Punta Troia Castle in Marettimo
The Castle of Punta Troia in Marettimo rises, overlooking the sea, on the homonymous promontory of the island.
The castle was built by the Saracens in the 9th century, who used it as a tower sighting on the sea. However, it is only in the seventeenth century. with the Spaniards that the castle knows its present form. The lower floor consists of a single room and a staircase that leads to the upper floor which is accessed via a sort of entrance hall and, through a small passage, closed by a gate, you reach a small staircase that leads to a terrace where there are several rooms. On the perimeter that surrounds the castle there is a cistern, defined as " the tremendous pit ". It was built by the Spaniards initially as a cistern for collecting water and later it was emptied and transformed into a prison by the Spaniards. It was a terrible place, where prisoners, with their feet bound by chains, were lowered from above with ropes. The pit was closed with a block of stone and the prisoners lived in the almost total absence of air and light. This terrible place was closed by King Ferdinand II in 1844. During the two world wars the castle was used as a military garrison and subsequently abandoned.
The castle of Punta Troia has recently been renovated and is open to the public. In its rooms it houses the Punta Troia Prison Museum and the Monk Seal Observatory of the Protected Marine Area of the Egadi Islands.
It is possible to reach the castle of Punta Troia along the path created by the Forestry. However, the simplest and shortest way to reach the castle is the sea.
