Margana Castle in Prizzi
The Castello di Margana di Prizzi, also known as Castello di Petra Margana, stands on a rocky cliff overlooking the surrounding landscape crossed by the Morgana stream. In fact, it represents the unique testimony of Teutonic military architecture in Sicily.
Written sources report how in 1219 the Emperor Frederick II granted the Leper Hospital and all its possessions, which included the farmhouse of Margana with 31 peasants and the connected lands, to the Abbey of the Teutonic Knights of Magione. Thus it was that, in the years following the death of Emperor Frederick II, unsafe for the pro-Swabian forces, a military government linked to the Teutonic Order was established in the farmhouse and which will build a fortified nucleus, i.e. the keep of the southern corner of the castle. With the abolition of the Teutonic Order in 1491, the castle slowly transformed into an economic center losing its military characteristics.
The exterior of the castle has few windows and some very splayed loopholes, suitable for defence.
The original structure of the castle included two towers: one incorporated into the surrounding walls, and the second, of large dimensions, used as a throne room. The hall was accessed via an ogival portal surmounted by the Teutonic coat of arms carved into the key ashlar, the double eagle cross. Today this tower appears to be surrounded by numerous buildings with the most disparate functions: the stable, the curtain tower, the church with the remains of frescoes, various rooms which it is believed could have been the rooms of the Teutonic friars.
Several structures which they have been added over the centuries and have transformed this medieval castle into a suggestive fortified farmhouse.
Today the Di Margana castle is privately owned and cannot be visited.
