THE CASTLE OF ACCOUNTS AND FORTIFICATIONS
The Castle of the Counts of Modica is a visual symbol of the city. Perched on top of a rocky outcrop has been for centuries a real warning to the enemies, a natural defense for the capital of the county. The previously fragmented documentation aquisito to the fortress of the castle does not allow to formulate a comprehensive framework insediamentale in local history.
You can advance the hypothesis of an attendance area in prehistoric times, in the Early Bronze Age (facies Castelluccio XXII - half of the fifteenth century BC) when archaeological evidence testify to the presence of a settlement in the valleys Pruni of the Well, the settlement is confermato anche per l’età protostorica, nel VII secolo a.C., dalle due tombe con corredi funerari ritrovate in Via Polara. Per i periodi successivi i dati risultano fortemente carenti, tuttavia la frequentazione della rocca in età tardo antica può essere individuata per la presenza di ipogei funerari ricavati lungo i versanti orientale e occidentale. In un momento successivo la necropoli venne abbandonata e la rocca assunse il ruolo di fortezza del centro abitato. Molto probabilmente l’occasione storica per questa trasformazione fu fornita, verso la fine del VII secolo d.C. dalla fortificazione del territorio in seguito alla creazione del Thema di Sicilia in epoca bizantina, quando la Sicilia divenne una provincia militarizzata dell’impero Byzantine Empire. The word Byzantine thema in greek means refers to the Corps regiments stationed permanently in some districts. Before the ruin caused by the earthquake of 1693, with the subsequent removal of materials, blockage of caves and buildings in the castle and on the foundations of the towers, the only description of the area is furnished by Placido Carrafa , town of Modica. The
Carrafa describes the castle as an impressive building for its breadth and for the "age of the walls." Tell us about the existence of the house of the Governor of the County of Modica and many other homes of villagers who were to serve the three churches. The prima era quella sotto il nome della Vergine Maria con dodici preti al sevizio del Conte con il compito di amministrare i Sacramenti. Le altre due chiese erano intitolate a San Cataldo e di San Leonardo. Quest’ultima era la chiesa dei prigionieri che erano custoditi nelle carceri del Castello. Il Carrafa si riferisce nella descrizione di un epoca passata ad un Tempio del Sole o di Apolline, di forma quadrata. All’interno del tempio si ergeva una cappella anch’essa di forma quadrata dove, si narra, un tempo era posto il sacello del Dio che “proferiva le sorti e i futuri destini di coloro che ne chiedano i vaticini, non meno autorevoli, presso i nostri credenti di quelli del Delfico Apolline (il Dio Apollo di Delfi)”. Lo storico continua saying that "We found a small altar at the source of broken stone opined that we intended for the cleansing of the temple priest, reading books on ancient religious customs to be the lustration of the hands of the sacred ministry."
Apparently the temple of God must be very rich if, as we are told, within shone with pure gold.
Outside the castle walls strong sacred to the Sun defended Modica fitted with doors. One of these is located to the east was called Anselmo door, another door was located to the South over the Church of San Pietro. The walls that defended the city were provided with thick Towers.
The Castle of the Counts, as it appears to oggi, è il frutto di una massiccia ricostruzione che ha interressato le sue strutture non solo dopo il terremoto, ma, soprattutto, dopo il 1779. Il progetto per la ricostruzione della abitazione dell’allora Governatore della Contea fu realizzato dal magistrum Ignazio Scifo. Nel nuovo progetto il palazzo viene ad occupare quasi per esteso l’area settentrionale della rocca, doveva essere affiancato alla chiesa e posto di fronte alla Concelleria.
Il portale d’ingresso che immetteva nell’atrio era particolarmente curato. Nell’atrio era prevista una pavimentazione con basole di pietra quadrate poste a scacchiera di colore nero e bianco, con una scala pavimentata in lastre di pietra pece nera che si sviluppava intorno ad un colonnato with capitals.
The staircase gave access to the Governor's house which was made up of eleven rooms, including cooking and anticucina with a tank. The ceilings were made of reeds and plaster and paved with stone Scicli, the dormitory was paved with bricks of Valencia. The rooms were supported by eleven dammusi whose foundation rested on the rock. Each room must have a balcony supported by brackets or decorated with anthropomorphic motifs. Along all four sides of the building ran a cornice of the Corinthian order.
The Registry, made an entrance hall and three rooms, one of which was used as a repository for the massive amount of documents produced over the decades, was situated on the eastern side of the spur roccioso.Sul lower courtyard overlooking the residence of the lord. Under the kitchen of this residence was located on the premises of alabardiereri and, in part, a cappella (San Leonardo?). In the reconstruction phase adjustment is also provided in separate prisons jails criminals, civilians, women, and was honest in 1825 was added to a prison for the holding of regular or secular clergy. In the same courtyard below, in addition to prison, the warden's house, the home of halberds and the chapel looked out of the room subizione (where they were pre-trial detention of witnesses relevant to the process) and the house of the executioner.
depict the distribution of settlements area of \u200b\u200bthe rocky outcrop 230 m long and width of 30 m. We can distinguish, under the governor's residence located in the northern part, an upper and a lower court. In the courtyard than they were at the office rooms: Registry and Archives and the Church of San Cataldo. The southern part of the rocky outcrop was occupied by what is, strictly speaking, is defined as the Castle, that is, as well as a military fortress prison (house of the warden, the guard room, the house of the executioner, chamber subizione and prisons). The upper yard was in connection with the lower one through a ladder that passed under the dormitory of the Registry (thanks to this scale had created a direct path with a instead of places of torture in the east of the fortress). Southern area of \u200b\u200bthe rock could also be accessed via a ladder placed on the public road and leads directly to the floor of the court below.
On the sidelines of the evidence provided by Carrafa and reports relating to the reconstruction of the late eighteenth century, a clarification is made. With the term rock should not be understood only in an emergency but a natural fortress with a complex type, hold both the armed forces, and especially from the fourteenth century, but already before with Federico II, the residence of the Lord, as well as chapels, warehouses and prisons. Modica was not lacking in a garden and an orchard of Frederick reference.
Defense del territorio non era affidata esclusivamente al Castello. Presidi e attrezzati punti di riferimento per i commerci marittimi erano le grandi torri sui caricatoi o scari a mare. Di esse, più rilevante, nella Contea di Modica, “l’ingens et magnifica” torre di Pozzallo. Dal Caricatoio di Pozzallo i Conti di Modica esportavano le 12.000 salme di frumento che provenivano dal canone che i sudditi pagavano per le terre concesse in enfiteusi e che i Conti avevano il privilegio di esportare in franchigia.
Componente del sistema erano i fani ossia quelle alte costruzioni cilindriche che, situate in luoghi elevati e secondo una direzione coordinata, avevano la funzione di trasmissione di segnali visivi. Uno di questo è ancora visibile a Modica in the fourth tooth (O 'Rent, East).
SOURCE: http://www.modica.it/turismo_castello_dei_conti.htm
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