Photo: User: Stevage · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Castello Maniace

Swabian castle on the tip of Ortigia, built in the 13th century by Frederick II: square plan, cylindrical towers and a large columned hall.

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At the far tip of the island of Ortigia, where fortifications already existed in Greek times, stands the Castello Maniace. It was built between 1232 and 1239 at the wish of Frederick II of Swabia, who entrusted the work to a Sicilian architect, Riccardo da Lentini, on earlier fortifications attributed to the Byzantine general Giorgio Maniace, who in 1038 had retaken the city from the Arabs and from whom the castle takes its name.

The building has a perfectly square plan, with four cylindrical towers at the corners, and is an example of Swabian architecture in Sicily. On either side of the entrance portal there were originally two bronze rams: one has been lost, the other is kept in the Museo Archeologico Salinas in Palermo. The large inner hall was conceived as a single space, with free-standing and wall columns surmounted by hook capitals, whose fine decoration suggests the work of Cistercian craftsmen.

The castle was also used as a residence and a place of representation: here Frederick II signed the establishment of the University of Naples, and in 1300 Robert of Anjou and Frederick of Aragon signed a truce. Spanish rule, the earthquake of 1693 and the fire caused in 1704 by the explosion of the powder magazine transformed its appearance. Today it hosts cultural events throughout the year.