Il castello svevo di Augusta, edificio simbolo della città, è un imponente fortezza normanno-sveva del XIII secolo, che si erge con tutta la sua mole sull'estremità nord dell'isola di Augusta.
Storia
La fortificazione medioevale probabilmente iniziò la realizzazione al 1232, e sarebbe costruito su una preesistente torre di avvistamento di età normanna. La costruzione del castello, sulla piccola penisola denominata "Terra vecchia", fu voluta dall'imperatore Federico II di Svevia e affidata a Riccardo da Lentini. I lavori terminano nel 1242.

A testimonianza vi è una epigrafe nel Castello che recita:

Augustam Dìvus Augustus
condidit urbem. Et tulit ut
tìtulo sit Veneranda suo

La costruzione del castello si inquadrava in un progetto che mirava a rendere il territorio controllato militarmente. Il castello svevo di Augusta, unendosi alle fortezze di Catania e Siracusa, estendeva il dominio e un controllo capillare su un più vasto territorio. Fu poi occupato dagli angioini e dagli aragonesi.

Furono aggiunte imponenti opere bastionate nel XVII secolo. I piani delle celle sopra il portico risalgono all'adattamento a penitenziario del 1890. Il rivellino è attualmente occupato dal Commissariato della Polizia di Stato.

Passata al demanio, è affidato alla sovrintendenza dei beni culturali di Siracusa. Non visitabile al pubblico, negli ultimi anni, per pericolo di crolli..

La procura della Repubblica di Siracusa, apre un'inchiesta sullo stato fatiscente del castello e il 16 febbraio 2016 il presidente della regione Rosario Crocetta viene indagato, insieme a quattro dirigenti regionali, per "omissione di atti d'ufficio, danneggiamento del patrimonio archeologico, storico e artistico e omissione di lavori in edifici che minacciano rovina", e viene disposto il sequestro del monumento.

Descrizione
Il nucleo svevo del complesso militare è costituito da un quadrato murario di 62 metri per lato e otto torri con uno spessore murario di 2,60 m e con fodero di conci in pietra arenaria giuggiulena.

Le quattro torri squadrate a centro di ogni lato erano a Est e Ovest di pianta rettangolare e a Nord e Sud di pianta poligonale.

Castello svevo (Augusta)

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The Aragonese Castello di Brucoli was built in the fifteenth century as a watch tower to guard the coast and monitor and protect against Turkish-Barbarian raids. It underwent several additions and alterations in the following centuries, e.g walls with circular towers at the corners were added in the 16th century.

The Castle of Brucoli dominates much of the Gulf of Catania and was therefore used as a watch and guard post in the 18th century, hosting a military garrison in the employ of the nearby fortress of Augusta. It guarded also the port of Brucoli. 

Despite the effects of time, the castle is in good condition.

https://www.myguidesicily.com

Castello di Brucoli

The Euryalus Fortress located in the frazione of Belvedere, was the key point in the fortifications of the ancient Greek city of Syracuse. It is located on the highest point of the hill of Epipolae (about 120 metres above sea level), around 7 km northwest of Syracuse.
During the Athenian invasion of Sicily (415-413 BC), the fortress did not yet exist, but the strategic importance of the area was clear; the Athenians initially captured the hill, but their failure to retain it prevented them from effectively besieging the city. The name Euryalus is mentioned by Thucydides in the course of the first Athenian attack on the city. Later in his account, after the reconquest of Epipolae from the Athenians by the Syracusans, a Syracusan garrison on the site is mentioned.

In light of this experience, the fortress was first established by Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse. Construction took place between 402 and 397 BC, with the intention that the fortress would protect the city from siege and attack by the Carthaginians. Various renovations were subsequently undertaken in response to developments in siege weaponry, under Agathocles and Hiero II.

After the Roman conquest of the city in 212 BC by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the fortress continued to be modified until the Byzantine period when parts of it were torn apart in order to repair the rest in light of Muslim invasion.

In 1939, King Victor Emmanuel III visited the monument in an official capacity. In 1941, during the Second World War, the artefacts in the Syracuse archaeological museum were carried by mule to the fortress and hidden in its subterranean tunnels, so that they would be safe from aerial bombardment.

On 30 September 2016, an antiquarium was opened on the site, after a long closure resulting from the Santa Lucia earthquake of 1990. This building contains some of the discoveries from the site, including a sword, a helmet, and the missiles from a stone-throwing catapult.

Description
Moats
The entrance to the fortress is protected by three ditches and one lateral ditch. The first and smallest ditch is 6 metres long and 4 metres deep (see A on the map below). The second is 86 metres away from the first and is around 50 metres long (B). It defends a forward bastion, behind which is a third ditch which is 17 metres long and 9 metres deep (D) which links the defensive system with the subterranean tunnels. In the south part of this ditch, there is a draw bridge which allows one to cross the ditch from one set of fortifications to the other (C and E). There was also an internal staircase which allowed access to C from ditch D. Finally, on the south side, there was a fourth ditch (H), which protected the shallowest part of the lateral slope of Epipolae. Tunnels link this ditch with ditch D.

Fortifications
Between the ditches is the central fortress which has a rectangular shape (G, erroneously listed as "C" on the map). Beyond ditch D, the central fortress which was open in the Greek period, is closed by five square towers (pentapylon), which were probably about 15 metres high with crenellations on top as well as 4th century BC rainwater spouts in the shape of lions' heads, now kept in the Museo Paulo Orsi. The towers were probably platforms for catapults. Near the central fortress there are three large cisterns which could provide water in the event of a siege.



Euryalus fortress

Maniace Castle, locally known as Castello Maniace, lies in the city of Syracuse, in the province of Syracuse on the island of Sicily in Italy.

Maniace Castle was built between 1232 and 1240 during the rule of Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. It is situated at the extreme point of the island of Ortygia, on which the ancient city of Syracuse was located. Together with the, now disappeared, Marchetto Castle it controlled the harbour and city of Syracuse. It was built on the spot of an earlier fort, built by George Maniakes, the Byzantine Greek general who had conquered Sicily from the Arabs in 1038. Hence the castle was named after him.

During the 13th century Maniace Castle was used as a royal residence. After the Sicilian Vespers it was resided in by the new King of Sicily; Peter III of Aragon and his wife Constance of Sicily.

In 1300 the castle was the place where a truce was signed between Frederick III of Sicily, King of Sicily, and Robert of Anjou, King of Naples. In 1302 it became the seat of the Royal Chamber, a feudal domain given by Frederick III to his wife Eleanor of Sicily as a royal dowry. It remained a hereditary domain of the Queens of Sicily until 1537.

After a banquet held in Maniace Castle in 1448, Captain Giovanni Ventimiglia accused all the guests of treason and had them killed.

In the last half of the 15th century, under the reign of Ferdinand II of Aragon, the castle was used as a prison and strengthened by Captain Goncalves of Cordoba.

During the 16th century, during the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, the castle underwent many changes and turned into a real fortress when new outer walls were erected around it.

In the first half of 17th century Maniace Castle housed a garrison. It was strengthened again and renamed St. James Castle. In the second half the castle was equipped with a new battery at its southern end, named The Diamond, because of its shape. In 1693 the castle was damaged by an earthquake.

In 1704 Maniace was extensively damaged when a storm caused the explosion of the gunpowder magazines. It was rebuilt during subsequent years and warehouses were built within the castle's walls.

During the Napoleonic Wars the castle was adapted to the current state of warfare and the ramparts were equipped with cannons. In 1838 new barracks were built inside the castle. In 1860 Maniace Castle was handed over to the troops of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian general who conquered Sicily during the Expedition of the Thousand.

Maniace Castle remained a military structure until the 1970's when it was demilitarized. Between 1993 and 2003 it was restored.

This is a great castle which shows details of its use during several centuries. The grand hypostyle hall, dating back to the early beginnings of the castle, is magnificent. The castle can be visited for a fee.

https://www.castles.nl