The Castello della Pietra (The Stone Castle) Italy

 

The Castello della Pietra (The Stone Castle), in the National Park of Antola, is one of the most extraordinary fortified buildings in Liguria and is considered a great masterpiece of architecture. This isn’t your usual fortress. The castle, which dominates a narrow valley, is wedged between two spectacular rocks creating a perfect symbiosis between man and nature.

The first structure on the site of the Castello della Pietra d'Amico was possibly built during the Byzantine period. The site was eventually taken over by the Saracens, before being destroyed in the 13th century. 

The castle itself was built in the 14th century, and it probably consisted of a square tower and a rock hewn silo. In 1542, it was sold to Don Nicholas Barresi, who founded the municipality of Alessandria della Rocca.

Part of the rock on which the castle was built collapsed over time, destroying most of the structure in the process. Today, all that remains are a few parts of its walls and staircases. The site is abandoned but is accessible to the public.

In the 1980s, the area around the castle was flooded by the Lago di Magazzolo following the construction of a dam. Before the flooding, the area was excavated and pottery, tools and shreds were found. These remains probably originated from a small settlement that had developed near the castle.

A hidden wonder of Val Vobbia is the Castello della Pietra, a place so out of the ordinary that it is almost hard to believe it is true.

Take two rocky spurs not too far from each other and build a castle in the middle: et voilà one of the most curious and surprising constructions in the Ligurian hinterland and, I venture to say, in all of Italy. A perfect fusion between landscape and man's ingenuity, stuff to be envied by the Greek Meteors.