Brucoli Village
Pannucci Stefano - CC4.0
Brucoli is a small fishing village not far from Augusta.
The village is bordered, along its entire length, by a natural canal on whose walls many ancient caves are visible, which served as homes in the neolithic era.
Brucoli is also known for its Aragonese castle, a small masterpiece of military art from which you can enjoy a splendid panorama of the Gulf of Catania.
It was built in 1466 , at the behest of King John of Aragon, by the governor Giovanni Sabastida, with the aim of supervising the port and the shipper of Brucoli, existing at least since the end of the fourteenth century, from Turkish-Barbarian raids, and later from those coming from the northern coasts of Africa. In the 18th century, the castle was also used for the purpose of supervising maritime trade and as a guard and lookout post with a military garrison under the command of the nearby Augusta stronghold.
The castle has fortified walls with 4 towers at the corners and a polygonal tower on the north side. In the inner part, the wall is crossed by a corridor that surrounds the castle. On the ground floor there is a cistern for collecting water used in the event of a siege. The upper floor has four large windows also used to sound out the sea. At the center of the manor there was a rectangular crenellated tower resized following the earthquake of 1693. Over the centuries the castle has undergone alterations, and today the southern and western parts of the external wall are no longer visible.
Another attraction of Brucoli is its lighthouse. Completely surrounded by the sea, despite its small size, it is one of the most beautiful and well-preserved lighthouses in Sicily. The lighthouse is now part of a luxury resort.
