Castello Sant'Aniceto description and photos - Italy: Calabria (Topic)

Castello Sant'Aniceto description and photos - Italy: Calabria. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The name in English is Castello Sant'Aniceto.

Photo and description

The Byzantine castle of Castello Sant Anicheto, also known as San Nicheto, was built in the 11th century on a hill in the small town of Motta San Giovanni in the province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region of Calabria. The town itself lies 130 km southwest of the regional capital, Catanzaro, and 13 km southeast of its largest city, Reggio di Calabria.

Castello Sant Anicheto is one of the most outstanding examples of late medieval Byzantine-Norman architecture in Calabria and one of the best-preserved Byzantine forts in the world. Its name comes from the name of Saint Nicetas, a Byzantine admiral who lived in the 7-8th centuries. The castle was built as a refuge and a kind of guard tower at the time, when the shores of Calabria and Sicily were constantly ravaged by the warlike Saracens. After the Norman conquest of southern Italy, the structure was expanded and several rectangular towers were added to it. In the 13th century, the castle became the main center of the flourishing feudal estate of San Anicheto, which included the villages of Motta San Giovanni and Montebello. And two centuries later, during the conflict with Reggio di Calabria, it was destroyed by order of Alfonso of Calabria.

The structure that has survived to us has an irregular shape, which resembles a ship with the bow facing the mountains and the stern facing the sea. Two square towers have survived near the entrance. At the foot of a short but steep path that leads to the plain below, stands a small church, the dome of which is painted with frescoes depicting Christ Pantokrator - a typical object of Byzantine art. The height of the castle walls varies from 3 to 3.5 meters, and the thickness reaches one meter.

Another attraction of Mott San Giovanni is the Capo delle Armi lighthouse. It stands on the cape of the same name and is a strategically important object for ships entering the Strait of Messina from the south. The lighthouse was built in 1867 and modernized a hundred years later. It consists of a white signal tower perched on an octagonal brick building two stories high.

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Topic: Castello Sant'Aniceto description and photos - Italy: Calabria.