The castle "le Castella"...

A magnificent fortress was more or less the last thing i was prepared
to encounter in Calabria...may be thats why my visit to "Le Castella"
was really special.

The view from the tower to the little town is to be enjoyed below:

On a small half-island and surrounded by turquoise
water the castle just takes your breath away when you first see it.
Situated on the island Capo Rizzuto "Le Castella" has been there for
quiet some time. The fortification has been used by Aragonese soldiers
who decided to take refuge in it in order to defend themselves from
Turkish attacks. The cylindrical tower dates back to the 12th-13th
century. But there is wall discovered which construction style dates
back to the fourth and third century B.C!

The name (plural form of castello=castle) sgves us some hints that
there should have been (most probably) several fortified islands in
the bay...

Nowadays the castle is surrounded by a marine reserve of about 13,500
hectares of sea and 50km of protected coast.