MY TOP 5

MY TOP

BY BIANCO FRANCESCO

MY TOP 5 OF: SCALEA

THANKS

TALAO TOWER

SCALEA HISTORIC CENTER

RUINS OF THE NORMAN CASTLE

PALACE OF THE PRINCES SPINELLI

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CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA D'EPISCOPIO

MY TOP 5

The church, better known as "Madonna del Carmine", is rich in monuments and works of art. The Madonna del Carmine was proclaimed patron and protector of Scalea on 7 March 1875. The Carmelite fraternity had already been founded in 1806. The first nucleus of the Madonna del Carmine church dates back to the 8th century.In this era, in fact, the church, already dedicated to S. Maria Annunziata, took the name of S. Maria d'Episcopio.In the Norman era the church was significantly enlarged and entrusted to the Benedictines who owned it from 1149 to 1152. The superb apse window of the church is indeed a testimony to the period in which the Latins took over the dominion of the church. Years later it was enlarged and embellished.

THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA D'EPISCOPIO

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The Palazzo dei Principi Spinelli is made up of several structures built and expanded over the course of its existence. The first plan, which can be traced back to the 13th century, features multilobed rosettes and an ogival mullioned window. Among the first owners it is believed to have been the noble Roman family, whose most illustrious representative, the admiral of the Angevin fleet Ademaro, rests in the magnificent Mausoleum of Ademaro Romano located in the Chapel of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, near the Church of San Nicola in Plateis. The structure reached its period of maximum splendor with the Spinelli family in the 17th century, when the rooms hosted illustrious figures of the time, such as: Pietro Metastasio and Gregorio Caloprese. In 1806, with the occupation of Scalea by French troops, the palace was set on fire. Currently the Palazzo degli Spinelli, owned by the Municipality of Scalea, hosts events.

THE PALACE OF THE PRINCES SPINELLI

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The Norman Castle was built in the 11th century as a military fortress by the Normans on the remains of a Lombard fortress and subsequently restored by the Swabians, the Angevins and then the Aragonese. During the Norman domination, the brothers Ruggero and Roberto d'Altavilla met inside it to divide the Calabrian territories. After having been an Angevin fortress, in the 15th century it became a private residence of the various lords who took turns dominating the fiefdoms in the area: around 1499 the fiefdom and the castle of Scalea were purchased by Duke Francesco di Sanseverino. In 1501 the castle was bought by Giovanni Caracciolo and, in 1525 it passed to his daughter Isabella who married Ferrante Spinelli, Duke of Castrovillari (Spinelli) who became the new owner of the castle. Upon the death of Francesco Spinelli, the castle remained the property of the family until the end of feudalism. Then it was sold by the heirs to the current owners. The castle was abandoned at the end of the 18th century and soon fell into disrepair. Among the ruins a water tank was built in 1908 as Scalea's first aqueduct.

THE RUINS OF THE NORMAN CASTLE

THE SCALEA HISTORIC CENTER

The interior of Scalea is a tangle of stairs, alleys, broads, supports and arches. One of the characteristics of the historic core are the "Suppuorti", covered sections of the streets, born from the need to build houses one on top of the other for defense reasons. During the Second World War Scalea was bombed. From the 1960s the few houses that make up the current historic center were progressively abandoned and the inhabitants began to build new buildings occupying the area south of the original nucleus; Lorenzo Giustiani described the old city thus: «This city has 4 doors, one it is called the sea gate, the second is called the bridge gate, from an ancient bridge, in which you can see an artillery piece; the third gate of Cimalonga, in which there is a tower which today serves as a prison and the fourth gate of the fort. At the top you can see its ancient almost ruined castle with its bulwarks and ditches and there is an artillery piece of which the old people of the town remember that there were many of them. A few steps away from the sea gate, towards the north, at the top of a delightful hill, you can see an ancient tower called Judas' tower, which must have served as an observatory for the aforementioned castle.

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Torre Talao is a coastal tower dating back to the 16th century; it is located in the municipality of Scalea and is an example of Aragonese military architecture in southern Italy. The tower was built in 1563 by Pedro Afán de Ribera d'Alcalà, viceroy of the kingdom of Naples. The Talao Tower today is the symbol of Scalea. Originally the Torre Talao rock was an island within which sulphurous water flowed. Then following a landfill phenomenon it became a peninsula and today it is completely dry. The caves of the Torre Talao rock were inhabited by prehistoric men. Talao Tower was built in the 16th century. It was part of the coastal defensive system, against the incursions of the Turks, wanted by Charles V. The coastal defense system included 337 towers within sight of each other. Torre Talao was built at the expense of the locals. Every citizen had to contribute to the construction of the Tower either with a sum of money or with free service according to their abilities. Towards the end of the 17th century, Torre Talao was deprived of its cannons, previously placed for the defense of the coast. At the beginning of the 20th century the owner of the time, Del Giudice, bottled the sulphurous water from the spring at the base of the Torre Talao rock and put it on the market with considerable success. Around 1909-1910 Amedeo Rocco Armentano rented the Talao Tower to make it the meeting place of a Pythagorean school which took inspiration from the ancient one.

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THE TALAO TOWER

I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE ENJOYED THIS PRESENTATION AND THAT ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE A WALK IN THE WONDERFUL SCALEA