Fortresses built to defend, they now conquer us with their proud beauty. With their bold turrets and spectacular halls, it is hard to resist the fascination of a medieval castle. Experiencing this emotion presents no difficulty in Sicily. The island's very nature as a bulwark between Europe and the Mediterranean has inevitably made it by definition a land of castles - there are some two hundred, built by the Swabians and by noble families such as the Chiaramontes and the Ventimiglias.
Today many of the castles that centuries ago were impregnable fortresses have lowered their drawbridges to let visitors make a journey back into time and rediscover this fairytale aspect of the Middle Ages.