The Castle

At 300 metres above sea level the Castle dominates the town, constituting the northern vertex of a triangular defensive scheme, coinciding with the slopes of the mount Bonadies.
This scheme has always been proposed again both in miniatures, such as those by Pietro da Eboli at the end of the twelfth century, and in graphical representations, as in a planimetry kept in the Diocesan Archive of Salerno dating back to 1790.
At that time, on part of its ruined structures had settled a farmhouse. Its embattled image is found again also in the last Longobard coinage, surrounded by the legend of Opulenta Salerno.
In 1960 it became property of the Provincial Administration of Salerno and underwent restoration works that ended in 1982.
In the course of the restoration a considerable quantity of mediaeval ceramics of different kinds and coins (Norman coins, golden Tarì and Aragonese silver coins) were recovered.
In the restored area has been created a first expository nucleus for the materials of the castle, a hall for exhibitions nad a meeting room. Recent excavation interventions have allowed, through the recovery of stratigraphic strips, to define the chronology of the most ancient building phase, a square work constituted by rows of quadrangular blocks, attributable to the Byzantine period (sixth century A.D.), which followed the structural methodologies of the never forgotten Roman world.
Even if ancient sources - such as the anonymous author of the "Chronicon" in the tenth century - underlinethe promotion of a powerful work of reinforcement of the defensive plan of the town by the Longobard prince Arechi II in the eighth century, the Norman period revealed more documented.
The Angevin and Aragonese phases were already known and the restored area in the 70s was just that of Aragonese widening.
The exploitation of the fortification works of Salerno and the same landscape has been enriched by the acquisition in 1990 of the Tower Bastiglia, north of the castle with function of sighting and support of the defensive work.

Address: Via B. Croce
Telephone: +39 089 227237
Visiting hours: from 9:00 a.m. until one hour before sunset
Weekly day off: Monday
Opening period: yearly
Admission fare: free

Azienda Soggiorno e Turismo - Salerno