The Castello della Pietra d'Amico was a 14th-century castle in

Alessandria della Rocca Alessandria della Rocca ( Sicilian: ''Lisciànnira di la Rocca'') is a ''comune'' and small agricultural town located in the northern part of the Province of Agrigento, west central Sicily, southern Italy. The remains of the 14th century Caste ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Today, very little remains of the structure, since part of the rock on which it was built collapsed.

History

The first structure on the site of the Castello della Pietra d'Amico was possibly built during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

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

. 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.

References

{{reflist Pietra d'Amico Pietra d'Amico Buildings and structures in the Province of Agrigento Buildings and structures completed in the 14th century Collapsed buildings and structures