Castello a Mare

The story

Castello a Mare stands at the mouth of the Cala, Palermo’s ancient harbour, and for centuries it controlled who came in. The earliest structures date from the Arab period, between the 9th and 10th centuries; the Normans rebuilt and enlarged it in the 12th century, turning it into a royal fortress with a keep and curtain walls.

In the 15th and 16th centuries the Aragonese and then the Spanish added bastions and moats designed for artillery. From 1487 to 1600 it housed the tribunal of the Inquisition, before that moved to the Steri.

After the uprisings of 1860 the fortress, a symbol of Bourbon power, was largely demolished. Its remains lay hidden among port warehouses until excavations in the 2000s turned them into an archaeological park, opened to the public in 2009.

Why it is worth it

You walk between moats, thick walls and the Norman keep with the working port a few metres away: cranes, ferries and the water of the Cala behind you. It is a quiet place compared with the centre, with panels that help you read the Arab, Norman and Spanish phases. Look at the pointed 16th-century bastion and the sally port facing the sea, then at the outline of Monte Pellegrino closing the horizon.