Castel Sant'Angelo stands on the eastern tip of Monte Eknomo, 130 metres above the sea, and overlooks the port of Licata to the south and the town and plain to the north. The first building was a square-based watchtower, built between 1583 and 1585 to a design by the engineer Camillo Camilliani. In 1615 Hernando Petigno, general commander of the cavalry of the Kingdom of Sicily, began building a fort beside it; work stopped, resumed in 1636 under the direction of Serpione Cottone, Marquis of Altamura, and the bastion was inaugurated in 1640. It is a rare example of a Baroque fortress in Sicily.
What to see
The plan is roughly triangular: the old tower and the lower rooms are arranged around a triangular courtyard with an underground cistern in the middle. Outside, the very thick battered walls and the continuous battlements stand out; at the corners, on sturdy brackets, stood the watch turrets. Along the inner perimeter were the soldiers' quarters, the stables and the stores. Entry was only from the south, by a drawbridge over a moat.
At the far end of the courtyard, under a large arch, was the chapel, which no longer exists: the marks of its frames remain.
Visiting
Once demilitarised, the castle was a telegraph station from 1849 to 1856 and then a signal station until 1965, when it was abandoned; declared of historical and artistic interest in 1969, it was restored in the nineteen-eighties, with the recovery of the tower, the courtyard and the terraces. It is reported to be open to the public: times and access should be checked with Licata town council.
Our editors' tip
The castle stands in the middle of an archaeological area: all around, on the top of the hill, stretches the Hellenistic city of Phintias, and the fort is the natural reference point for anyone visiting it. The finds are in the Museo archeologico della Badia, in town.
