SPANISH FORT / SIXTEENTH-CENTURY CASTLE
Called erroneously “The Castle”, it was built in 1534 by Naples Viceroy Don Pedro di Toledo “ad reprimendam audaciam Aquilanorum”, that is for repression against L’Aquila inhabitants, who revolted against the Spanish and sided with the French. In 1843 the wooded bridge was replaced with one made of stone.

The fort, with a square plan, has never been used for military objectives, but just for quarters for troops. Its walls are long 130 meters and between 5 and 10 meters wide; the castle is surrounded by a deep moat (14 meters) and is high 30 meters (even if a part develops underground, with underground paths and galleries).

The castle houses the Abruzzo National Museum. On the right bastion there is a mammoth skeleton, discovered in 1954 near the city.