Brolo Castle
Brolo Castle, located on a promontory overlooking the sea, dominates the village below with its imposing tower. By virtue of its position, the castle in Norman times was known by the name Voab, meaning Rocca marina. Numerous and illustrious travellers, nobles and artists have stayed in Brolo Castle enraptured by the beauty of the place.
The fortress dates back to the 10th century AD. and it was the residence of Princess Bianca Lancia, wife of Emperor Frederick II and mother of Manfredi, King of Sicily.
From the original structure of the complex, the curtain wall has come down to the present day, incorporated in some sections in subsequent wall structures, the two access portals and a courtyard arranged as a garden with a hexagonal well, all surmounted by the mass of the tower medieval, which rises for four levels culminating in a crenellated terrace. Based on a mighty scarp, the tower is characterized by a cylindrical turret set against the northern wall, inside which there is a spiral staircase that connects the various floors. On the second floor of the tower is the beautiful reception room which, unlike the others, has a cross vault which closes with the crest of the Lancia di Brolo, and the panoramic balcony, from which it is possible to admire a stretch of the Saracen coast . The legend of Maria La Bella, daughter of Francesco I, is linked to the balcony of the tower.
Access to the citadel is allowed through the two gates, the one called fausa, behind the castle, and the main entrance with a sandstone arch surmounted by a marble high relief bearing a sequence of four shields with the coats of arms of the Lunas, the Lancias, the barony of Piraino and the Alagonas.
Brolo Castle hosts the Museum of Coastal Fortifications of Sicily and the Museum of Punishment and Torture.
