The Ripoli, rich merchants who arrived in Pollica in the Aragonese period, came from Catalonia. In the Cilento town where they settled, their wealth multiplied, and they used this richness to also build an imposing castle on the sea, in the nearby hamlet of Pioppi.
Soon the Ripoli came into conflict with another rich catalan family settled in the area, the della Cortiglia, and the rivalry between them dragged on for a long time, marking the history of the country. However, in 1888 the castle had become the property of the mayor Giuseppe Sodano, who then ceded it to the Vinciprovas of Omignano. One of them, Leone, had fought with Garibaldi. And they kept the ownership of the castle for so long that even today, it is identified as the "Vinciprova palace".
The building consists of two side towers with terraces bordered by arabesque merlons. To unite the two towers is the central body, which on the side of the sea shows a porch supporting a large terrace. There are various Arabesque elements merged with the Baroque ones.
Municipal property, on the ground floor, the castle houses Musea, the Living Museum of the Sea, inaugurated in 1998 when Angelo Vassallo was still mayor, in collaboration with the Mare Nostrum Association is now curated by Legambiente. The large pools illustrate the life of the sea and its inhabitants. On the upper floor of the castle is the Ecomuseum of the Mediterranean Diet.
