Castello normanno (Salemi)
Il Castello normanno, o Normanno-svevo, di Salemi, è un castello costruito sulla sommità della collina dove sorge la città di Salemi, al centro della valle del Belice.
Fatto costruire da Ruggero il normanno intorno al 1077, su preesistenti fortificazioni greco-romano-arabe. A quel periodo risale l'iscrizione religiosa I.C.N.C.R.I. Il geografo El Edrisi ne scrive già nel XII secolo.. Fu rimaneggiato da Federico II di Svevia nel XIII secolo.

L'11 dicembre 1441 nel castello di Salemi si formò una confederazione costituita da Salemi, Trapani, Mazara, Monte San Giuliano, Castelvetrano e Partanna, che si impegnava alla difesa della regina Bianca d'Aragona.

Nel 1789 fu adibito a carcere, e il 14 maggio 1860 da questo castello Garibaldi issò (sulla torre tonda) la bandiera tricolore, proclamando Salemi “capitale d’Italia” e la dittatura garibaldina. Dal 1934 divenne biblioteca comunale.

Danneggiato dal terremoto del Belice del 1968, fu chiuso 35 anni per restauri e lavori di consolidamento da parte della Regione Siciliana, e riaperto nel 2002 . I lavori sono stati completati definitivamente nel 2010.
Architettura
Il castello ha un impianto abbastanza unitario, poco rimaneggiato dopo l'epoca normanno-sveva. L'edificio ha un impianto leggermente ruotato in direzione nord-est/sud-ovest. Possiede tre torri angolari, una cilindrica (ovest) e due quadre (est, sud) mentre una quarta torre (quadra?) esistente nell'angolo nord è probabilmente crollata nel secolo XVII. Nessuna delle torri quadre supera in altezza il terrazzo sommitale del torrione cilindrico, ancora oggi il punto più alto della città .

Oggi è sede museale e vi si svolgono concerti e convegni.


Castello normanno (Salemi)

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The castle is located at a calcareous summit (400 ft) and it controls all the current urban centre. The present village was developed to the East since the 16th-17th centuries, leaving the castle protected from this urban growth. The Castello Eufemio gives its name to the village: Qal’at Fîmî, that means Eufemio’s castle, and it appears in the Idrisi’s documents as a fortress with village annexed. In 1239 the castle becomes part of castra exempta of Federico II, i.e one of the castles controlled directly by the throne in their fight against Muslims. It remained this way until 1336 when the castle passes into the hands of different landowners. The castle will be converted into a prison from half of 17th century until 1868, when it was abandoned.

The excavations made at Castello Eufemio at the end of last century was focused on the restoration and conservation of the more recent structures. During this excavations different materials (pottery) from the 11th-12th centuries were located, confirming a possible occupation during that period. The main objective of our excavation will be the documentation of structures related to this chronology or to previous phases of the castle.

https://docs.google.com

Castello Eufemio 

The portal that does  access to the throne hall is surmounted  by a bas marble relief work of the important  “Dalmata”  artist Francesco  Laurana that had his workshop on 1468 in Partanna. Entering to throne hall or arms hall you can admire, a fresco mural painting, the only one arrived to day of four that adorned the ambient, that illustrate the Arabian Mokarta murder from Giovanni I Grifeo, he took part during sicily liberation against Arabian from the Normans. After this battle the Grifeo had from Ruggero in april 1139 Partanna’s manor. On fresco paint as you can see the Arabian man is supine with his typical turban while his strikes from Giovanni l Grifeo. The development scene is in Mazara del ValloArabian epoch fortress. On the fresco background you can see the city where the Cathedral is recognize and that is still present in a bas relief on the main portal the same Grifeo castle scene.
On the shield under the Grifone heraldic symbol  there’s a memorial inscription recalls Giovanni ll Grifeo  official investiture from the king Ruggero ll and the second Goffredo’s l investiture, fourth Baron of Partanna  by Federico ll Emperor  on 1243 for his worlord  values near the sovereign.

Castello Grifeo  grifone
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SALONE DELLA ARMI

stemma

The portal that does  access to the throne hall is surmounted  by a bas marble relief work of the important  “Dalmata”  artist Francesco  Laurana that had his workshop on 1468 in Partanna. Entering to throne hall or arms hall you can admire, a fresco mural painting, the only one arrived to day of four that adorned the ambient, that illustrate the Arabian Mokarta murder from Giovanni I Grifeo, he took part during sicily liberation against Arabian from the Normans. After this battle the Grifeo had from Ruggero in april 1139 Partanna’s manor. On fresco paint as you can see the Arabian man is supine with his typical turban while his strikes from Giovanni l Grifeo. The development scene is in Mazara del ValloArabian epoch fortress. On the fresco background you can see the city where the Cathedral is recognize and that is still present in a bas relief on the main portal the same Grifeo castle scene.

afrresco battaglia

On the shield under the Grifone heraldic symbol  there’s a memorial inscription recalls Giovanni ll Grifeo  official investiture from the king Ruggero ll and the second Goffredo’s l investiture, fourth Baron of Partanna  by Federico ll Emperor  on 1243 for his worlord  values near the sovereign.

scudo

Today  arms hall became art gallery where you can observe several painting comes to different earthquake destroyed churches that in 1968 struck all Valley of Belice

Entering to arms hall  we are in front of Saint Tommaso da Villanova painting describe as a “very excellent painting” from priest Giuseppe Mendolia  historian local lived in ‘700.
The unknow author work recalls to latter half of century XVll , on Saint Nicolò da Tolentino church originally preserved, exposed on Mendolia’s family Chapel, decorated with a plaster sculptural apparatus work of Silvestro Ratto  Mazara’s sculptor on 1665.

http://castellogrifeopartanna.altervista.org

Castello Grifeo (Partanna)

The Castle of the Counts of Modica (or Castle of Alcamo) is a medieval castle situated in the town centre of Alcamo, in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy.
In 1340 King Peter II of Sicily had given Raimondo Peralta terram Alcami et prefatum castrum Bonifati, without any mention about the castle; in fact, it is quoted, for the first time, in a diploma dated 1391. In this document the King Martino I confirmed to Enrico Ventimiglia, the concession made to his father, Guarnerio, by King Federico III de la terra e lu Castellu di Alcamu.

The construction of the castle was started by the Peralta family at about 1340 and was finished in 1350, under the feudatories Enrico and Federico Chiaramonte; it was a mansion and a defensive structure until the 16th century. If equipped with munitions and food, it could resist for a month anda a half, quartering 30 companies of soldiers.

In 1392 king Martino and his wife were hosted in the castle after the Chiaramontes' defeat, and on September 1st 1535 the emperor Carlo V, during his return from his Tunis victory, lodged in one of its towers with his court and the infanta Eleonora d'Aragona.

In 1534 the castle was attacked by the Islamic pirate Barbarossa.[3] From 1583 and until 1589 it had three restorations.

Since 1828, further to a sentence by Trapani Law Court, Alcamo municipality came into possession of the castle and in the following years it was used as a seat of municipal offices, prison and stable.

In 1870 there was another restoration. After the last restorations (made between 2000 and 2010), it has been used as the seat of the Ethnographic Museum and of the Historical Regional Vintage Wines Stock.