Ventimiglia Castle in Alcamo
The Castello dei Ventimiglia in Alcamo , also known as Castello di Bonifato , is an ancient four-towered castle built at the end of the 14th century by the Ventimiglia family on the top of the mountain Bonifato. Today the last tower stands alone in the castle.
The first news of the castle is in 1337 when Peter II granted it to Peralta, but even earlier, in 1332 Frederick III granted a privilege to the inhabitants of Bonifato, and only in Enrico Ventimiglia, son of Guarniero, did he claim to have built the castle of Bonifato. Initially it was believed that the castle had been built by Enrico Ventimiglia, count of Alcamo, in 1397, as he declared. In reality, other historical sources date the castle to an earlier period, the first news of the castle dates back to 1337.
Of the castle, except for the tower, today only ruins remain. Only a wall graft is visible on the north-east side of the tower which indicates the northern course of the defensive curtain wall of the fort. The layout of the castle is similar to a rectangular trapezoid. The existing tower was placed on the north-west end of the defensive system. From there the two perpendicular sides developed where a slight slope welcomed the medieval town, still visible with significant heaps of stone.
The castle, if compared to others of the same period, had been built with quite small dimensions, it was probably thought to withstand short military sieges or because its main function had to be that of quickly signaling possible enemy incursions from the sea.
The location of the remaining tower, conceived as a keep of the military garrison, dominates the entire Gulf of Castellammare and part of the southern hinterland.
