Venetian castle

Venetico, located on the Tyrrhenian side of the Peloritani Mountains, is one of the most small villages of Sicily.

The story tells that in 36 BC in the sea in front of Venetico Marina, Pompey's fleet was destroyed by Agrippa's in the battle of Nauloco.
However, the first evidence of the village dates back tomedieval era during which the original nucleus was born consisting of a tavern where only four peasant families lived.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the feud was donated to the De Venetico brothers from whom the village took its name.

History of the Castle of Venetico

On top of a hill, as was customary, stands the Venetian castle which can be seen in its main parts. The complex dates back to the thirteenth century and was commissioned by Venetian family owner of the feud during the Norman era. In the mid-XNUMXth century, as there were no heirs, it was donated to Judge Arduino by the owner family with the approval of King Manfredi who made it perpetual to his heirs on condition that they complied with the obligation of military service.

Subsequently the Feud and related Castle of Venetico passed to the Baron Spadafora together with the Fief of Mazzarrà. His son married Melchiorra Moncada Aragona from whom he had five heirs continuing to manage the various family properties.

Architecture of the Castle of Venetico

The fort is made following a trapezoidal plan at court while at the corners it has some circular towers.

You enter the castle through a large flight of stairs, where once stood at the end a drawbridge that no longer exists.
La walls of the defensive perimeter is preserved almost entirely as well as part of the walkway that went around the inner part of the defensive wall.

Near the towers you can see the slots prepared for the guns alternating with evident and large conches.

L'interior of the castle it is actually a fortified palace. Despite the devastation wrought by time, it is still possible to decipher some large rooms built with the same masonry technique as the ramparts. In particular, in the northern part of the fortification, a residential block is preserved, certainly the main one, with a considerable extension. Not far from residential block you can see what remains of a building that could have been a small church or a chapel. The castle was built to maintain eye contact with the Saponara castle and the town of Roccavaldina, to control the communication routes to and from Rometta.

What you can do around Venetico Castle

Near the Castle of Venetico is the eighteenth-century church of Santa Caterina which has the features of a martyrion while the Church of Sant'Anna it is in Baroque style and deserves to be visited.
Also worth seeing Mother Church of San Nicolò preceded by a beautiful and monumental fountain. The Mother Church, built in the sixteenth century, is decorated inside with fine stuccos and a coffered ceiling and houses some works of art such as the seventeenth-century canvas of the Madonna del Rosario, and the sixteenth-century Adoration of the Magi and Christ at the column and flagellation .
In the surroundings of the village you can reach Venetico Marina as well as Forte Campone - located in Calvaruso - an Umbertine fortification structured on two levels connected by a ramp and the Hermitage of San Leone located in a wooded area a few kilometers from Rometta, where you can admire the remains of the buildings and the cave of the Saint.

How is it possible to get to the Castle of Venetico

By car:: take the A20 motorway (Messina-Palermo), exiting at Milazzo for those coming from Palermo or at Rometta for those coming from Messina. Then take the SS113 to the crossroads for Venetico Superiore.

Images of Ephems, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons