CASTELLO DI LAGOPESOLE

On the road that goes from Potenza to Vulture is the most mysterious and magical of the castles of Frederick II. Less known than Melfi's, Lagopesole Castle is strongly imbued with the spirit of the great Swabian emperor, who built it and lived there from 1242 until his death in 1250. Situated on the road leading to Apulia, it was his hunting estate and a peaceful resting place. It was built on the site of another fortress which, in 1137, was the scene of the reconciliation between Pope Innocent II and Abbot Rinaldo of Montecassino, in the presence of the Lothario of Saxony, at the time of the war against Roger the Norman. As for Frederick II's castle, it was later the residence of Charles of Anjou, who also imprisoned Hélène, the second wife of Manfred of Sicily (the spirit of the queen would always haunt the place!). In 1416 it became, like Melfi, the property of the Caracciolo family. Offered by Charles V to the Doria family in 1531, it was then temporarily transformed into a museum and became an emblem of the history and soul of Lucania. A second part of the castle dedicated to the life of Frederick II opened its doors to the public in 2014, offering an even more complete discovery of the site. The castle has a rectangular plan and four corner towers. A curtain wall divides the interior space into two parts: the first, older, with a keep; the second, consisting of a cortile surrounded by three wings and on which a chapel opens.