The Copertino Castle (Italian : Castello di Copertino) is a castle in Apulia, southern Italy. It is located in the eponymous city of Copertino, north of Gallipoli on the heel of Apulia, between Manduria and Galatina.
Like the castle of Otranto, Copertino was built for the defence of the peninsular of the Salento. The castle was originally built in the Norman period, and altered significantly for Alfonso Castriota by Charles V's renowned fortifications expert Evangelista Menga in 1540, in response to significant military developments including the use of gunpowder. The alterations included a ditch and majestic bastions with 90 arrow slits to allow cannon movements. Copertino therefore incorporates an Angevin keep, being later enlarged to a quadrangle plan with a tapered rampart at each of the four corners. The entrance portal is in Catalan-Durazzesque style, conceived as a triumphal arch, with the entrance to the family chapel of St Mark to the right of the entrance vestibule. The chapel itself is decorated with 15th Century frescoes by the mannerist painter Gianserio Strafella.
The Castle's inner courtyard includes several enormous galleries, and to the left of the Castle's entrance is the porticoed palace built for the Squarciafico Pinelli, Counts of Copertino and Marquesses of Galatone, ancestors of the Princes of Belmonte. Copertino Castle is one of the largest fortresses constructed in Apulia.
It is held in local folklore that Isabella of Clermont, daughter of Tristan de Clermont and Catherine of Taranto, who later became Queen of Naples, was born at Copertino Castle.
Coordinates: 40°16′25″N18°02′39″E / 40.2736°N 18.0442°E
Salento is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, sometimes described as the "heel" of the Italian "boot". It encompasses the entire administrative area of the province of Lecce, a large part of the province of Brindisi and part of that of Taranto.
Isabella of Clermont, also known as Isabella of Taranto, was queen of Naples as the first wife of King Ferdinand I of Naples, and a feudatory of the kingdom as the holder and ruling Princess of the Principality of Taranto in 1463–1465.
Mary of Enghien, also Maria d'Enghien, was Countess of Lecce from 1384 to 1446 and Queen of Naples as well as titular Queen of Sicily, Jerusalem, and Hungary by marriage to Ladislaus of Naples from 1406 to 1414.
The Principality of Taranto was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy of Apulia.
Bartholomew "Tristan" de Clermont-Lodève, Count of Copertino, was a French-born knight who married Catherine Orsini del Balzo, youngest daughter of Mary of Enghien and Raimondo Orsini del Balzo, Prince of Taranto. He was the father of Isabella of Clermont, Princess of Taranto, the first consort of King Ferdinand I of Naples.
Castel del Monte is a 13th-century citadel and castle situated on a hill in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built during the 1240s by King Frederick II, who had inherited the lands from his mother Constance of Sicily. In the 18th century, the castle's interior marbles and remaining furnishings were removed. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and some considered it never to have been intended as a defensive fortress. However, archaeological work has suggested that it originally had a curtain wall. Described by the Enciclopedia Italiana as "the most fascinating castle built by Frederick II", the site is protected as a World Heritage Site. It also appears on the Italian version of the one cent Euro coin.
Altamura Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Altamura, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, in southern Italy.
Nardò is a town and comune in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the Province of Lecce.
Copertino, also known in English as Cupertino, is a town and comune in the province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy.
Leverano is a town and comune in the province of Lecce in the southeastern part of the Apulia region of south-east Italy. It is bounded by the comuni of Arnesano, Carmiano, Copertino, Nardò and Veglie.
Patù is a town and comune in the province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-east Italy.
Colletorto is a comune (municipality) of approximately 1,786 inhabitants in the Province of Campobasso in the Italian southern region of Molise, located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) from the capital of the region Campobasso and 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Termoli (CB) sea town with port, railway and highway A14.
The Strečno Castle (also called Strechun, Strechyn, Streczen, Streczan alebo Strežín) is a reconstructed ruin of a medieval castle of an irregular plan located in northern Slovakia, 12 km east of Žilina. The castle stands on a 103-metre-high (338 ft) calcite cliff above the international road E50 and village Strečno. Along with the Old castle constitutes a significant landscape landmark of the Upper Váh region. Nowadays, after reconstruction, there are expositions of the Vah region regional museum. The first recorded mention of the stone castle is from 1316. Today the castle belongs to the national cultural heritage of the Slovak republic.
The Norman conquest of southern Italy lasted from 999 to 1139, involving many battles and independent conquerors.
The Castle of Melfi in Basilicata is a monument owned by the Italian State and one of the most important medieval castles in Southern Italy. Its construction, at least the components still visible, dates back to the Norman conquest and has undergone significant changes over time, especially under the House of Anjou and the Crown of Aragon.
Acaya is a small village, a community, in the province of Lecce and region of Apulia, in southern Italy.
A.C.D. Nardò is an Italian association football club, based in Nardò, Apulia. It currently plays in Serie D.
The Château de Clermont is a castle in the commune of Concorès in the Lot département of France.
Castellaneta Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Castellaneta, province of Taranto, Apulia, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Castellaneta.
The 1743 Salento earthquake affected the Apulian region of southwestern Italy on 20 February at 23:30 IST. The ~7.1 Mw earthquake had an epicenter in the Adriatic and Ionian seas, off the coast of modern-day Lecce and Brindisi provinces in Salento. It had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing heavy damage in Nardò. Damage was also reported across the sea, in the Balkans. The earthquake also generated a tsunami of up to 11 meters in run-up. Between 180 and 300 people were killed in the disaster.