User Reviews
This small village of Castelmola is a real genuine natural terrace built around the ruins of a Norman castle. The Norman walls are all that remain of the fortress.
A plaque from the tenth century with Greek-Byzantine engravings placed on the façade of the cathedral states: This castle was built under Costantino, patrician and strategist of Sicily. It is probably referring to Costantino Caramalo, who in the ninth century defended the bastion, city and territory from attacks by the Arabs.
The centrality of the castle of Mola is historically proved not only in the Middle Ages, but also in the wars between the French and Spanish. Once you entered the village through a gate carved into the rock right at the base of a stairway made from white lavastone.
References:The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.
The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.