The Castle of Melfi rises from a hill of volcanic origin and looms over both the historical and the new residential centres of Melfi (PZ). The earliest nucleus of the castle is a Norman building on a square plan with corner towers which date to the 11th-12th centuries. Its construction dates to 1042 when Guglielmo d’Altavilla took residence in Melfi on becoming the Count of Puglia.
Today the walled perimeter that encircled the city borgo can still be seen. The castle’s defence system included a moat, a bastion and a wall with 10 towers (7 rectangular and 3 pentagonal). Four entrance gates are still visible, three were built in Angevin times, two of which have since been bricked up. The gate used today as the visitor entrance to the castle was once linked to a drawbridge, now replaced by brick, and was opened after the Angevin era.
Substantial restructuring and extension work on the bastion was carried out by Emperor Frederick II of Swabia who chose Melfi Castle as his residence. It was transformed from fortress into a noble residence by the Doria family between the 16th and 18th centuries. On 24 April 1954 it became property of the Italian State.
The castle was the setting for at least four Papal Councils and for Pope Urban II proclamation of the first Crusade to the Holy Land in 1089. Melfi Castle today houses a National Archaeological Museum which displays priceless artefacts found in the many tombs unearthed in the neighbouring Vulture-Melfese area.
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