the inhabited area with the center in the manor is granted by the king Pietro II of Sicily. In this way Militello becomes the land of the Kingdom, that is, a city with fiscal and military capabilities. In the fifteenth century it became a baronial residence. In 1473, within her walls, the drama of Donna Aldonza Santapau, killed by her husband Antonio Piero Barresi, was consummated because she was suspected of infidelity, along with her secretary Caruso, known as Bellopiede for her ability in dance, (the beautiful and terrible verses that her mother she is forced to sing on the body of her newly murdered son ... - "AUTU SIGNURI CU SSA BIUNNA TESTA (High lord with a blond head) - MAKE ME CANTARI CU 'NA DOGGHIA' NCORE (Singing you make me with pain in my heart) - BUT EVERY HOLIDAY YOU'RE HAVING A FEAST (But every saint gets his party) - AND TO YOURSELF, MEAN, WINE YOU FLY " (And yours, Lord, will have to arrive) In the 17th century, thanks to Don Francesco Branciforte and his wife Donna Giovanna of Austria, the Castle was extended to the south, with the creation of a second rectangular inner courtyard, embellished by an octagonal fountain, which recalls the canalization (1605 ) to Militello of the water coming from the Zizza spring which was inaugurated in 1607. A rich library was also created inside the castle. These were years of great splendor, in all areas of the arts, for Militello The earthquake of 1693 destroyed most of these buildings. Of the ancient manor remains part of the tower of South-West, the entrance from the Arch of via Porta della Terra and the courtyard of the seventeenth century.