Mongialino castle in Mineo
The Mongialino Castle in Mineo represents a unicum of Sicilian medieval architecture as it consists of a circular keep and an irregularly polygonal wall .
From the finds found, it is known that the hill on which the castle was built has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, 12th century BC. The castle dates back to the early Middle Ages, the first feudal lords of the castle were, around 1150, the members of the Paternó family with Constantine II Paternó, Count of Buccheri, Butera and Martana, then the members of the Norman family of de Luci, then Manfredi di Mazzarino in 1200, royal domain in 1287, Blasco Lancia in 1320 and Manfredi III Chiaramonte in 1355.
The characterizing structure of the castle is the circular keep, of which only half of the structure remains standing, and the entrance door and the drawbridge of which Abbot Vito Amico spoke in 1757 are no longer visible. The first elevation and only a few ruins of the second remain visible today of the circular keep, but from historical documents it is certain that in the mid-1700s there were four elevations. Probably therefore the two floors were divided by two wooden floors, forming the four floors observed by the abbot. The hypothesis is supported by the presence of large cornices, placed about halfway up the walls of the first floor, on which the attics probably rested. the interior and the entrance of a particular cylindrical cistern, placed right in the center of the keep, which once collected the rainwater coming from the roof. Another cistern can be seen next to the donjon, inside the courtyard formed by the crenellated walls. Unfortunately, the remains of the castle are unsafe, even the roads leading to the castle are not very accessible and there are no signs.
