Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CASTELLO ARAGONESE
Head for the elegant 15th-century Ponte Aragonese, which connects the town to Castello Aragonese
Offline map Google map (Castle D'Aragona; 081 99 28 34; Rocca del Castello, Ischia Ponte;
adult/reduced €10/6; 9am-7pm; ) , a sprawling, magnificent castle perched high and mighty on a
rocky islet. While Syracusan tyrant Gerone I built the site's first fortress in 474 BC, the bulk of the cur-
rent structure dates from the 1400s, when King Alfonso of Aragon gave the older Angevin fortress a
thorough makeover, building the fortified bastions, current causeway and access ramp cut into the rock.
Further up lie the sunbaked, stuccoed ruins of the 14th-century Cattedrale dell'Assunta, which col-
lapsed under British cannon fire in 1809. The 11th-century crypt below features snippets of 14th-century
frescoes inspired by Giotto. Better preserved is the 18th-century Chiesa dell'Immacolata, with its Greek-
cross plan and dome studded with curved tympanum windows. Commissioned by the adjoining Con-
vento delle Clarisse (Convent for Clarisse nuns), it was left in its minimalist state after building funds
ran out. When the nuns' own lives expired, they were left to decompose sitting upright on stone chairs in
the macabre Cimitero delle Monache Clarisse, as a grisly reminder of mortality.
Carry on until you reach the elegant, hexagonal Chiesa di San Pietro a Pantaniello and sombre Car-
cere Borbonico, the one-time prison for leading figures of the Risorgimento (the 19th-century Italian
unification movement), such as Poerio, Pironti, Nusco and Settembrini. Don't miss the Museo delle Tor-
ture, a small museum of medieval torture instruments, or the 15th-century tall tunnel. While you are
strolling around, you may want to counteract all that darkness surrounding the castle's history with a
touch of fairytale romance: in the 1500s, the castle was home to Vittoria Colonna, a poet-princess who
married Ferrante d'Avalos here before becoming closely linked with Michelangelo. The great artist
wrote romantic poetry dedicated to Vittoria and sent her a painting, the Crucifixion , for her private
chapel.
LACCO AMENO
In the 1950s and 1960s, French starlets and European royalty came to play at the le-
gendary Terme Regina Isabella spa resort. The stars may have gone but one local icon re-
mains, sprouting out of the sea: the iconic Il Fungo (The Mushroom) is a 10m volcanic
rock formation spat out by Monte Epomeo thousands of years ago.
According to legend, the body of the martyr Restituta was washed ashore on nearby
San Montano Beach in the 4th century on a boat steered from Tunisia by a seaworthy an-
gel. Her subsequent cult spread from North Africa to Italy and is historically associated
with the expulsion of Catholics from North Africa by the king of the Vandals, Genseric.
Every May, residents re-enact her arrival on the beach.
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