Discovering the Santa Caterina Castle

 

One afternoon, late, you decide the adventure to the highest place of the island of Favignana, Monte Santa Caterina, where there is the now abandoned castle.

Apart from the water reserves, the thing that you must not forget is the camera, because from the mountain you can enjoy a 360 ° view that is nothing short of spectacular!

The Castle of S. Caterina was built in local limestone with a rectangular shape. The ground floor was buried in the rock and it was here that, starting from the seventeenth century, held political prisoners. The first floor consisted of premises likely to house the garrison and overlooked by the sighting terrace. A small moat ran along the façade and the entrance was possible through a drawbridge that was later replaced by a corridor. The light inside the castle penetrated through a large number of windows, loopholes, glimmers and holes. On the upper floor of the Castle there were a series of rooms that belonged to the officers and soldiers and there was also a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine, where the priest celebrated Mass for the inmates. It is therefore assumed that the name given to the Castle derives from the church or chapel present. During the rule of the Bourbons there were no conspiracies against the dynasty. The rulers implemented a policy of harsh repression against the conspirators and 32,000 people were imprisoned right in the Fort, which was attacked by the rebels and partly destroyed.

The Castle today is abandoned, neglected, now reduced to a ruin exposed to the winds of the island and atmospheric agents. The Saracen archaeological trace is only intuitive, the dungeons have been sealed, also hiding the messages left by the inmates. After the Second World War, the castle of S. Caterina was requisitioned by the navy and in the 50s it was entrusted to a custodian. Today it is besieged by the cows in the area that graze peacefully around and inside the Castle.