Top of the World
For centuries the castle has been the gravitational centre around which the social, political and economic life of the city revolves. The site was probably the scene of the construction of a first fortified structure already in Norman times, after Robert Guiscard was awarded the title of Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily. Traces of a pre-existing castle can be found in historical sources, on the occasion of a reconstruction that took place in the thirteenth century at the behest of Frederick II. At that time, the city of Mesagne was equipped with a mighty wall with a deep moat and numerous defensive turrets. Destroyed in the same century by the Saracen troops in the pay of Manfredi of Swabia, the castle, now in poor condition, was razed to the ground in the fifteenth century. In its place, Giannantonio Orsini del Balzo had the large quadrangular tower built, which you can still admire today. The structure was equipped with a large moat and made accessible by a drawbridge. The entrance was protected by loopholes and embrasures placed on the crowning. Tradition has it that, on top of the tower, there was another smaller one, demolished in the eighteenth century because of the damage suffered after an earthquake. Over the centuries, other buildings were added to this older structure, becoming the prestigious residence of the feudal lords of the city. Among the illustrious people who chose it as their home, Giovanni Antonio Albricci and the De Angelis family, who obtained the property in 1973, built the splendid Baroque portal. It became municipal property and today houses the Civic Archaeological Museum.
