It is the most famous Castle in Naples, symbol of the city, and is the most recent of all. It is not explained by the name “Maschio Angioino” with which we know it nowadays, but with the obsolete name that, in an eloquent way, identified it compared to the others when it was built: Castel Nuovo (“New Castle”). 

It was in 1279 when Charles I of Anjou started the construction of the new royal palace on the sea, to defend the city where he just had transferred the capital of the Kingdom of Palermo. The architect Pierre de Chaulnes designed and directed the works, completing the majestic fortress in only five years. It was the residence of King Charles II the Lame and his family. And in the Castle the renunciation from the Papal throne of Celestine V and the election of Boniface VIII in 1294 happened. The first restoration of the castle dates back to the golden period coinciding with the reign of Robert of Anjou, when the flower of the culture of the time started with Petrarch and Boccaccio. The wise king entrusted the task of frescoing the royal palace to Pietro Cavallini and Montano d’Arezzo, while Giotto dedicated himself to the new Palatine Chapel, built in 1307, with the frescoes of scenes from the Old and New Testament, of which there are only several fragments remaining.

Joanna I of Anjou also lived there with the court. And when she was forced to leave Naples to avoid the revenge of her brother-in-law Louis I of Hungary, who considered her responsible of his brother Andrea’s death, the Magyar troops sacked the castle, which Joanna had to renovate on her return. It was then occupied by Charles III of Durazzo, who left if to his son Ladislao, who lost it during the dispute with the Angevins for the possession of Naples, to then reconquer it and remain there until his death.

The Angevin castle changed appearance with the advent of the Aragonese. Alphonse of Aragon took care of it since his arrival in Naples, a historical event eternalised in the majestic marble Arch of Triumph at the entrance of the castle, choral work of the greatest artists of the time, including the sculptor Francesco Laurana. The rearrangement of the fortress, whose defensive walls were considerably strengthened, was carried out by the architect of Maiorca, Guillermo Sagrera. 

In the following decades the manor was the witness of the the vicissitudes of the Aragonese dynasty. And the conspiracy of 1485 of the Barons had as its theater the famous Sala dei Baroni, today the seat of the Municipal Council of Naples. Despite the impressive defense works, the Castel Nuovo was sacked on the occasion of the descent of Charles VIII in 1494. Then, when Naples, under Spanish rule, became the seat of the Viceroyalty, the fortress on the sea lost its residential function and only kept the military garrison one, facing a slow decadence.

The transformation which made the castle as we still see it nowadays dates back to the early 16th century. When the new bastions and moats were built with the five towers placed at the corners of the perimeter. However, with the Bourbons, the Castle definitively lost its role as the heart of the king and court life, while Charles III had the new Royal Palace rebuilt not too far and requested the other “Real sites”, including the hilly royal palace of Capodimonte. But later, in 1799, it was in the castle that the birth of the Neapolitan Republic was proclaimed. The last renovation was made under Ferdinand I in 1823.

Seat of exhibitions and cultural events, today the Maschio Angioino houses the Civic Museum, whose visit also includes the Palatine Chapel and the Armory Hall, while on the first and second floors, there are important works from the fifteenth to the twentieth century great masters and tell the history of the city.



Information
Opening: Monday to Saturday 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. with last possible entry from 5 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. with last possible entry at 1 p.m.
Full ticket: €6.00
Free for children under 18 and over 60 years old

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