Erice Castle (Italy)

The Castle of Venus was connected by a drawbridge, the same as the Arabic geo Ibn-Giubayr (sec.XII), with the so-called Balio Towers. In the castle were the most important representatives of the regional authority, including Castellano, who administered criminal justice and which included, among its main tasks, the direction of the prison and the maintenance of the fortress Bajulo, who supervised civil justice as well as Check on the Payment of Taxes. The area surrounding the Castle takes the name of "Balio" right from the figure of the Bajulo of the kingdom.

What remains of the ancient fortress was the work of the Normans. Inside, there were also unfortunately lost architectural elements in support of the historical route, essentially referring to the medieval reconstruction of the fort, where fragments of ancient sanctuary were also reused, and the rebuilding of the temple in the Roman epic.

THE GARDEN AND THE BALIO TOWERS

After the definitive decay of the role of fortress of the castle, the ancient Norman towers preserved only ruins, and the slope on which the Carthaginians erected the first Fortifications was abandoned to rage. At the end of the nineteenth century, Count Agostino Pepoli concluded with the city administration an agreement that he would reclaim the whole area at its own expense and rebuild the towers, which would remain property. The result of the rich and patronized work was the restoration of the pentagonal tower destroyed in the fifteenth century, and the curled curtain to protect the interior, as well as the construction of the Balio "English" public garden. The latter, together with the tower built by Pepoli on the northwest side of the castle cliff, today, after years of abandonment, undergoing restoration and destined for the new function of the "Observatory for Peace" - is indisputably One of the Erice's symbols.