Conversano Castle (Castello di Conversano)

Conversano Castle

 

Location: Bari Province Map

Constructed: 11th century

 

Description of Conversano Castle

Conversano Castle is a medieval stronghold located in Bari Province of Italy. Conversano Castle was originally constructed in the 6th century AD. However numerous wars and barbaric invasions reduced former defenses to the pile of ruins. During medieval times in the 11th century this strategic location was seized by the invading Norman kings. They quickly erected their own castle to defend newly acquired lands. Eventually they managed to assimilate and become an important part of the Italian history. Counts of Conversano used this stronghold as their official residence for centuries. Today this Conversano Castle is partially open to the public and houses an art gallery inside.

 

Description

External

By going around the perimeter of the building, we can still see a large cylindrical tower from the first half of the 15th century as attested by the coat of arms still present on the top part of the tower as last noted. In fact, the tower had been considered by literature to date from the end of the fourteenth century and generally attributed to the patronage of the Luxembourgs, but in truth all this is denied by the presence of the Del Balzo-Orsini-Acquaviva coat of arms. On the other corner there is the enormous dodecagonal bastion equipped with battlements for the guns, dating back to the end of the 1490s. On the other hand, the three massive square towers (11th-12th century) are more ancient, of which the master tower dates back to the Norman age and stands on pre-existing megalithic walls (in some sections still visible), and some remains of ogival and circular windows. The entrance door, the surrounding wall of the courtyard and the valuable gallery that runs inside the atrium date back to 1710, the year in which they were built by Countess Dorotea Acquaviva. On the side of Piazza della Conciliazione stands the late Baroque monumental entrance.

 

Internal

The entrance to the castle takes place not from Piazza Castello, but from the adjacent Piazza della Conciliazione, which is accessed through the portal of 1710, of Baroque lines. This leads to the internal courtyard, with a portico and loggia on two sides. The lords' apartment still has the antique furnishings of the 16th-17th centuries in some rooms. The view from the top of the tower overlooking the courtyard, built in the 14th century by Gualtiero di Brienne, is also spectacular. Currently, some parts of the Castle remain in private hands.

 

Municipal art gallery

Inside the castle, after a series of restorations, the municipal art gallery was placed. It contains various works, among other things the large canvases depicting episodes of Jerusalem liberated by the seventeenth-century Neapolitan painter Paolo Domenico Finoglio, invited to Conversano by Giangirolamo II d'Acquaviva; the cycle of works serves to enhance the power and prestige of the family that commissioned the work from the ancient painter.