Swabian Castle of Randazzo
Swabian Castle of Randazzo is located in the heart of the ancient medieval village, in the district of San Martino. It is the only one left of the 8 towers guarding the city on the walls and, due to its importance in the defensive system of the city, it was called the Maschio.
It was built between the Norman and Swabian times and was the seat of the Swabian court of Henry VI and Frederick II. It is assumed that what remains is only a part of a much larger architectural complex. Towards the end of the 13th century, when the Aragonese Court chose the Royal Palace as its summer residence, the Castle regained its military purpose and became the seat of the Captain of Justice of the Valdemone, thus becoming a place of detention for prisoners and sentenced to death. Its basements were transformed into distressing torture chambers, dark rooms where the condemned were lowered alive with the aid of pulleys, and in other environments, which can still be visited today, so-called oven cells were built inside which it was not It is possible to stand upright or stretched out, forcing the prisoners to always stay curled up. The severed heads of those sentenced to death were displayed in a gabion hanging from the west tower. These practices made the Castle one of the scariest prisons in the whole Valdemone. In 1636 the municipality lost possession of it and was forced to sell the property due to financial difficulties. It will first be the home of Don Carlo Romeo and then of the Vagliasindi family. In 1813, following the law on the abolition of feudalism, the baron Don Carmelo was forced to sell it to the Municipality.
The castle has a noble façade with a portal dominated by the Swabian eagle and the crenellated tower.
The castle is now home to the Archaeological Museum Paolo Vagliasindi.
