The Aragonese Castle in Ischia is one of the many attractions offered by the beautiful island of the Arcipelago Campano, a top destination when it comes to seaside and thermal tourism at an international level.
At the top of this small island of trachyte rock, which is the result of a vulcanic eruption occurred over three hundred thousand years ago stands out Ischia’s Aragonese Castle, on the eastern side of the island. A brick-built bridge connects the small island to that of Ischia, in the area of the ancient village of Ischia Ponte. The access to the castle is through a 400 meters long tunnel that was dug into the rock in the mid-15th century on request by Alfonso V d’Aragona, since the only other viable access was through the sea. Once this part is over, you get up to the castle through a mule trail that reaches the highest point of the island.
The story of the Aragonese Castle in Ischia
The original castle, built in 474 B.C. as Castrum Gironis perhaps by Syracuse’s tyran Gerone, who would have also been the owner of the first Greek settlment on the island, fell in the hands of the Romand, and in the Middle Ages it was provided with the crypt of the Cattedrale dell’Assunta, featuring fine frescoes. It then became known with its current name, in relation to Alfonso d’Aragona and his dinasty.
The current look of the castle, therefore, is the result of the Aragonese people, who transformed it into a solid fortress square-shaped, with walls and four towers, very much along the lines of the Maschio Angioino in Naples. A first wooden bridge was placed to connect the small island to the bigger one, and then fortifications were added, such as machicolations, holes from which stones melted lead, boiling water and oil against the enemies. At the end of the 16th century, the casle hosted the Convento delle Clarisse, the abbey of the basilian monks from Greece, the episcopal chapter and seminar, in addition to the prince and the garrison.
The votive Chapel of the Tunnel
The tunnel, which allows through the rock to get to Ischia’s Aragonese Castle, has a small altar, initially dedicated to St Leonard, with a painting of St Giovan Giuseppe della Croce related to the miraculously healing from the plague.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception
The dome of the 18th century Church of the Immaculate Conception dominated the castle. It was built only partially at the behest of Giovanna Battista Lanfreschi, prioress of the Convent of the poor Clares nearby, due to the huge financial effort that it had required: the facade and the interiors were not finished, and the walls were left completely white.
The Convent of the Clares
The convent dates back to 1575. It was founded by Beatrice Quadra, widow of Muzio d’Avalos, who moved here together with seven other nuns from the convent of St Nicholas, on mount Epomeo. A wing of the building hosts a hotel, and the cells of the nuns have been turned into bedrooms. It is worth seeing the underground cemetery of the Clares, which presents along the walls stones seats on which the dead nuns were placed in seated position in order to mummify them.
The Cathedral of the Assumption
The Cathedral of the Assumption was requested and built by the people in 1306, in order to replace the one, on the bigger island, that was destroyed by a vulcanic eruption. Here, in 1509, the nuptials of Fernando Francesco d’Avalos and Vittoria Colonna were celebrated. In 1809 it was destriyed by british cannonade, and today it displays a three-nave structure on which a pointed arch dome was supposed to be built. Inside there is still the crypt built between the 11th and 122 centuries, where frescoes of the Giotto school are still visibile.
The borbonic prison
The prison was commissioned by Ferdinando I di Borbone, in 1823. Here, were imprisoned the patriots Carlo Poerio, Michele Pironti and Silvio Spaventa.
To complete the extraordinary overview offered by the complex of Ischia’s Aragonese Castle there is also the church of San Pietro a Pantaniello, attributed to Jacopo Barozzi, today completely empy and void of any traces that might lead us to understand its original shape, and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, with its panoramic terrace filled with olive trees, and the abbey of the Basilians of Greece.
Featured image: Case Vacanza
