The medieval castle

The Castle by the Sea, from which Castellammare derives its name, rises to 100 meters altitude above sea level while behind these are the imposing domes of rock (the foothills of Mount Faito) that rise vertically up to 650 m. The Castle was built to guard the narrow stretch of coast, between the inaccessible mountain and the sea,  from which the army intended to penetrate and would have been able to pass the Sorrentine Peninsula.

The name of “Castello a Mare” appears in a document for the first time in 1086 which is written proof that the Castle had already existed for some time. The Castle was built following the Byzantine style by the Duke of Sorrento, as a border fortress of his dominion. Over the centuries (from the 11th to the 15th century) it underwent various transformations, according to the evolution of different techniques of art and war. The modern aspect stems from the last transformation of 1470, aimed at strengthening the fortress against an artillery attack.

At the beginning of the 1500’s, the Castle rampart “rivellino” was added for its proximity to an external ditch full of water. The "Castrum de Stabiis ad Mare" was the foothold of a complex defensive system including amongst others, the castles of Gragnano, Lettere, and Pimonte and it had numerous defense posts deployed on the surrounding land, the most notable was erected on the shore which was connected to a walkway following the walls of the Castle that descended down to the watchtower. Similar to the New Castle (Castel Nuovo) of Naples, the Castello a Mare of Stabia is to be considered a Medieval construction, even though it was equipped for defense in the Aragonese time period: the buttresses for reinforcement of the pre-existent towers can be attributed to the XV and even to the XVI century .

In the XV century, the fortress of Castellamare was quite important for the wide range strategy and in support of the deployment of vessels and fleets at sea; in fact, it was added to the Neapolitan Chronicles from the 1400’s edited by Filangieri of Candida. The three coats of arms that Castellamare has had in the course of history, all bear the picture of the Castle. Also to be noted is the fact that the second of four cathedrals of Castellamare was situated in the domain of the fortress, where the bishops that succeeded one another, lived from the time period of 840 to 1362. At the time of the conspiracy of the Barons, the castle was handed over (October 1459), without any resistance from the Lord of the Manor, the Catalan Gaillard, to the troops of John of Anjou, son of Rene. In 1461 Gaillard himself valiantly and victoriously defended the Castle for Anjou, against Antonio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, who won against the armed Angevins at the mouth of the Sarno and had occupied the city on 23rd October.