Castello di Acaya: A Renaissance Bastioned Fortress in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Byzantine, Kingdom of Naples, Spanish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
Castello di Acaya is a restored sixteenth-century bastioned fortress in Acaya, Italy, in the Apulian settlement that developed from the medieval site of Segine. Its oldest surviving core dates to 1506, and its Renaissance defensive design reflects both the threat of Turkish incursions and the need to control territory within the expanding dominion of Charles V.
Medieval Segine and the Dell’Acaya family
Segine belonged to the Dell’Acaya family for approximately three centuries. In 1294, Charles II of Naples, the Angevin king whose rule included the Kingdom of Naples, granted the settlement to Gervaso dell’Acaya, a captain. The family retained the fief and later gave its name to the settlement. In 1535, Segine was renamed Acaya after the baronial family.
The Renaissance fortress
Alfonso di Acaya built the oldest part of the castle in 1506. In 1535, his son Giangiacomo dell’Acaya surrounded it with walls, constructed bastions and a moat, and laid out an urban plan for the settlement. An inscription on one bastion records the completion of these works in 1536.
The fortress was intended to resist Turkish incursions, but its purpose was not limited to narrow military defense. Its position and design could also support the control of the Salento territory for the emerging dominion of Charles V, the Habsburg emperor and king whose Italian dominion included the Kingdom of Naples, then governed as a Spanish viceroyalty.
Later ownership and military use
After Giangiacomo dell’Acaya died in 1570, the fief passed to the royal domain. In 1608, it was transferred to Alessandro de Montibus, who further strengthened the castle in response to the threat of Turkish attacks. When the main branch of the De Montibus family died out near the end of the seventeenth century, the fief returned to the royal court.
In 1688, the court sold Acaya to the De Montibus-Sanfelice family, who sold it to the Vernazza family later that same year. The Vernazzas left the fortress unchanged, allowing its Renaissance defensive structure to survive the Baroque period. On 23 September 1714, Saracen pirates attacked and captured the fortified citadel for the first time. The Vernazzas later sold it to the family of Onofrio Scarciglia of Lecce. The property subsequently passed to the Rugge family and ultimately to the Provincial Administration of Lecce.
Archaeological interpretation and modern use
Restoration and archaeological investigation broadened understanding of the site beyond its later military history. Work on the former manor revealed evidence of an earlier medieval construction and led to the identification of a small Byzantine church with disturbed graves beneath it. A fresco discovered inside a cavity during restoration added further evidence of the site’s religious past.
The castle now houses a permanent exhibition devoted to the archaeological excavations at Roca Vecchia. This modern use connects the fortress with the wider archaeological heritage of the surrounding area while preserving its role as a place where the history of Acaya can be interpreted.
Remains
The castle is built of dressed stone on a quadrilateral plan. Low, solid bastions occupy its corners, and two triangular projecting points extend toward the northwest and southeast. Powerful circular towers stand on the other two sides. Together, these elements form a firearm-era defensive system in which the projecting works protected the connecting walls. The bastions contain gun ports on every level.
Bastions and defensive walls
The southeast corner contains a lance-shaped bastion with sloping masonry, additional defensive works, and gun ports arranged on two levels. This arrangement is described as the first experiment in grazing defensive fire. The builders also used recessed curtain walls, meaning the connecting walls were set back to improve the defenders’ ability to cover the perimeter. These features belong to the successive sixteenth- and seventeenth-century fortification phases, including the strengthening undertaken in 1608.
Former manor and Byzantine church
The former manor preserves evidence of the complex’s non-military functions. In its northeast tower, an enneagonal hall contains valuable friezes, while several coats of arms of the Dell’Acaya family decorate the complex. On the north side of the old manor are the remains of a small Byzantine church. Disturbed graves lay beneath the church when the remains were identified.
Dormitio Virginis fresco
Inside a cavity, restoration uncovered a fresco of the Dormitio Virginis, a Christian image of the death or “falling asleep” of the Virgin Mary. Dating to the second half of the fourteenth century, the painting measures approximately 4 by 3 metres and is described as perfectly preserved. It shows the Apostles witnessing the Virgin’s death while Jesus takes her soul and presents it to the Father. The imagery follows an iconographic tradition associated with later apocryphal accounts of the Apostles and the taking of Mary’s soul.
Burials and tunnels near the stables
Excavations carried out on 25 January 2001, a few metres from the walls near the stables, exposed graves, collective burial pits, and tunnels. The first opened pit contained four skulls and other human bones, probably belonging to men aged between 25 and 30. Nearby spaces contained pelvic and lower-limb bones from a particularly large individual.
An inspection by technicians of the Bari Superintendency, directed by the architect Antonio Bramato, indicated that the burials occurred at the same time. The remains were therefore hypothesized to belong to soldiers killed during one of the violent battles that affected the Segine area between 1200 and 1300. Samples were taken to investigate the age of the bones and the causes of death, while mass decapitation was proposed as one possible explanation.
