Il Castello di Lagopesole is located on the hill overlooking the Vitalba valley. A summer hunting and “otium” residence built by Emperor Frederick II in 1242. The reference to the domus of Lagopesole in the Statutum de reparatione castrorum in the early 1240s of the 13th century certainly testifies to the usability of a good part of the building before the emperor’s death.
The Angevins completed its construction by restoring the roofs and equipping it with an aqueduct, stables, and a small lake in front where eels were raised, caught in the lakes of Versentino and Salpi.
It consists of two building bodies: one purely residential and the other military in nature, probably of Norman foundation.
The external wall facing is characterized by the massive compactness of the rusticated surface, interrupted by the entrance located on the western side and protected by two symmetrical protruding bodies.
Inside, the spaces are divided by two courtyards; the residential rooms are gathered on two levels and on three sides around the larger one, in the northern part of the building.
In the western hall on the upper floor (the so-called “emperor’s hall”), you can still admire the refined sculptures of the capitals and the supporting corbels of the original roofs.
In the center of the smaller courtyard, a sturdy square tower is located, the donjon, whose slightly rotated and offset position in relation to the layout would confirm the hypothesis of a Norman pre-existence with a specifically military purpose. The tower contains only two rooms inside, the upper level equipped with toilets built into the thickness of the walls, and a lower room equipped with a cistern.
Since the summer of 2011, alongside the permanent exhibition documenting the medieval excavations of the site, the castle has hosted the multimedia museum “The World of Frederick II,” a multimedia museum path dedicated to the myth of Frederick II. During the summer period, the museum offering expands with the multimedia show also dedicated to the life of Emperor Frederick II and hosted in the spaces of the castle’s internal courtyard.
Information about Castello di Lagopesole
85021 Avigliano (Potenza)
0971 86083
info@castellodilagopesole.com
https://www.castellodilagopesole.com
Source: MIBACT
