Favara Palace (Maredolce Castle)

Alley Castellaccio. Inside the Favara Park
The palace, improperly called "castle", was built in 1071 [1], and was part of a "qasr", that is a fortified citadel located at the foot of Mount Grifone, probably enclosed within a wall, which in addition to the palace included a hammam and a fish pond. The building was one of the residences of the Norman king Roger II, who according to the first textual reference on the existence of the building, the Chronicon sive Annales by Romualdo Salernitano would have adapted to his purposes a pre-existing palace, which belonged to the Emir Giafar Ibn Muhammed in XNUMXth century. It was surrounded by a lake that bathed it from three sides (hence "Mare dolce")
Over the centuries the castle became a fortress and in 1328 it was given to the Teutonic monks of the Magione, who transformed it into a hospital. In 1460 the structure was granted in emphyteusis to the Bologna family and in the 1992th century it became the property of Francesco Agraz, Duke of Castelluccio: the transformation into a farm was now complete. In XNUMX the Sicilian Region acquired the building by expropriation.
The castle, at the behest of Roger II, was surrounded by an artificial lake extended just over 17 hectares [no source], which surrounded it on three sides, and was immersed in a large park, where Roger II delighted in hunting. The basin, which had an island of about two hectares in the center, was obtained thanks to a dam made up of blocks of tuff, which interrupted the flow of the source of Mount Grifone. In the 1th century the spring dried up, and the fishpond became a fertile agricultural area [4], which still exists today. [XNUMX]

The building has a quadrangular plan, and has a very spacious courtyard in the center, originally equipped with a portico with cross vaults, of which only a few traces remain. The exterior is made up of tuff blocks with pointed arches. On the side not wet by the artificial lake there are four entrances, two of which lead to the large Aula Regia and to the palatine chapel, rectangular in shape with a single nave covered by two cross vaults, with a transept surmounted by a hemispherical dome and dedicated to the saints Filippo and Giacomo as early as the XNUMXth century. (Text source: wikipedia)

Property bound under the law 1089/1939 (DM 03/08/1949). 

Note: in the file of bound assets of the Sicily Region, the following name is indicated: Palazzo Ugo delle Favare or di Maredolce) (previously Palazzo Ugo delle Favare in Piazza Bologni had already been mentioned)

Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero

Photo: web

Information contributions: Web, Region of Sicily

Property included in the Multimedia Archive of Esoteric Cultural Heritage

The property has been recognised as a property that could present characteristics attributable to theCultural EsotericismGroup belonging: A

Methodological note: 

The assets entered in the archive are divided into three groups, based on their level of recognition and documentation:

• Group A – Well signposted: This includes cultural assets identified as potentially esoteric. This is an initial observation phase, during which the asset is studied, compared with sources, and critically evaluated.
• Group B – Recognized asset: It includes assets for which there are reliable studies and documentation attesting to their belonging to the Esoteric Cultural Heritage, but which are not yet accompanied by the complete esoteric profile.
• Group C – Well documented: It contains fully recognized and analyzed items, accompanied by a detailed esoteric description illustrating their symbolic meanings, interpretations, and historical-cultural context. This is the most advanced level of documentation within the archive.

To ensure rigor and interpretative consistency, the archive is based on a rigorous methodology aimed at avoiding the indiscriminate inclusion of cultural assets. To this end, specific criteria are adopted: recognition tools and a classification system, illustrated in the project Archive of Cultural Esotericism, described on the external site Experiential itineraries, to which we refer for further methodological information.