Castello dell'Imperatore
Encyclopedia
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
in Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...
, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Located near the church of Santa Maria delle Carceri
Santa Maria delle Carceri
thumb|280px|Santa Maria delle Carceri.Santa Maria delle Carceri is a basilica church in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. It is considered one of the earliest, most notable examples of use of Greek cross plan in Renaissance architecture.-History:...
, it is the northernmost castle built for the medieval emperor and King of Sicily Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
.
History
The castle was erected by order of Frederick II starting from 1240, over a fortress of the AlbertiAlberti
-Places:* Alberti Partido, a partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina* Alberti, Buenos Aires, the main town of the partido-Other:*Alberti bass, a musical accompaniment figuration, usually in the left hand on a keyboard instrument...
family, of which today two towers (missing their upper sections) remain. It is one of the four major structures on which the reputation of Frederick as the builder-Emperor rests, and the only one north of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
. Its original destination was as Imperial residence, which was annexed to the second (12th century) line of walls of Prato. It was partially surrounded by a moat and was connected to the jails (carceri) from which the nearby sanctuary is named. It has eight towers, like Frederick's Castel del Monte in Apulia.
The construction was halted at the emperor's death in 1250. In the following century, under the Florentine
Republic of Florence
The Republic of Florence , or the Florentine Republic, was a city-state that was centered on the city of Florence, located in modern Tuscany, Italy. The republic was founded in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon Margravine Matilda's death. The...
dominion, the castle was connected to the third line of city walls by means of a covered corridor, called Corridore del Cassero.
In the 1930s, under the Fascist government of Italy, all the annexed buildings, both exterior and interior, were demolished, and the castle received the current appearance. In the rear area are the remains of a hospital and of a church of the Knights of Malta
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
.