Il castello di Ischia e l’insula minor. Architettura militare, città e paesaggio (XV-XIX)

The castle of Ischia was built on the small island known as insula minor in the second half of the 13th century during the Angevin reign. The promontory, also protected from the sea, was particularly suited to defend the island but also the entire gulf. The catastrophic eruption of 1301 destroyed the village in the main island but led to the urbanisation of the islet. Before conquering Naples, Alfonso of Aragon stayed on Ischia, checking the strategic possibilities of these places. During his reign, in fact, he built a ‘modern’ castle next to the Angevin fortress. For the military renovations against the race war in the mid-16th century, the Aragonese castle on Ischia was renovated by the military engineer Benvenuto Tortelli. Tortelli carried out the survey of the islet and the castle. Today, two very similar drawings are known. They are important documents because they allow us to describe the Renaissance castle as well as some neighbouring buildings. This monument of great value, which was disastrously tampered with in the 20th century, has been neglected by the scientific community, perhaps due to the events of the 1970s, when, now privately owned, it was the subject of a renovation project that envisaged its conversion into flats, which was not completed.