Last Updated on 2022/10/25
The Castle of Gagliano Aterno, known as Castello di Gagliano Aterno in Italian, is located in Gagliano Aterno, Abruzzo.
The castle of Gagliano Aterno was built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries by the Berardi family, known as Conti dei Marsi, once they took possession of the county of Celano in 1143, to which the fiefdom belonged, and expanded in 1328 by Countess Isabella d’Aquino. From November 15 to 17, 1462, the castle was damaged and sacked by the siege carried out by Jacopo Piccinino and his army, in cahoots with Ruggero Accrocciamuro, who wanted to attack his mother Jacovella da Celano, who had taken refuge inside it, in order to have her recognize his feudal rights of succession over the county of Celano. The feud of Gagliano Aterno with the attached castle passed the following year to Antonio Piccolomini, who also repaired it by adding two circles of defensive walls.
The castle is characterized by two circles of walls: the inner one is reached by a drawbridge that passes over a moat. At the corners are three reinforcing cylindrical towers and in addition a polygonal tower. Beyond the battlements is the residential palace, consisting of several bodies placed around an inner courtyard equipped with a well and surrounded by a portico and a loggia on the second floor, reached by an open staircase. During the transformation of the castle into an aristocratic residence, the windows were enlarged and the two-level loggia overlooking the village below was built, with pointed arches in the inner courtyard and full arches on the second floor.
Featured image: wikimedia
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