| Caldora Castle | |
|---|---|
| Castello Caldoresco | |
| Vasto | |
Castle in Vasto | |
  Caldora Castle | |
| Coordinates | 42°06′43.17″N14°42′29.24″E / 42.1119917°N 14.7081222°E |
| Type | Castle |
| Site history | |
| Built | 15th century |
| Built by | Jacopo Caldora |
Castello Caldoresco (Italian for Caldora Castle) is a Renaissance castle in Vasto, Province of Chieti, Abruzzo, south-eastern Italy. [1] It is a private property and therefore is not open to the public.
Italian is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian, together with Sardinian, is by most measures the closest language to Vulgar Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino and Vatican City. It has an official minority status in western Istria. It formerly had official status in Albania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro (Kotor) and Greece, and is generally understood in Corsica and Savoie. It also used to be an official language in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa, where it plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. In spite of not existing any Italian community in their respective national territories and of not being spoken at any level, Italian is included de jure, but not de facto, between the recognized minority languages of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania. Many speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages.
The Renaissance is a period in European history, covering the span between the 14th and 17th centuries and marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity. The traditional view focuses more on the early modern aspects of the Renaissance and argues that it was a break from the past, but many historians today focus more on its medieval aspects and argue that it was an extension of the middle ages.
Vasto is a town and comune on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti in southern Abruzzo, Italy. It was also called in the Middle Ages as Guastaymonis or Vasto d'Aimone and also Waste d'Aimone. Renamed Istonio under the Fascist Rule, it took the current name of Vasto in 1944.
It was built in the early 15th century by the then-lord of the city, Jacopo Caldora, starting from a pre-existing large tower (which in turn dated to the 14th-15th centuries). Later it was modified and restored by Innico d'Avalos d'Aragona.
Jacopo Caldora or Giacomo Caldora was an Italian condottiero.
Innico d'Avalos d'Aragona (1535/36–1600) was an Italian Cardinal, from Naples.
The castle is located on a promontory overlooking the Adriatic Sea coast. It includes four buildings connected, within a square courtyard inside. Three of the four corners features a cylindrical tower, while the bastions visible in some parts are among the oldest features.
A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water.
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern, Croatian coast. It is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres (4,045 ft). The Otranto Sill, an underwater ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast and back to the strait along the western (Italian) coast. Tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally. The Adriatic's salinity is lower than the Mediterranean's because the Adriatic collects a third of the fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean, acting as a dilution basin. The surface water temperatures generally range from 30 °C (86 °F) in summer to 12 °C (54 °F) in winter, significantly moderating the Adriatic Basin's climate.
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and also the adjacent bastions. It is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced.
