Cinta muraria di Sant’Agata di Puglia

The Longobard wall encloses the castle on three sides, and is the oldest. It rests on the rocky slopes. It’s a double-curtain factory, three to five rows of stone blocks alternating with one of brick. It has two circular towers and a square which flanks the first entrance door. It was first restored in Swabian times under Frederick II in 1239 and 1250, then in the Angevin era under the regency of Charles I of Anjou in 1279.

The city walls, erected later, had the function of protecting the country from military attacks. Built in the Middle Ages encircled Sant'Agata in a perimeter path that presumably followed the following route: it started from the western tower of the Castle and bent to the bastion or tower (the toponym Vico I and Vico Il Bastione are the testimony of a tower in that place), towards the huge cliff of Porta Nuova, and for the new square up to the round tower of Perillo (Torre dei Pronzi); from here it continued towards the Church of San Nìcola, Then he went up and rejoined the eastern tower of the Castle.

Over the years many stretches of walls have been incorporated into the houses during the construction phases; today you can see stretches of walls in Corso Carmelo Barbato and in Via Cavour, in which is inserted the arch of the Porta Nuova. The memory of the other gates to the city remains today only in the toponymy: Portalla Sant'Andrea, La Salvia, Perillo, San Nicola and Sant'Angelo.