Information
On the dating of the building there is no certainty, even if given its formal and structural characteristics it is possible to assume that its construction took place under the Angevin rule, in the thirteenth century.
The irregular and articulated shape of the complex suggests a construction in different phases or successive enlargements. It consisted of three entrances with two towers and high walls reinforced by buttresses and bastions. The interior saw the presence of environments intended for the feudal lord and others for servants and settlers. The local tradition also tells of an admirable hanging garden, of which, however, there is no longer any trace.
Inside the Complex there is the original Chapel dedicated to St Mark the Evangelist, of which the original entrance portal remains decorated.
The ducal palace, improperly named castle, was owned by the Pignatelli family until 1821, when Giovanni Pignatelli, Duke of Montecalvo and Marquis of San Marco la Catola, sold it to Nicolangelo Cipriani. Today the castle is partly owned by the Ferrara family. The municipality has started a project of restoration of part of the complex of its property. Every afternoon on the 20th of August, the evocative medieval carousel of Jaletta takes place at its feet.
