On the coast of Campofelice di Roccella, where the beach runs towards Cefalù, the tower of the Castello di Roccella has watched over a rocky spur above the sea for centuries. The site appears in 1082 as "Roccamaris" in the founding charter of the Diocese of Troina, and in 1139 the geographer Edrisi recorded it under its Arabic name, Saharat al Hadid, the Iron Rock. Muslim chronicles tell of a fortress fought over even earlier: according to Amari's reconstruction, it fell during the Arab raids against Cefalù between May 856 and April 857.
What to see
The great tower you see today is essentially the fourteenth-century rebuilding begun around 1350 by the count of Geraci and Collesano. Around it survive the traces of the medieval hamlet: in 1218 the bishop of Cefalù allowed the Monastery of Montevergine to build a church beside the "castellum", and thirteenth-century documents describe mills, a pilgrims' hospice and two churches dedicated to Saint John and Saint Mary. In 1385 the Ventimiglia obtained legal title from the bishop; in 1418, to subdue the rebellious stronghold, the viceroys had four bombards cast at Termini, one of them firing projectiles of 480 kilos.
Visiting
In 1507 the castle passed to Antonio Alliata, who introduced sugar cane and later rice to the estate, while in the sixteenth century the drawings of Tiburzio Spannocchi and Camillo Camiliani included it in the coastal defence plan against Turks and pirates promoted by the Deputation of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1699 Gaspare La Grutta obtained the fief and a licence to settle, founding on the hill above the hamlet from which today's town grew; the complex remained in private hands until 2008, when the town council bought the surviving tower-fortress. The remains are reached by walking the sandy shoreline between Campofelice and Cefalù.
Our editors' tip
The best way to get there is on foot along the beach, with the tower slowly growing on the horizon: it is the same view that greeted those landing on this stretch of coast across the centuries. From the rock, turn round towards the hill behind and take in the town born from the old hamlet — the story of the castle and the story of Campofelice are best read together.