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About
Castello Svevo (Swabian Castle) is a spectacular castle in Trani, located near the sea, not far from the Cathedral of San Nicola Pellegrino.
The castle is known for its historical and cultural value and is also a popular tourist destination. In 2011, it was the third most visited state museum in Apulia, with a total of almost 50,000 visitors.
SHORT HISTORY OF CASTELLO SVEVO
Before the current castle, Trani had already a fortification, whose exact location is unknown, built on the initiative of the Norman King Roger II, and destroyed in 1137.
The construction of the Swabian Castle was begun in 1233 by order of the Emperor Frederick II, and the works were completed in 1249, according to the project of Filippo Cinardo, count of Acquaviva and Conversano.
The castle was built on a rock located in the center of the Trani harbor, in a shallow water area, which protected it from possible attacks from the sea.
On the top of one of the towers overlooking the sea, Frederick II had Pietro Tiepolo, son of the Doge of Venice Jacopo Tiepolo, hanged. Pietro, podestà of Milan, was taken prisoner in the Battle of Cortenuova in 1237.
Frederick’s son, Manfred, often stayed in the castle and on June 2, 1259, he married his second wife, Elena Comneno, eldest daughter of Michael II, despot of Epirus, with celebrations of great pomp and solemnity.
In 1266, Manfred was defeated in the Battle of Benevento by Charles I of Anjou and the young queen, having learned of the defeat, went from Lucera to Trani with her children, hoping to reach her homeland, Epirus.
Delayed by a storm, she suffered the betrayal of the castellan, and was captured by the Angevin troops with her four children and the treasure, and then imprisoned in the Castle of Trani itself.
The layout of the castle in this first Swabian phase followed the model of the Crusader castles in the Holy Land, which in turn were based on the shape of the Roman castra.
Therefore, the castle had an almost square plan, with four corner towers also square, two of which were smaller on the sea and two larger ones towards the land.
On the three sides towards the land, the castle was surrounded by the external bulwark, entirely passable from the upper walkway, forming three narrow external courtyards.
A moat, probably of natural origin, surrounded the circuit of the bulwark separating it from the mainland.
The outer wall opened on the landward sides through pointed arch gates, each with a bridge to cross the moat, while on the seaward side there was, in place of the outer wall, a dock with battlements, communicating with the central courtyard.
Inside the castle, there was a large courtyard also with a square plan, bordered on the north and south sides by two large loggias. Both loggias had a staircase leading to the rooms on the upper floors.
The first floor was occupied by large rooms with a representative function, with wooden roofs on transverse arches.
In the second half of the 13th century, under Angevin rule, the castle had roles of great importance.
In that period, in fact, it was an important administrative center and a lively environment for court life, members of the Royal family resided there frequently, and significant events were celebrated with great pomp.
The royal treasure was also kept there for a certain period, and the castle also served as a Royal depot for war material and valuable goods. A wing of the castle was kept ready to host the sovereign and his court.
In 1268, the wedding between Charles I of Anjou and Margaret of Burgundy took place in the castle, and in 1271 that of Charles’s second son, Philip, with Isabella of Villehardouin, princess of Achaea.
Between 1385 and 1419, the Swabian Castle was owned by the captain of fortune Alberico da Barbiano, to whom it had been assigned by the King of Naples Charles III.
The additions, modifications and general building works in the castle during the Angevin era were rather limited, and did not involve excessive alterations to what had been achieved up to that time.
From 1496 to 1530, the city of Trani and its castle passed from the Aragonese Crown to the jurisdiction of the Venetian Republic, as a pledge for the loan granted to Ferrante II during the conflict that followed the descent into Italy of Charles VIII.
Trani and its castle were returned on February 20, 1530, in the name of their respective governments, by the Venetian superintendent Giovanni Vitturi, to the captain general of Charles V, Ferdinando de Alarcon, who was also appointed castellan of Trani in 1529.
Castello Svevo, which had returned to Spanish rule under Charles V, underwent significant transformations starting with 1533, so that it could be adapted to the new defensive needs that arose following the invention of gunpowder.
Between 1586 and 1677, the castle was the seat of the Sacred Royal Audience (Sacra Regia Udienza), the royal court for the province of Bari.
Starting with 1832, the castle underwent a series of works to transform it into a central provincial prison, which opened in 1844, a function it maintained until 1974.
In order to adapt the castle complex to its prison function, from 1832 to 1844, the entire building underwent a general renovation which altered the physiognomy and harmonious arrangement of the towers and walls.
The space of the courtyards was consequently also altered, the ashlars of the stone blocks were leveled, new openings were created and the old ones were modified.
In 1842, the hexagonal chapel was added for the celebration of mass in the central courtyard, and in 1848 the turret with the clock on the current entrance.
The Swabian Castle was declared a National Monument with the Royal Decree of October 27, 1936.
In 1976, the Castle was handed over to the Superintendence of environmental and artistic heritage of Apulia.
Since 1979, it has undergone restoration works, aimed at restoring the structure and providing it with the systems necessary for its current use.
On the ground floor of the north-east bastion, the Castle Museum was set up, inside which the stone and ceramic finds, discovered during the excavations carried out during the restoration, are kept and exhibited.
The castle was opened to the public on June 5, 1998.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE SWABIAN CASTLE
The plan of the castle is centered on the actual building, a square whose sides measure approximately 48 meters.
The large central courtyard, reduced following the 16th-century transformations, was originally also based on a square, approximately 28 meters per side.
Castello Svevo has four square corner towers, of which the two facing the sea are smaller, approximately 11 meters per side, with a height of approximately 30 meters above the sea level.
The other two towers towards the land, approximately 13 and 14 meters per side respectively, were lowered in the 16th century, but must have had a height at least equal to the other two.
The total surface area of the fortified complex, including the courtyards within the outer wall, and excluding the external moat, is approximately 6000 square meters.
The external walls of the building are composed of large blocks of Trani stone, with ashlars in strong relief, crowned by a flat battlement, punctuated by arrows.
The height of the sea view, measured at the battlemented crown, is approximately 20 meters above the sea level.
A fortified wall, passable and equipped with arrows and battlements, surrounds the entire castle and further highlights its perimeter, giving space to three smaller external courtyards.
This outer wall is in turn surrounded by a moat approximately 18 to 20 meters wide, which communicates with the sea.
On the two south-west and north-east corners, two bastions, one with a spearhead and the other with a square plan, added in the 16th-century, reinforce the opposite corners of the fortified complex.
HOW TO GET TO THE CASTLE OF TRANI
Castello Svevo is located about 1.4 kilometers away from the Trani railway station, or about 25 minutes on foot.
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