Overview
According to Leonardo Sciascia, the great Sicilian writer, the circumstances had their roots in the Norman domination after the year 1000, which had encouraged immigration to the island from northern Italy. Piazza Armerina, not far from Enna with its famous ancient Roman mosaics, was also included by Sciascia among "the Lombard towns of Sicily". Whatever you call it, the castle of Enna remains one of the largest, most important and best-preserved mediaeval fortresses on the entire island, a decisive contribution to making Enna the "urbs inexpugnabilis" that it has always been. Six of the 20 towers that Emperor Frederick II is said to have had added to the fortress still remain, before Frederick III of Aragon enlarged the building again in the 13th and 14th centuries and decided to come to live there.
The plan of the building is somewhat irregular because it follows the morphology of the rocks where it was built, and the internal layout is complex, with a series of courtyards in sequence. One of them has been converted into an open-air summer theatre, while the most inner one shows the remains of the small church of St Martin and the residence of Frederick III. From here you can climb to the top of the Pisan tower, the highest and the one that has remained in the best condition: all around the panorama is uninterrupted and extraordinary over the Madonie and Nèbrodi mountain ranges and the Erei mountains, as well as over the city itself and the distant Catania plain with Etna.
