where is (in Sicily) the castle of “horrid” mysteries

It can be reached through a walk that is at times a bit arduous, but the arrival offers such a spectacular and evocative view in its panorama that it is worth all the effort.

The Punta Troia Castlein Marettimo, which stands on the foundations of a turret lookout built in the 9th century by the Saracens, it is located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, in a strategic point where many civilizations have passed, and is the emblem of a long and varied history that also made it “horrible prison“, especially for political prisoners, reaching as many as 52 in 1973, crammed into a cell created in an old cistern called “the pit”.

Owned by the Municipality of Favignana-Egadi Islands, it is home to the Prison Museum and “Monk Seal” Observatory of the Marine Protected Area, but remains steeped in legendssome of which are decidedly mysterious.

One of many stories which hover over the Castle, and which take you back to a distant time, tells the dramatic story of two lovers who ended up in the sea of ​​Marettimo from the top of the fortress cliff. According to the popular narrative, one of the many handed down on the island, a prince fell in love with a beautiful woman from Marettimo.

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However, the girl was thrown into the sea from the Castle cliff by her sister, jealous of their love and the prince, after seeing the lifeless body of his beloved among the rocks, avenged her by killing the girl’s sister. He also immediately threw himself from the terrace of the fortress, taking his own life.

Legend has it that the God of the sea, struck by the strength of this outraged love, united the two lovers forever, transforming their bodies into the two protuberances of the Cammello rock, one of the many glimpses of Marettimo where the destiny of men is intertwined, forever, with that of their island.

From legend to history it is a short step, and that gesture of taking one’s own life is found in the vulgar anagram of ‘Maretimo’ coined by General Guglielmo Pepe, in ‘Morte Mia’.

The general, in fact, spent quite a bit of his time in the Punta Troia Castle. Guglielmo Pepe born in Squillace in 1783, as a young man he was accused of joining the Carboneria and condemned by the Bourbon government.

Sent to Marettimo, together with Nicola Ricciardi, a lawyer from Foggia, he was locked up in the Castle and precisely in the water cistern emptied and used as a ‘pit’, where several other patriots found misfortune, all together, in a space two meters wide and seven long.

The height was unequal because the vault was curved at both ends, and therefore they could only stand in the middle of the cistern, whose mouth was always open, allowing little light to enter but water, when it rained, humidity and insects.

A place of pain, therefore, that Pepe gives “Maritime life sentence, translated into “my deaths”. However, he managed, together with another condemned man, to be transferred to the island of Favignana to a pit in the Castle of Santa Caterina, where he suffered less harsh treatment.

Pepe, not yet twenty years old, had been arrested in Naples, guilty of being suspected of conspiring against the tyranny and oppression of King Ferdinand I of Bourbon, and without any trial, for this reason, he was sentenced to life imprisonment to be served in that terrible pit of Marettimo.

Today, as is known, the Castle is among the main attractions of the island, the most uncontaminated of the Egadi islands, less worldly sister of the “triptych of wonders”. She is truly an Eden with primordial features that emerges from the blue of the sea in all the shades of green of the lush Mediterranean scrub.

Marettimo it is like this, and it appears solemn and majestic already in the distance, on board the hydrofoil or ferry. An island that is not only sea, but also land, to be walked on, walked on and listened to.

A “distant” place, where the crumbling of the stones under the soles merges with the rhythm of its waves; noises that accompany a journey to discover the nature and history of the island, which often becomes a search for oneself.

In one of its symbolic points – the Punta Troia Castle – returned to its splendor after restoration to the point of being made usable and open to the public, you arrive by boataccompanied by some local guides.

The promontory has two accesses to the sea: Scalo Maestro And Cala Manione.

It is there waiting for visitors the arduous climb which leads to the Castle, which is however a small stretch compared to those who reach it, with a trekking route, on foot from the town.

All around the charm and magic of nature, of the stories and legends that are still handed down and make you dream.