De Falconibus Castle

Historical Asset

Most valuable civil architecture in the town, it is located in the ideal center of the town and was located in the northeast corner of the ancient Pulsan walls, with the entrance facing west on the square. Spread over 3 floors, it has a quadrangular plan and 5 towers of different bases and dimensions. The castle had only the Square Tower (or Torre Massima) which currently overlooks Piazza Castello and was used as a hunting lodge. In 1100 AD the local population, probably driven by continuous pirate raids, moved from the coast inland and found refuge in the tower, not visible from the coast. The De Falconibuses purchased the semi-enticing tower and expanded the structure to the other 4 towers (all different). There was an underpass (now walled) that connects it to the castle of Leporano and the sea and was equipped with a moat and a drawbridge. In the early nineteenth century, at the behest of Gioacchino Murat the three cannons that were housed there were transferred to Taranto to be employed in the defense of the city against the Spaniards. Now the walls to the north and east, together with three of the five towers, are totally incorporated into the fabric of the adjacent properties, hidden by their walls, and until the beginning of the 900 also the south wall was not very visible because it was incorporated in an architecture of then recent construction. The castle, acquired by the municipal patrimony in the early twentieth century, is now home to the municipal council, and is also a representative office, a tourist information center and a space for art exhibitions. It preserves fragments of pictorial decorations and some small stone reliefs.