Mercedes Bares

Maniace Castle was built in the first half of the 13th century for the emperor Frederick II. It appears to have been built for residential used but perhaps was never lived in by its buyer. Placed at the extreme limit of Ortygia, the island that constitutes the historical nucleus of Syracuse, at the mouth of the port, in the course of time it took on a defensive role. In comparison to the coeval castles at Catania and Augusta, it presents an unusual typology and constructive choices not found elsewhere. These unusual characteristics link it to the famous Castel del Monte at Andria. The building is characterised by a big room made up of twenty-five square spans, each with sides of over 8 metres, supported by pseudo-columns (with a diameter which is exactly 1/10 of the inter-axis) and with a central span characterized by anomalous supports of three columns. Big cross vaults with groins (some of which collapsed or were broken in the 1693 earthquake) prefigure one of the most precocious and interesting constructions in Gothic architecture. Inside the castle there are big and disproportionate fireplaces, small private spaces behind the corner towers, and more or less complex staircases going to a second level that very probably was contemplated starting from the initial project. A refined solution with a staircase of the type known as Vis de Saint Gilles is found in the north-western tower and presents a historiographic problem of particular importance if linked to the theme of the stereotomic experimentations of the Mediterranean Gothic. From these indications there clearly emerges the complexity of the building and the relevant reading, above all if it refers to the search for the probable use of the place. The enigma of Maniace Castle is concentrated at all events in the immense columnar room regarding the construction criteria adopted for its building, and finally in the function that this space must have had.