Wedding at the Aragonese Castle

The Cathedral of the Castle is a very important cultural size, in the year 1509 was celebrated the wedding between Francesco Ferrante D’Avalos, (a very influent Marquis and leader of the Imperial troops of Carl V) and the beautiful poetess Vittoria Colonna. That was a very important cultural moment of the island, the poetess in that period was surrounded by the best artists and literates of that period and when you get inside can still breath the epoch and the art of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Ludovico Ariosto, Iacopo Sannazzaro and many others. So I find it very romantic to celebrate a wedding. Toast after the wedding of course.  

Brief history

The Aragonese Castle, the most impressive historicalmonument in Ischia, stands on a volcanic rock connected to the island by a bridge built in 1438 by Alfonso of Aragon. The Castle, overlooking the vast horizon of the sea, was originally built as a castrum in 474 B.C. by Jerome of Syracuse and, after a long period during which it was abandoned, it reached its golden period during the fourteenth century. Under the Aragonese dinasty , it became a political, cultural and spiritual centre of notable interest. The Renaissance court of the noble poet Vittoria Colonna, saw the peak of the castle splendour last more than a century.

The castle walls housed churches, courtyards, antique archways, terraces, gardens and arcades with outstandingviews of the sea, the peninsula, the harbour of Ischia.          

Probably built on the remains of a garrison of the 5^thcentury A.D., the tradition says it was originally a garrison  of Syracuse dictator Jerone (who gave the place its name) and that it was still called in the Middle Ages CastleGerone. At  that time a small citadel rose around it, with houses and churches. In 1438 Alfonso I of Aragona ordered the 228-metre long bridge to be built in order to connect theisland where the castle rose to the land. Under  the d’Avalos family, the castle rose to great splendour. Later historical events caused it to pass to the French, the English and finally the  Bourbons, who used it as a prison. Presently it is private property.