A Norman castle on the hill above the Ionian coast, raised over a Byzantine stronghold, held by the Borgia from 1494, and used as a prison into the twentieth century. Excavation beneath it in 2008 found something older still: a late-antique cemetery, and in it the two skeletons the town now calls the Lovers.
At a glance
- Type
- Castle with civic museum and archaeological area
- Where
- Piazza Castello, 88069 Squillace, Province of Catanzaro, Calabria
- Coordinates
- 38.7813° N, 16.5180° E
- Founded
- 1044 by the Normans, over a Byzantine kastron — but see below
- The Borgia
- By marriage in 1494; their arms in marble over the entrance
- Reopened
- Restored 2014–2015 and open to visitors
Overview
Squillace stands on a hill a few kilometres inland from the gulf that carries its name, and the castle holds the summit of it. Below on the coastal plain lie the remains of Roman Scolacium, which is a separate place and should not be confused with the hill town: the town moved up, the ruins stayed down.
History
The two datings do not agree, and both are recorded here. The Cultural Heritage Online archive entry, with much of the local literature, gives 1044 and the Norman captains William Iron Arm and Guaimar V, building over the Byzantine kastron that had itself grown on the site of the monastery Cassiodorus founded on this hill. The Comune di Squillace places the castle in the second half of the eleventh century, at the close of the Norman conquest of Calabria from the Byzantines. Without a document the choice cannot be made, and 1044 sits early for a conquest that was not finished for another thirty years.
Under the Normans, Squillace was the leading administrative, political and religious stronghold of this stretch of the Ionian coast; it was Roger of Hauteville who granted lands here to Bruno of Cologne for the charterhouse at Serra San Bruno. Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries the fief passed through the Lancia, Monfort, Del Balzo and Marzano families, returned to the direct control of Federico d’Aragona in 1485, and in 1494 passed by marriage to the Borgia, whose marble arms are still set over the entrance portal. It reverted to the royal demesne in 1729 and was held by the De Gregorio family from 1755 until the earthquake of 1783.
The building later served as a prison, a use that ran on into the twentieth century. Excavation in 2008 uncovered a late-antique necropolis underneath the Norman fabric, twenty-two burials with grave goods of some richness — gold earrings, ivory combs, ceramic vessels. Restoration works were carried out in 2014 and 2015, and the castle was opened to the public with a civic museum.
What you see
Stone walls and towers standing above the roofs of the old town, in masonry of several different periods, entered through a rusticated portal that carries the Borgia arms. The defensive arrangement turns on two towers. From the terrace the view runs across the Gulf of Squillace and inland to the Calabrian mountains.
The civic museum inside displays the material from the excavations, including the two skeletons known locally as the Lovers, found in the late-antique cemetery beneath the castle. Below the walls the lanes of the old town keep their medieval pattern of narrow alleys and stone houses.
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Cultural significance
Squillace was the birthplace, around 485, of Cassiodorus, the Roman statesman and scholar who served the Ostrogothic court and then withdrew here to found the Vivarium, the monastic house whose copying of classical texts did as much as any single institution to carry ancient learning into the Middle Ages. That the castle sits over the site of his other foundation on this hill gives the place a depth its military history alone would not.
Practical information
- The castle is open to visitors, with a civic museum; the site is run for the Comune by an external operator and staffed by archaeologists.
- Hours are seasonal, with longer afternoons in summer. Check the Comune di Squillace or the site’s own channels for the current timetable before going.
- The approach through the old town is steep and stepped in places; the historic centre is walked, not driven.
Getting there
Squillace lies inland above the coast, roughly 20 kilometres south of Catanzaro by the SS106, or by the A2 with the Catanzaro-Sud exit. The nearest station, on the Reggio Calabria–Taranto line, is at Squillace Lido on the shore below; from there a bus or taxi covers the climb to the hill town.
Sources
- Comune di Squillace — record for the Castello Normanno
- Touring Club Italiano — entry for the castle
- Reports on the 2008 excavation of the late-antique necropolis and the 2014–2015 restoration
- Cultural Heritage Online historical archive — original Italian entry on beniculturalionline.it, verified and rewritten in August 2026.
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