Norman Castel Adrano
The Norman Castle of Adrano is a tower built under Count Roger I of Sicily, in the 11th century. The castle of which the tower was part, belonged, together with the castle of Paternò and the castle of Motta Sant'Anastasia, to a defensive system of the Norman age, intended to control the Simeto Valley, the city of Catania and the passes that led in Troina, Regalbuto and Randazzo.
From the architecture of the two large doors on the ground floor it has been assumed that the castle was built on the ruins of a Saracen tower. After the Norman domination, over the centuries the castle became the property of illustrious Sicilian dynasties, including the Peralta, the Sclafani, the Alvarez Counts of Toledo, and finally of Prince Luigi Moncada Ventimiglia Aragona. The castle remained the property of the Moncada Ventimiglia family until 1920.
The tower, with a rectangular plan measuring 20 m by 16.70 m and a height that reaches 34 meters, rises on four levels. The ground floor has two rooms, each of which is defined by three bays. A longitudinal wall divides the two spaces and inside the wall there is a staircase that allows access to the first floor, on which two large halls and an ogival arch extend that opens the staircase for access to the second floor. A wall divides the second floor into two parts; the southern room around 1500 was divided into two parts and thus a rectangular chapel was created with capitals supporting the cross vault and, in a nearby room, the ancient baptismal font. The chapel was created in the wall thickness of the eastern wall. It is richly decorated with cross-shaped ribs, placed on pillars with a semicircular section, with capitals and a sculptural key at the intersections.
The castle is now the seat of the Saro Franco Regional Archaeological Museum .
