Castle of Massafra

The medieval castle of Massafra stands in a dominant and strategic position on the left spur of the Gravina di San Marco. Probably built in the Justinian period, it underwent major architectural interventions at the turn of the Longobard and Byzantine rule that gave it its present appearance. The castle, with four towers arranged in a quadrilateral shape and equipped with curtain walls and bastions crowned with battlements and figurative corbels, preserves and incorporates into the structure parts of the walls from the Frederician period.

The earliest written records mentioning the castle are contained in a Lombard document from 970, kept in the archives of the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino, which also reports a gastaldate office in the territory of Massafra.