Castel Sant'Elmo

Castel Sant'Elmo
Naples, Italy
Castle and Certosa (right lower) viewed from Piazza del Plebiscito..
Castel Sant'Elmo
Coordinates	40°50′38″N 14°14′20″E / 40.843815°N 14.239005°E / 40.843815; 14.239005
Site information
Owner	Comune di Napoli Naples Comune
Controlled by	Napoli Beniculturali Naples Ministry of Culture
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Good
Site history
In use	Still in use today
Materials	Sandstone

Castel Sant'Elmo is a medieval fortress located on a hilltop near the Certosa di San Martino, overlooking Naples, Italy. The name "Sant'Elmo" derives from a former 10th-century church, Sant'Erasmo, shortened to "Ermo" and, finally altered to "Elmo". It presently serves as a museum, exhibition hall, and offices.

Documents date a structure at the site from 1275, from the era of Charles d'Anjou. Known originally as Belforte, it was likely a fortified residence, surrounded by walls, its entrance gate marked by two turrets. In 1329, using designs by the Sienese architect Tino da Camaino, king Robert of Naples enlarged the fortress described in documents as palatium in summitatae montanae Sancti Erasmi. Camaino also supervised construction of the adjacent Carthusian monastery of San Martino. By 1336, the palace was referred to as a castrum or castle, and work continued under Camaino till his death in 1343.

Attanasio Primario and Francesco di Vico then directed construction. By 1348 documents refer to the building as castrum Sancti Erasmi, probably because a chapel dedicated to Saint Erasmus was originally located on the site. The Angevin fortress was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1456, which demolished the external walls and the towers. The Aragonese rulers of Naples, and notably Don Pedro de Toledo, the first governor and cousin of the Viceroy, included it in a comprehensive scheme designed to fortify the land perimeter of the city, based on four separate strongholds. Castel Sant'Erasmo acquired its hexagonal star shape between 1537 and 1547 under the designs of Pedro Luis Escriva from Valencia, a military architect. The daring hexagonal shape drew fierce criticism from his contemporaries, to such an extent that in 1538 Escriva defended his design in a published Apologia.

In fact, with its double tenaille, numerous embrasures in the bastions and high walls surrounded by a moat, the castle was admirably suited to the topography of the site and the strategic and defensive functions. In 1538 a commemorative inscription was placed above the entrance gate, surmounted by Charles V's coat of arms and the two-headed Imperial eagle.