What to see · Battipaglia

More places of interest

• Il Castelluccio

  The castle of Battipaglia, known in town as the «Castelluccio», stands on a hill overlooking the town, where the last slopes of the Apennines descend into the Sele plain, at the mouth of the Tusciano valley and near the ancient via Popilia. It was built around the year 1000 at the wish of Guaimar IV of Salerno, on the remains of an older military structure, to protect an area rich in monasteries and farmland. It has been a listed cultural asset since 1994 and is considered a symbol of the town.

  What to see

  The castle keeps stretches of the oldest walls, resting directly on the rock of the hill, and a thirteenth-century tower; on the façade are three square towers added later. On the ground floor the cross vaults are carved into the living rock. The noble apartment had six rooms, and the largest, probably the main hall, is lit by two large pointed windows that were once mullioned. In the inner courtyard is the chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie, restored, with the painting of the Madonna above the portal and small paintings of angels and saints on the ceiling.

  The castle's history is long: it is mentioned in a document of 4 October 1080 as «Castellucium de Baptipalla», appears in Frederick II's list of castles of 1230-1231, in 1612 passed to the Doria family and in 1683 to Marquis Angelo Pignatelli, whose family kept it until the fifties of the twentieth century. In the twenties the Neapolitan architect Farinelli turned it into a stately residence in neo-medieval style. Since 1979 it has belonged to the Santese family, who restored it between 2015 and 2020.

  Visiting

  The castle is privately owned: whether it can be visited should be checked beforehand.

  Our editors' tip

  Near the main entrance look for the Pignatelli coat of arms: it recalls the marriage of the last heiress of the castle to Ferdinando Ferrara di Olevano, which united the two families.

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