Bovino Castle

Historical and artistic heritage

One of the most important historical complexes, noteworthy is its size. The Norman was built by Dragone in 1045 on the ruins of an ancient Roman fortress. Later expanded by Frederick II of Swabia during the thirteenth century. According to the chronicles of the time in the castle also the son of Frederick II of Swabia, Manfredi, lived before the Battle of Benevento in 1266 in which he lost his kingdom and his life.

Present reworkings of the feudal lords who succeeded it, which led it to become more and more like a noble residence. From the south, in the Cassero, traces of the ancient Roman fortress are preserved. The circular tower, called “a cavaliere” is Norman; to the south near Cassero there is a square tower from 1624 with a clock. The plan of the building is irregular polygonal, which in a ring is articulated around a large external courtyard. Present in the past a hanging garden. It was inhabited until 1961, it was one of the most beautiful patrician houses in the South during the seventeenth century. In it Torquato Tasso, Giovan Battista Marino, Maria Teresa of Austria and Pope Benedict XIII found hospitality. Inside there is an eighteenth-century noble chapel that preserves the Holy Thorn, set in a silver reliquary cross.

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